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.)

More and more people went after Jesus and listened to his teaching. And the Pharisees did not like it, and they started to think how to accuse Jesus before people. One Saturday Jesus went with his disciples across a field. The disciples plucked ears of wheat along the road, crushed them with their hands, and ate the grains. And according to the teaching of Jews God established a covenant with Moses so that people should not work on Saturdays at all, but should only pray to God. The Pharisees saw that Jesus' disciples plucked the ears of wheat on Saturday, stopped his disciples, and said to them: “You are not supposed to do that on Saturday. On Saturday you are not allowed to work, but you crush the wheat ears. It is stated in the law ... (From : Wikisource.org.)

After that, Christ came to Jerusalem again, and in the temple he began to speak to people about wrong life of the Pharisees. He said: “Beware of the teaching of scribes, the self-proclaimed teachers. Beware of them, because they took place of the true teachers, prophets. They self-willingly took the power to preach the will of God to people. They only talk, but do not do what they say. They want to be teachers, and for that they try to show off: dress, glorify themselves, yet they don’t do anything. Don't believe them. Know that no one should call himself a teacher. These self-proclaimed Orthodox teachers think they can lead to God by the superficial cremations, oaths, and they don't see that the external means nothing, that eve... (From : Wikisource.org.)

And rumors about Jesus spread in the area, and a lot of people began to walk behind him and listen to him. And he told people: “Remember, you went to listen John in the desert, why did you go to see him? People go watch someone in rich clothes, but those live in palaces, and there was nothing like this in the desert. Then why did you go to John, in the wilderness? You went there to listen to someone who taught you a good life, didn’t you? What did he teach you? He taught you that the kingdom of God must come, but that for it to come, so that there is no evil in the world, all people need to live not apart, each for himself, but so that everybody would be together, and so that all would love each other. So in order for the kingdo... (From : Wikisource.org.)

John told that, in order for the kingdom of God to come, people needed to purify themselves with the spirit of God. “What does it mean to purify yourself with the spirit of God?” - Jesus thought. – “If to cleanse by the spirit means to live not for your body, but for the spirit of God,” - Jesus thought, - “then truly the kingdom of God would come, if people lived by the spirit of God; because the spirit of God is one and the same in all people. And having all the people lived by the spirit, all people would be united, and the kingdom of God would come true. But people cannot live only for the spirit, people have to live for their bodies, also. But if they will live for their bodies, will serve body, take ... (From : Wikisource.org.)

Jesus went and preached in the towns and villages himself, but, in addition, he sent his disciples in those places where he wanted to go himself. He said to them: “Many people don't know the blessing of real life, and I feel sorry for all of them, and would like to open what I know to everyone. As a master is not able to handle the entire field and gets workers to harvest it, so do I. Go to different cities and proclaim the teaching of the kingdom of God everywhere. Tell people the commandments of the kingdom, and fulfill these commandments yourself. I am sending you like sheep amid wolves. Be wise as serpents, and pure as doves. First of all, have nothing of your own, do not take anything with you: neither bag nor bread nor money, ha... (From : Wikisource.org.)