Rudolf Bultmann wrote: “We do not know the how? of Jesus; we do not know the which?; we only know the what?'” What can he mean? Concerning Jesus, we know scarcely anything of how he lived. Yes, there are the gospel stories, but these don’t tell everything, and they are theologically slanted. We do not even know who he was, because the mystery of him escapes us. Of Jesus there is only one essential minimum fact. Bultmann was not very interested in the historical Jesus, for him, at the beginning, what was important was the kerygma, that is, the announcement of Jesus as dead and risen. Do we agree with Bultmann? There are testimonies about Jesus outside the Bible. Pliny the Younger, for example, writes a letter to Trajan (111/113) where he asks how he should behave towards Christians, who gather at dawn to sing to Christ as to a God and bind themselves to each other with a sacramentum or oath to do harm to nobody. Then we have the XV book of the Annales of Tacitus (115/120), where it speaks of of the famous fire of Rome in 64 under Nero: “Nero declared guilty, and condemned to the most atrocious torments, those whom the populace calls Christians, who take their name from Christ, condemned to death by the Roman procurator Pontius Pilate under the emperor Tiberius”. Another source is Suetonius, who in the Life of Claudius states that the emperor expelled from Rome «the Jews who constantly rioted at the instigation of Chrestus» (the vowel i was often changed to e). Important also is the Testimonium Flavianum of Josephus Flavius, pro-Roman Jewish historian, where he speaks of Christ. Finally, even the Babylonian Talmud recalls the death of Jesus; Jesus, according to this Jewish source, was convicted of magic (miracles). And we could continue…The figure of Jesus has never ceased to question and cause concern over the centuries. I would like here remember two great Russian figures with totally different approaches. The first is Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-1881), quoted by us several times, who writes: «There is nothing more beautiful, more profound, more reasonable, more courageous and more perfect than Christ”. The second is Aleksandr Blok (1880-1921), who had done everything to avoid Christ, but, in spite of himself, is forced to admit: “Why on earth Christ? Really Christ? But, the closer my examination, the more distinctly I saw Christ. I then noted in the diary: Unfortunately Christ. Unfortunately, Christ himself”. And us? Who is Christ, for us? How do we face this question that comes from today’s gospel passage?

Commentary by b. Sandro Carotta, osb
Abbazia di Santa Maria – Praglia (Italy)

Translation by f. Mark Hargreaves,
Prinknash Abbey