|
|
Ja, hvor gammel skal hovedpersonen i eventyret i grunden forestille at være? Markus fortæller det ikke; Matthæus er lige så tavs; men ifølge Lukas var Jesus "omkring tredive år":
Lukas 3,23 Jesus var omkring tredive år, da han begyndte sit virke. Han var, mente man, søn af Josef, som var søn af Eli,
Omkring tredive år — det er jo ikke ligefrem en imponerende præcision — og så hænger det ikke en gang sammen med resten af historien. Ifølge Matthæusevangeliet begik Herodes den Store en massakre på alle børn under 2 år for at slå den spæde Jesus ihjel. Herodes den Store døde år 4 f.v.t., så Jesus kan aller-senest være født år 6 f.v.t. Formodentlig er Jesus født længe før da, for den Herodes, der beskrives i Matthæusevangeliet er en handlekraftig tyran i sin bedste alder og ikke en sygdomsplaget 70-årig.
Vi ved også, at Johannes Døberen døde år 35-36. Rent logisk — ud fra almindelig matematik — må Jesus altså have været godt oppe i fyrrerne, dengang Johannes Døberen døde, og det var jo først her, at Jesus startede sin karriere. Dertil skal man så lægge et antal år, hvor han missionerede. Dette bliver også bekræftet af Johannesevangeliet:
Johannes 8,57 Da sagde jøderne til ham: "Du er endnu ikke halvtreds år, og du har set Abraham?"
Jøderne siger, at Jesus var: »endnu ikke halvtreds«. Tallet halvtreds har ikke nogen speciel symbolsk betydning, så når jøderne sagde halvtreds i stedet for fyrre eller tredive, må det betyde, at Jesus var et sted i fyrrerne. Hvis Jesus havde været tyverne, ville jøderne have sagt: »Du er endnu ikke tredive år«, og hvis han havde været i trediverne, ville de have sagt: »Du er endnu ikke fyrre år«.
Problemet er bare, at hvis man præsenterer dét vers for en kristen, vil det blive afvist som noget ondsindet, nymodens, ateistisk sludder. Lad os derfor give ordet videre til kirkefaderen Irenæus:
I dette værk bruger Irenæus et helt kapitel på at bevise, at Jesus var over 50 år gammel, da han døde. De første 4 afsnit bruges på lidt indledende betragtninger om, at historierne om Jesus strækker sig over mange år, og at Jesus måtte have gennemlevet alle aldre for at være et eksempel for mennesker af alle aldre. Groft sagt: Hvis Jesus var død som 30-årig, ville han ikke være noget eksempel for gamle mennesker.
Lad os citere afsnit 5, hvor der kommer lidt kød på argumenterne:
De kættere, der hævder, at Jesus døde som 30-årig, frarøver Jesus den mest nødvendige
og mest ærefulde alder. De første 30 år er kun starten af livet; man er først mester fra det 40. eller 50. år.
Eftersom Jesus var en mester, må han have været i fyrrerne og halvtredserne, dengang han underviste:
Imod Kætterne, bind 2, kapitel 22
The thirty Æons are not typified by the fact that Christ was baptized in His thirtieth year: He did not suffer in the twelfth month after His baptism, but was more than fifty years old when He died.
[. . .]
5. They, however, that they may establish their false opinion regarding that which is written, "to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord," maintain that He preached for one year only, and then suffered in the twelfth month. [In speaking thus,] they are forgetful to their own disadvantage, destroying His whole work, and
robbing Him of that age which is both more necessary and more honourable than any other; that more advanced age, I mean, during which also as a teacher He excelled all others. For how could He have had disciples, if He did not teach? And how could He have taught, unless He had reached the age of a Master? For when He came to be baptized, He had not yet completed His thirtieth year, but was beginning to be about thirty years of age (for thus Luke, who has mentioned His years, has expressed it:
"Now Jesus was, as it were, beginning to be thirty years old," when He came to receive baptism); and, [according to these men,] He preached only one year reckoning from His baptism. On completing His thirtieth year He suffered, being in fact still a young man, and who had by no means attained to advanced age. Now, that the first stage of early life embraces thirty years, and that this extends onwards to the fortieth year, every one will admit; but from the fortieth and fiftieth year a man begins to decline towards old age, which our Lord possessed while He still fulfilled the office of a Teacher, […]
Men det allermest interessante er, at menighedens ældste, der havde kendt apostlen Johannes, bekræfter Irenæus i, at Jesus var i fyrrerne og halvtredserne, mens han var lærer. Johannes blev (ifølge Irenæus) hos de ældste indtil Trajans tid dvs. år 98, og nogle af de ældste, som Irenæus citerer, havde ikke kun mødt Johannes, men også andre apostle, der alle havde bekræftet historien.
|
Imod Kætterne, bind 2, kapitel 22
5. [. . .] but from the fortieth and fiftieth year a man begins to decline towards old age, which our Lord possessed while He still fulfilled the office of a Teacher, even as the Gospel and all the elders testify; those who were conversant in Asia with John, the disciple of the Lord, [affirming] that John conveyed to them that information. And he remained among them up to the times of Trajan. Some of them, moreover, saw not only John, but the other apostles also, and heard the very same account from them, and bear testimony as to the [validity of] the statement. Whom then should we rather believe? Whether such men as these, or Ptolemæus, who never saw the apostles, and who never even in his dreams attained to the slightest trace of an apostle?
Ovenstående påstand må mildt sagt betragtes som forbløffende: En af de allerældste og allermest respekterede kirkefædre hævder, at ifølge apostlenes og evangelisternes personlige vidnesbyrd nåede Jesus at blive over 50.
Irenæus havde som ung kendt Polykarp, og Polykarp havde som ung kendt Johannes. Men i ovenstående citat fortæller Irenæus, at mange af de ældste (ikke kun Polykarp) havde mødt mange af apostlene (ikke kun Johannes), og at disse alle bekræftede, at Jesus var i fyrrerne og halvtredserne, da han underviste sine disciple.
Til sidst har Irenæus en trumf mere: Han citerer Johannesevangeliet:
|
Imod Kætterne, bind 2, kapitel 22
6. But, besides this, those very Jews who then disputed with the Lord Jesus Christ have most clearly indicated the same thing. For when the Lord said to them, "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day; and he saw it, and was glad," they answered Him, "Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast Thou seen Abraham?"
Now, such language is fittingly applied to one who has already passed the age of forty, without having as yet reached his fiftieth year, yet is not far from this latter period. But to one who is only thirty years old it would unquestionably be said, "Thou art not yet forty years old."
For those who wished to convict Him of falsehood would certainly not extend the number of His years far beyond the age which they saw He had attained;
but they mentioned a period near His real age, whether they had truly ascertained this out of the entry in the public register,
or simply made a conjecture from what they observed that He was above forty years old, and that He certainly was not one of only thirty years of age.
For it is altogether unreasonable to suppose that they were mistaken by twenty years, when they wished to prove Him younger than the times of Abraham.
For what they saw, that they also expressed; and He whom they beheld was not a mere phantasm, but an actual being
of flesh and blood. He did not then want much of being fifty years old; and, in accordance with that fact, they said to Him,
"Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast Thou seen Abraham?" […]
Irenæus har altså citeret det vers fra Johannesevangeliet, vi allerede har kigget på:
Johannes 8,57 Da sagde jøderne til ham: "Du er endnu ikke halvtreds år, og du har set Abraham?"
Kristne kan godt lide at ignorere dette vers, men som Irenæus' pertentlige argumentation viser, fortæller verset tydeligt, at allerede på dette tidspunkt i historien var Jesus et sted i fyrrerne. Som Irenæus pointerer: Hvis Jesus havde været 30 år, ville jøderne have sagt »Du er endnu ikke fyrre år«.
Konklusion: Ifølge almindelig matematik, ifølge adskillige øjenvidner og ifølge Bibelen var Jesus over 50, da han blev korsfæstet.