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.)

When in Jerusalem people discovered that Jesus was coming, they came out to meet him, surrounded him, put him on the donkey, and people ran before him, ripped branches off the trees, threw them on the road, and screamed: “Here he is, our true King! He taught us the true God.” And that way Jesus entered Jerusalem. And people asked: “Who is this?” And those who knew him, answered: “This is Jesus, the Prophet form Nazareth of Galilee.” When Jesus approached the temple, he came down from the donkey, entered the temple and began to teach the people. And the Pharisees and the bishops saw all that, and told each other: “See, what this man does. The whole nation goes after him.” They wished to take hi... (From : Wikisource.org.)

Once it happened that Jesus came to have lunch with a Pharisee. And while he was sitting at the Pharisee’s home, a woman came from the city. She was infidel. She learned that Jesus is in the house of the Pharisee, and she came there, and brought a bottle with perfume. And she knelt down at Jesus’ feet, and burst into tears, and poured her tears over his feet, and wiped them with her hair, and poured the perfume from the bottle. Having seen that, the Pharisee was tempted and thought about Jesus: ‘If this man were truly a prophet, he would know that this woman was infidel and dissolute, and would not allow her to touch himself.’ Jesus understood what the Pharisee thought, turned to him and said: ‘Should I tell yo... (From : Wikisource.org.)

Once they brought children to Jesus. The disciples began to drive the children away. Jesus saw that and said: “Why do you chase the children away? You should not chase them away but to learn from them, because they are closer than adults to the kingdom of God. Kids don't swear, don't hold grudges, not have sex, not swear, don’t sue anyone, and don’t know the differences between their own nation and the others. Kids are closer than adults to the kingdom of Heaven. We must not drive the children away, but make sure we do not to get them into temptations. Temptations ruin people by having lured them, under the guise of kindness and pleasantness, into the most harmful acts. Once a person yields to a temptation, he ruins both h... (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.)

After that, Jesus went to Galilee and lived there with his family. And at the day of the Jewish holiday of Tabernacles, Jesus’ brothers prepared to go to the celebration and began to call Jesus with them. They did not believe in his teaching and told him: “So, you’re saying that Jewish service to God is wrong and that you know the real service to God by deeds. If you really think that you know something that nobody else knows except you, so come with us to the celebration, a lot of people will be there, declare your teaching in front of all the people. If everybody will believe you, then your students will see that you are right. Because why to hide. You are saying that our service to God is false, that you know the true o... (From : Wikisource.org.)