We’re nearing the end of the Gospel of Nicodemus — a 4th century account of Jesus’ trial, crucifixion and resurrection that didn’t make it into the official New Testament. Even if this book doesn’t rise to the level of Holy Writ, I still find that it brings a deeply devotional imagination to the Text, which is inspirational in its own way. (We still do that today, right? See any Hollywood depiction of Bible stories.)
So far the story has hewed very closely to the official narrative. But the official narrative is already rather complete — the Gospel of Nicodemus expands on already existing elements from the official gospel stories. But there’s a second part that scholars think was written by a different author and appended to what we’ve encountered so far. This second part addresses the question: What happened to Jesus between between dying on the cross on Friday and rising on Sunday morning? This section has come to be known as “The Harrowing of Hell”. A ‘harrow’ is a farm tool with spikes, teeth or disks used to break up and smooth the soil. So the “Harrowing of Hell” conjures up quite the image!
Unlike the first part, the author of the Harrowing of Hell had virtually nothing to work with. The idea that Christ descended into hell comes from Acts 2:27 & 31 in which we read that the soul of Christ “was not left in hell” (King James version). And we see this echoed in the Apostle’s Creed (5th century?): “He descended into hell…” But the New Testament supplies no details, so the author’s imagination — of necessity — goes much farther afield. But I think we’ll see there are some worthy thoughts in their narrative.
First, it will help to note that there are two main words for ‘hell’ used in the New Testament: ‘Gehenna’ and ‘Hades’. The King James, and many other translations, translate both using the same English word ‘hell’, but they were in fact quite distinct concepts.
‘Gehenna’ was a Jewish realm of the dead, and was a valley outside of Jerusalem that was (so the tales told) where pagans sacrificed their children to their gods, and worse. So even though it was ‘above ground’, so to speak, it was nevertheless profoundly unholy ground indeed. And the concept grew from there.
‘Hades’, on the other hand, is the Greek realm of the dead, presided over by the Greek god Hades. Hades was a dark, shadowy place, located either underground, or beyond the bounds of the ocean. Over the centuries the idea of Hades evolved to include different regions for the Good and for Evil-doers, and more.
In whatever ways medieval Christianity may have taken these concepts and developed its own notions of ‘hell’, the descriptions above are more or less how a typical person in 1st century Palestine would have understood the terms ‘Gehenna’ and ‘Hades’.
So the verse in Acts 2 in the Greek reads that Christ “was not left in Hades” and the author of the Harrowing of Hell runs with that concept. The author’s narrative point of departure is this verse:
[When Jesus died on the cross], the bodies of many saints who had fallen asleep were raised. And coming forth from their tombs after his resurrection, they entered the holy city and appeared to many.” (Mt 27:52-53)
So in the Gospel of Nicodemus, when the question arises “What happened to Jesus between the crucifixion and the resurrection?”, someone has the great idea “Hey! I know two guys who just rose the dead, who were there! Maybe they can tell us what happened!” They can, and they do:
We then were in Hades, with all who had fallen asleep since the beginning of the world. And at the hour of midnight there rose a light as if of the sun, and shone into these dark regions; and we were all illuminated, and saw each other. And immediately our father Abraham was united with the patriarchs and the prophets, and at the same time, filled with joy, they said to each other: ‘This light is from a great source of light.” The prophet Isaiah, who was there present, said: ‘This light is from the Father, and from the Son, and from the Holy Spirit; about whom I prophesied when yet alive, saying, “The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthaleim, the people that sat in darkness, have seen a great light.”’”
Then all hell breaks loose (so to speak)! Alas, I’ve run out of space, so we’ll have to resume the story next week!