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.)

Once Jesus’ mother and brothers came and they could not come close to Jesus because there was a lot of people around him. And one person saw them, came to Jesus and said: “Your family, your mother and brothers, are standing outside, wanting to see you.” And Jesus said: “My mother and my brothers are those who know the will of the Father and follow it. For every human being, the will of our Father, God, should be more important than the father and mother, and wife, and children, and brothers, and sisters, and all of the property, and the fleshly life. Because, in worldly matters, every reasonable person, when he starts anything, will count whether it is profitable what he does, and if it is profitable, he does it, and... (From : Wikisource.org.)

Another time, Jesus went through Samaria . He got tired and sat down by the well. And his disciples went to town went to get some bread. And a woman from the village comes to get water. Jesus asked her to drink. And the woman says to him: “How come you, the Jews, do not communicate with us, Samaritans, but you ask me for a drink?” – And Jesus said to her: "If you would know me and what I teach, you would not say that, but would give me a drink, and I would give you to drink the water of life. The woman didn't understand him and said: “Where will you take some other water? The only water here is in this well, of our father Jacob.” And he said to her: “Who will drink your water, he will get thirsty again, b... (From : Wikisource.org.)

And Jesus told another parable about the same. He said: “One man had two sons; and the youngest son wanted to separate from the father and said: ‘Father, give me my share.’ And the father gave him his share. This young son took his share and went off to foreign land. And at the foreign land, he had wasted all his possessions and began to live in poverty. And fell so low that he had to take the job to feed swine. And the only food he ate was acorns, the same that pigs ate. And the he pondered about his life and said to himself: why have I walked away from my father. My father had a lot of everything, even my father’s workers eat well. But I'm here eat the same food as pigs. I better go to my father, bow to him in the ... (From : Wikisource.org.)

And Jesus' teaching was spreading further and further. And Pharisees got angrier and angrier at him. They told people: “Don't listen to him. He deceives you. If all will live by his commandments, there will be more evil than it is now.” Jesus heard that and said to them: “You're saying that if I teach people not to seek wealth but to be poor, not to get angry, not to repay an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, but to endure everything and love everybody, that I drive evil by evil, and that if people would follow my teaching then their life will be worse than before. You’re saying that in place of previous evil there will be new evil. But this is not true. I do not replace one evil with another, instead, it is yo... (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.)