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 once Jesus asked his disciples: “Tell me, how people understand my teaching?” And they said: “Some think that you teach the same as John taught; others say that you teach the same as Isaiah taught; still others say that your teaching is like the teaching of Jeremiah, and that you are the prophet.” “Well,” Jesus said, “and how do you understand my teaching?” And Simon Peter said to him: “I think you teach that the spirit of God dwells in every human being, and that therefore every man is the son of God.” And Jesus said to him: “Happy you are, Simon, that you understood it. A human could not open that to you, but you understood it because God lives in you. It is not I, by m... (From : Wikisource.org.)

And many people, having seen all this and heard him, told: he is definitely a prophet. Others told: he is the Messiah, and the others told: can the Messiah come from Galilee? It is said in the Scripture that the Messiah would come from the seed of David from Bethlehem, from the place where David was from. And the argument started, and the agitation began among the people. And then the chief priests sent officers to seize him, but the officers have not dared to take him. And when they returned to the chief priests and Pharisees, the Pharisees said to them: ‘Why have not you brought him?’ – And the officers answered, ‘No one man has ever spoken like this man.’ - The Pharisees told them “Have you also got de... (From : Wikisource.org.)

Jesus Christ, through his teaching and his own life example, taught people that the spirit of God dwells in every person. According to the teaching of Jesus Christ, all people’s troubles arise because they focus their lives on their bodies, and not on the spirit of God. Because of that, they fight with each other, suffer in soul, and because of that they fear death. The spirit of God is love. And love lives in the soul of every human being. If people focus their lives on the spirit of God – on love – then there will be no hatred, no mental torments, no fear of death. All people wish well-being for themselves. The teachings of Christ opens to people that the well-being comes to them through love, and that this well-being is... (From : Wikisource.org.)

And on another occasion, Jesus told people a parable about what human life is like. He said: “There was a rich man, and he had to leave his house. And before leaving, he called his servants and gave each of them by ten pounds of silver, and said: ‘Work, each of you, on what I gave you while I'm away.’ He said so and left. And when he left, the servants were free and lived as they wanted. And so, when this rich man had returned, he called his servants and ordered them to tell what each of them did with his silver. The first one came and said: ‘Here, master, out of your pound of silver I made 10.’ And the master told him: ‘Well done, good servant, you had been faithful in small thing, I will put you over a ... (From : Wikisource.org.)

And, having heard these words, one Pharisee named Nicodemus came to Jesus and asked him: “How to understand that the kingdom of God is within us?” And Jesus said: “The kingdom of God is within us means that every person, in order to enter the kingdom of God, must be born again.” And Nicodemus asked: “How can a person be born again? How can man enter the belly of the mother again and be born?” Jesus said to him: “Be born again means to be born not by a fleshly birth, as a child is born from the mother, but to be born in spirit. And to be born in spirit means to understand that the spirit of God dwells in a person, and beside that every person is born from mother, he is also born from the spirit of Go... (From : Wikisource.org.)