Abstract
A play by a prominent Finnish literature personality Aleksis Kivi, named Lea, whose premiere from 1869 is often considered as a moment of the birth of Finnish Theatre, is based on a pericope from the Gospel of Luke (Lk 19: 1-10), in which Jesus meets a rich Jericho chief tax-collector, a publican named Zacchaeus. The article develops Viljo Tarkiainen's assertion from his article "Aleksis Kiven Lea ja Ernest Renanin Jeesuksen elämä" ("Lea by Aleksis Kivi and The Life of Jesus by Ernest Renan"), that Kivi's play holds especially the biblical line.
Lea and the Bible, especially the Gospel of Luke and its interpretations, are intertextually read besides each other, and it is followed in which direction (and whether this direction is really a biblical one) Kivi, as concerns the plot and the theme, develops the short biblical pericope. The points of departure are the main characters of the play (Lea, the Sadducee Aram, the Tax Collectors and the Pharisee Joas).
The importance of gender, class and ethnicity (race) and at the same time the universality of Jesus' teachings are emphasized. The conclusion is that religious themes in Lea is a very complex whole: on the one hand, it is a variation of a short pericope from the Gospel of Luke, on the other hand the author, when writing Lea, was inspired also by other characters and themes from the Gospel of Luke, the entire New Testament and even the entire Bible.
The intertextual reading of Lea and the Bible shows, that Lea can also be read as "St Luke's Gospel according to Aleksis Kivi" or even directly as "Kivi's gospel."