The Teaching of Christ Narrated for Children

Chapter 52
And when Jesus was already hanging on the cross, people surrounded him and cursed him. People came to him, nodded to him, and told: “Well, you wanted to destroy the Temple in Jerusalem in three days, and in three days to build the new one. Come on now, rescue yourself, come down from the cross!” And the chief priests and the scribes stood nearby and also laughed at him and told: “You saved others, but cannot save yourself. Show us now that you are the Christ, come down from the cross, and then we will believe you.” “He said that he is the son of God, and said that God would not leave him. What about now – has God left him?” And people, and the chief priests, and soldiers laughed at him. And one of the robbers crucified next to him, told the same: “If you are the Christ, then save yourself and us as well.” But another robber heard this and said: “Aren’t you’re afraid of God, you are hanging on the cross yoursel... (From : Wikisource.org.)

Chapter 51
Pilate wanted to release Jesus so much that he again began to speak to people and said: “How come you want to crucify your king?” But the Jews said to him: “If you'll let Jesus go, then by doing this you’ll show that you are a bad servant to Cesar, because the one who makes himself a king is the enemy of Cesar. We have one Cesar, so crucify this king.” And when Pilate heard these words, he realized that he could no longer avoid executing Jesus. Then Pilate went out to the Jews, poured water on his hands in front of them and said: “I’m washing my hands from the blood of this innocent man.” And the people shouted: “Let his blood be on us and on our children.” And then Pilate commanded first to whip Jesus out. When they whipped him, the soldiers who did that put a wreath on his head and gave a stick into his hands and put a red cloak on his back and began to mock him. Mocking him, they bowed to him and told: "Hail, the king... (From : Wikisource.org.)

Chapter 50
And they have brought Jesus to Herod. Herod heard a lot about Jesus and was now glad to see him. Herod called Jesus to come closer and began to question him about all he wanted to know. But Jesus didn’t answer him anything. And the chief priests and scribes, just like they did before Pilate, and now before Herod, accused Jesus in all crimes and told that he was a rebel. But Herod took Jesus for an empty person, and to make fun of him, ordered to put a red dress on him, and in that clown dress sent him back to Pilate. When the second time they brought Jesus to Pilate, Pilate again called the leaders of Jews and said to them: “You have already brought this man to me for agitating the people, and I interrogated him in front of you, and I do not see him being a rebel. I sent him with you to Herod, and here you can see that nothing dangerous was found about him. And, in my opinion, there is nothing to execute him to death for, wouldn't it be better to whip him up and let hi... (From : Wikisource.org.)

Chapter 49
After that, they took Jesus to the Roman governor Pontius Pilate. When they brought him to Pilate, the governor came out on the porch and said those who bought him: “What do you accuse this man for?” They said: “He is a villain, that’s why we brought him to you.” Pilate said to them: “But if he's a villain according to you, then punish him according to your law.” And they said: “We brought him to you so that you execute him, as we are not allowed to execute anyone to death.” Then Pilate asked them again what they accused him for. They said that he agitates people, forbids them to pay taxes to Cesar, and calls himself the king of Jews. Pilate listened to them and told them to bring Jesus to his judgment hall. When Jesus entered, Pilate asked him: “Are you the king of Jews?” Jesus said to him: “Are you are asking this on your own or are you repeating what was told?” Pilate said: “I am not a Jew, but... (From : Wikisource.org.)

Chapter 48
And the elders and the scribes gathered at the high priest’s place. And when everyone has gathered, they brought Jesus there, and the high priest asked him what his teaching was about and who were his disciples. Jesus said: “I have always spoken before everyone and hided nothing from anyone. What do you ask me about? Ask those who have heard and understood my teaching, they will tell you.” When Jesus said that, one of the guards struck Jesus on his face and said: “To whom are you talking? Is this the way to respond to the high priest?” Jesus said: “If I said something bad, tell me, what’s wrong with what I said. And if I didn’t say anything wrong, then why did you hit me?” The high priest and the elders tried to accuse Jesus, but did not find enough evidences to prosecute him. Then they found two false witnesses, and those witnesses said about Jesus as if he told that he would destroy the temple and build it again for three day... (From : Wikisource.org.)

And to that Jesus told this parable. He said: “Once an master came out early morning to hire workers for his vineyard; and, having made an agreement with workers on one grivna per day, he sent them to his vineyard; then he came out at about breakfast time and met other workers without job and told them: you, too, go work in my vineyard, and I will give you what’s right. They went. He came out again around lunchtime, and in the afternoon, and have done the same. And in the evening he found some more people without job and told them: ‘Why are you standing here without work all day?’ They said: ‘No one has hired us.’ And he said: ‘You, too, go to my vineyard, and I’ll pay you what’s right.&... (From : Wikisource.org.)

Once Jesus heard people telling that Pilate had killed the Galileans, and also that a tower has collapsed and crushed 18 people. In regards to that, Jesus told people: “What do you think, were those people especially guilty in something? We all know that those people were not worse than then we are. And what happened to them can at any moment happen to us. We all can die today or tomorrow. We cannot avoid death, so we should not treasure our carnal life, because we know that it will end soon anyway. We must preserve what never dies – the life of the spirit. And to that Jesus told this parable. A master had an apple tree in his garden. And the master says to his gardener: ‘I watch it for three years already, but this apple ... (From : Wikisource.org.)

And Jesus told another parable about how people should live. He said: “An owner has planted a garden, tended it, done everything for the garden to give as much fruits as possible. And he sent workers in this garden to work, collect fruits, and pay him a share. The deadline came, and the owner sent an employee to collect fruits, but the workers forgot that it’s not them who planted and arranged the garden, and they drove the messenger of the owner away with nothing, and lived in the garden as if they were owners, without thinking that the garden is not theirs and that they lived in it by the mercy of the owner. Then the owner sent another, senior, servant to remind the workers about the payment. The workers chased this one away, ... (From : Wikisource.org.)

And as soon as he said that, Judas Iscariot has appeared, and with him there were guards and servants of priests, with weapons and lights. And Judas immediately approached Jesus and said: “Hello, teacher!” And kissed him. And Jesus said to him, “My friend, what have you come for?” And then the guards surrounded Jesus and wanted to take him. But Peter snatched a knife from a priest’s servant and cut off his right ear. And, having seen that, Jesus said to Peter: “Put your sword into the sheath. He who takes the sword will perish by the sword.” And then Jesus addressed the people who came after him, and said: “Why did you come after me, armed, as if I was a robber? I was with you every day in the... (From : Wikisource.org.)

And on another occasion, Jesus told people a parable about what human life is like. He said: “There was a rich man, and he had to leave his house. And before leaving, he called his servants and gave each of them by ten pounds of silver, and said: ‘Work, each of you, on what I gave you while I'm away.’ He said so and left. And when he left, the servants were free and lived as they wanted. And so, when this rich man had returned, he called his servants and ordered them to tell what each of them did with his silver. The first one came and said: ‘Here, master, out of your pound of silver I made 10.’ And the master told him: ‘Well done, good servant, you had been faithful in small thing, I will put you over a ... (From : Wikisource.org.)