The Gospel According to Islam · Chapter 5, Jerusalem · Section 23
The last supper, the future of the temple and the Man of perfection. 27 verses.
23
1And the next day Jesus said to his disciples, He that hath a purse, let him take it, and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one. 2For I say unto you, that this that is written must yet be accomplished in me, And he was reckoned among the transgressors. 3And they brought two swords and showed these to Jesus, and he said, By God’s leave, it is enough for the faithless.1 4Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went unto the chief priests, to betray him unto them. 5And when they heard it, they were glad, and promised to give him money. And he sought how he might conveniently betray him.
6And the first day of unleavened bread, when they killed the passover, his disciples said unto him, Where wilt thou we go and prepare that thou mayest eat the passover? 7And he sendeth forth two of his disciples, and saith unto them, Go ye into the city to such a man, and say unto him, The Teacher saith, Where will I keep the passover with my disciples? 8And he will take you to a large upper room, and there make ready for us. 9And his disciples went forth, and came into the city, and found as he had said unto them: and they made ready the passover.2
10And when they had sung an hymn, and the supper was ended,3 Jesus began to teach them, and to tell them all things that must come to pass after him, 11Saying, I came to reform the traditions of the elders, and to clean the house of prayer, but my people seek to kill me. 12Verily I say unto you, the temple is no more a house of God, but a den of thieves, and a symbol of the dead past; 13And there shall come a time, when this structure of stones shall be thrown down, and destroyed with utter destruction.4 14And God will smite the children of Israel, because that they rejected His messengers, and will scatter them like unto sheep without a shepherd.
15And then there shall arise the Man5 of perfection with great power and glory; and he will build a new house of prayer, that men may worship the One True Living God in spirit and in truth. 16And he will be a staff to the righteous, on which they will support themselves and not fall, and he will be the light of the nations, and the hope of those who are troubled in heart. 17All who dwell on earth will fall down, and bow the knee after him, and bless and laud and celebrate the Lord. 18And for this cause has he been chosen before the creation of the world; and before the sun and the signs were created, before the stars of heaven were made, his name was named before the Lord.6
19Peter therefore asked Jesus, Teacher, tell us what is that blessed name. 20And Jesus answering said, His name shall be Admirable Counsellor, as it is prophesied by Esias: 21For us a child is given, for us a son is born: and the dominion shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called Admirable Counsellor, Angel of Mighty Counsel.7 22And when he is come, the kings of the earth, and the strong who possess the power, will be of downcast countenance and the word of his mouth shall slay them; for God will put His own words in his mouth, as He promised to Moses.
23Saying, I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and I will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. And it shall come to pass that whosoever will not hearken unto My words which he shall speak in My name, I will require a reckoning of him.8 24And all the people of the world will hearken unto his words, save those who follow the way of the Antichrist. 25For the Antichrist covers me and hides the truth from them. 26Howbeit when he will be let loose, God will destroy him, and will reveal me again, and the stumbling-block will be removed.
27Then will all the nations of the world follow the Counsellor, and bless and laud and worship the One True Living God.
- Luke 22:35-38. In response to the information that temple authorities might take him by force, Jesus unsuccessfully tried to provide some defense for himself. The disciples could provide only two swords or knives. Yet with God planning for him, Jesus’ resources were ultimately sufficient to defeat his adversaries. ↩
- Mark 14:12-17; Matt. 26:17-19; Luke 22:7-14; John 13:1-2. The synoptic description of the preparation of the last supper shows that Jesus was hiding himself from most of the outsiders and moving very cautiously. The date of the last supper is in some doubt. The synoptic Gospels set it as a passover meal, while the fourth Gospel puts it a day earlier. John’s dating is less reliable not only because that gospel was written later than the synoptic gospels but also because a theological motivation of its dating is more readily detectable: John wants Jesus’ death to coincide with the paschal lamb sacrifice in the temple (and therefore moves back the last supper by a day) to make Jesus truly “the lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29; 1 Cor. 5:7). ↩
- Mark 14:26. We follow John in omitting the “institution” of the eucharist and in putting a “farewell discourse” after the supper. It is doubtful whether at the last supper the institution of the eucharist actually took place; it is more probable that the eucharist was a practice that got gradually instituitionalized after the death of Jesus. From the feeding miracles attributed to him and the Gospel allusion to feasts with publicans, it appears that Jesus often had meals with his disciples, probably something after the community meals of the Essenes. As Jesus’ messianic consciousness evolved, he probably began to relate these meals with the messianic banquet (cf. Luke 22:16-18). After his death, these meals began to be more regular and naturally became occasions for remembering anecdotes from Jesus’ life, especially the exciting events that took place after he came to Jerusalem. Moreover, since Jesus did not leave behind any specifically Christian instituitions (the Acts indeed tell us that for quite a while after Jesus the Christians continued to be part of the Jewish synagogue community, following Jewish customs and laws and attending synagogue services), sharing of meals was in the beginning the only social practice on which a specifically Christian fellowship could be built within the Jewish community. As a result, the community meals assumed a very unique position in the Christian history and gradually got institutionalized and became an object of theological deliberations. ↩
- Mark 13:2; Matt. 24:2; Luke 21:6; Qur’an 17:7. ↩
- The figure of Man or Son of Man was known to Judaism and other religions before Jesus. In the New Testament, this figure is at times identified with Jesus (Mark 10:33, etc). But at other times it is clearly distinguished from him (e.g., in Luke 12:8: “Everyone who acknowledges me (i.e. Jesus) before men the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God…”). Since the early church would have no reason to distinguish Jesus from the Son of man if he himself did not make such a distinction, it is more than likely that the identification between Jesus and the Son of man was made by others after him. This view is now shared by an ever-increasing number of New Testament scholars, including Rudolf Bultmann, John Knox, F. Hahn, A. J. B. Higgins, R. H. Fuller, and H. E. Todt.
In the Qumran tradition, the figure of Man was originally probably identical with the eschatological prophet expected in the scrolls and elsewhere in the Jewish tradition on the basis of Deuteronomy 18:18-19 (see G. Vermes, The Dead Sea Scrolls in English, Penguin Books, 1975, p. 50). There is basis to think that Jesus’ view of Man was derived in part from the Qumran tradition. Thus, in John (14:15-17, 25-27; 15:26-27; 16:7-15), Jesus promises a figure bearing the title “Parakletos,” which means “Counsellor” and Arab Christians expected a messenger called “Ahmad,” which means “Admirable” (Qur’an 61:6), and equivalents of the same two names are found in a title (“Admirable Mighty Counselor”) given to Man in the scrolls. (See Hymns III, and also note 32 and note 192.) The expectation of the figure bearing the names “Admirable” and “Counselor” must ultimately go back to Jesus himself, since otherwise Christian tradition cannot be expected to contain references to a future figure implying insufficiency of Jesus. These observations provide further support for the view that Jesus talked about Man or Son of Man as someone other than himself. ↩ - Similitudes of Enoch 46:1-5; 48:1-10; 63:2-16. Tr. Charles. Fragments of other books of the Enoch series have been found at Qumran, and it seems likely that the Similitudes also had contact with the Qumran tradition. It has also been proposed that the Similitudes is not pre-Christian but Jewish-Christian. ↩
- Isa. 9:6. The passage is the ultimate source of the title “Admirable Mighty Counsellor” found in the Qumran tradition and the titles “Parakletos” and “Ahmad” used in the Christian prophecies (cf. note 187), and probably also of the title “the Spirit of truth” of John 14:17; 15:26; 16:13. (Cf. note 192.) ↩
- Deut. 18:18-19. ↩