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 the collectors of church donations approached Peter and asked him: “What about your teacher, will he pay what is expected?” Peter said that he will pay. And, Jesus, having heard that, said to Peter: “What do you think, Peter, from whom does the king take dues – from his sons or from strangers?” Peter said “From strangers.” “So, if we are the sons of God, then we don't have to pay dues. But in order not to temp them, give it to them, but not because we have to pay, but only to avoid driving them into sin.” Another time the Pharisees got together with royal officials and came to Jesus to take him at his word, whether he would refuse from the obligations before the king. They said to h... (From : Wikisource.org.)

And then the disciples said to Jesus: “Your teaching is difficult. Increase in us the belief that we will be well if we live according to your teaching.” Jesus has realized that the students wanted to know about the reward for good life. And he said to them: “Faith is not in the belief in a reward, but faith is in clear understanding of what life is. If you understand clearly that your life is in the spirit of God, then you're not going to wait for the reward. The master will not thank a worker for doing what he was supposed to do. And the worker, if he understands that he is a worker, doesn’t get offended at that, but works and knows that he will get what he deserves. So as you, fulfill the Father's will, and unders... (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.)

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.)

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.)