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 Jesus said: “Here is the first commandment. The old law said: you shall not kill, and he who kills is sinful. But I say to you that if a man is angry with his brother, he is already sinful before God; he even more sinful when he says to his brother a rude, dirty word. So if you started to pray and remembered that you are angry at your brother, then, before you pray, go make peace with him, and if by some reason you cannot accomplish that, then extinguish the grudge in your soul against your brother. This is the first commandment. Another commandment is this. It is said in the old law: you shall not commit adultery, and if you are separated with your wife, then give her a divorce. But I say unto you, that not only a person should n... (From : Wikisource.org.)

And once, when Jesus was returning to Jerusalem, his two disciples, James and John, approached him and said: “Teacher! Promise us to do for us what we will ask you to do.” He said: “What is it you want?” They say: “Make us equal with you.” But Jesus said: “You do not know what you ask for. Everyone can, by his own efforts, enter the kingdom of the Father, but nobody can do it for another.” And Jesus called the other disciples and told everyone: “Worldly people, kings and superiors consider among themselves, who of them is higher, and who is lower. But you should not have neither senior nor junior among you: the greatest among you will be the only one who will be a servant to all. Who wan... (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.)

Jesus taught people that all people are the children of one Father, and therefore the entire law of God is in the love for God and for the closed one. And one law maker, knowing this, wanted to take Jesus at his word and to show him that not all people are the same and that people of different nations cannot equally be the children of God. And he asked Jesus: "You teach that we need to love our neighbor. But who is my neighbor?” And Jesus answered him by this parable. He said: “There was a rich Jew. And it so happened that when this Jew this was returning home, he was attacked by robbers; they have beaten him, robbed and dumped him on the road. A Jew priest passed by; he saw the beaten Jew, but did not stop and walked past. A Je... (From : Wikisource.org.)

Jesus clarified his teaching clearer and clearer. And once, when a lot of people gathered around him, he began telling them about how people should live, in order for the kingdom of God to come. He told: “The kingdom of God is totally different from the worldly kingdoms. It’s not the proud or the rich who will enter the kingdom of God. The proud and the rich reign now. They are having fun now, and now are praised and respected by everybody. But for as long as they stay proud and rich, and there won’t be the kingdom of God in their souls, they will not enter the kingdom of God. It is not the proud but the humble, not the rich but the poor who will enter the kingdom of God. But the humble and the poor will enter the kingdom ... (From : Wikisource.org.)