The Betrayal

by W. Michael Gear

  101 Joseph of Arimathea, a scholar of the law, and a pious Jew, would certainly have requested the bodies of any fellow Jew who died that day—if for no other reason than to obey Jewish law.

  102 Digesta, 48,24,1, and Tacitus, Annales, 6,29.

  103 M Sanhedrin VI 5.

  104 While it was Roman law that a crucified man might not be buried, it was Jewish law that convicts executed by order of the Roman prefect had to, eventually, be buried and mourned according to Jewish tradition (Semahot II 7 and 11). As Cohn notes on p. 239, “That it was a Roman court which had sentenced him was enough to entitle him to the benefits of Jewish burial and traditional Jewish mourning.”

  105 You may be wondering why we did not use the story of Barabbas’ release. This tradition, called the privilegium paschale, did not exist at the time of Jesus. Had there been either a Jewish or Roman law establishing such a custom, there would be a record of its application, either before the life of Jesus or after, by some governor, bishop, or priest, somewhere. There isn’t. Not until the year 367 do we find a Roman law, the indulgentia criminum, which establishes a custom for pardoning criminals on the feast of Easter, except for those “guilty of sacrilege against the Imperial Majesty, of crimes against the dead, sorcerers, magicians, adulterers, ravishers, or homicides.” Even in 367, then, Barabbas, the convicted murderer, would not have been eligible for release. As well, only the emperor himself could grant a pardon under the indulgentia criminum. Provincial governors did not have the right to do so. Such an act would have been seen as usurping imperial prerogative, and tantamount to treason. Lastly, there is no evidence that the emperor granted “special” dispensation to Pilate to allow him to grant such pardons to curry the favor of the Jews. Nor, we must conclude, would Pilate have done so if he’d had the right to. Pilate was notorious in his contempt for Jews.

  This is another example of the gospel writers’ attempts to make Jews appear to be the culprits, rather than Rome. Keep in mind the political context at the time the gospels were being written. Jerusalem was about to be, or had just been, attacked and destroyed. Romans had issued a decree forbidding Jews from even visiting the city, let alone living there, and left the Tenth Legion in the city to enforce the decree. Christians had begged the commanders of the legion to allow them back into the city, claiming they were not part of the Jewish community, and saying they were happy Rome had destroyed the Temple. The commanders, who needed civilians to provide services for their troops, and were probably happy to work with the enemies of the Jews, agreed. Christians were allowed to return to Jerusalem. Relations between Jews and Christians became extremely volatile, so much so that Judaism and Christianity finally split around 85 C.E.—the exact time when the gospels of Matthew and Luke were being written. (For more on this see Meir Ben-Dov’s Historical Atlas of Jerusalem, pp. 136–42, and The Oxford Illustrated History of Christianity, edited by John McManners, pp. 21–26, and especially Brandon, pp. 2–4 and pp. 262–76.)

  Also, try to imagine what it must have been like to be a Christian in Rome, as Mark probably was, after the start of the Jewish War in the year 66. When James was murdered in 62, relations with Judaism began to fall apart, then the revolt of 66 cut all communications with the mother church in Jerusalem. Mark and his community were suddenly rudderless. To make matters worse, to the Romans, Christians were Jews. There was no such thing as “Christianity.” There were Jews who believed the messiah had come, and they called themselves Christians, but the sect was part of Judaism. The persecution must have been unbearable. In part, at least, Mark’s gospel was probably a deliberate attempt to shout, “We are not Jews!” Undoubtedly one of the reasons Mark chose to vilify Jews in his gospel was that by shifting the blame for Jesus’ death from Rome, where it belonged, to the Jews, it solved a major public relations problem for Christians in Rome. It was like saying, “Yes, the Jews are killing your sons and husbands in Palestine, but they also killed our Lord. We are not Jews! In fact, we hate Jews as much as you do!” While the historical legacy of Mark’s vilification is wrenching—his words have been used to support the murder of millions—at the time, it was simply self-defense.

  S.G.F. Brandon’s chapter entitled “The Markan Gospel,” in his book Jesus and the Zealots, is very valuable for a better understanding of this issue.

  Keep in mind, also, that before the end of the first century, Christians were forbidden to enter synagogues. By the close of the fourth century, marriages between Jews and Christians were prohibited, and if such marriages occurred, they were treated as adultery. Legislation was promulgated forbidding Jews to proselytize, or build new synagogues. (Coogan, pp. 582–87.)

  The first few centuries were horrifying—for both sides—and it got worse.

  106 The Gospel of Thomas, verse 24.

  107 The city of Emmaus is another mystery to scholars. In his Onomastican (90:16) Eusebios identifies it as the city of Nicopolis. However, in 440 Hesychius of Jerusalem said that Nicopolis was too far from Jerusalem to be the Emmaus listed in Luke 24. Other sites have been recommended by scholars, including el-Qubeibeh, and Abu Ghosh, Qaloniyeh. In his Antiquities (Book XVIII, chapters 2, 3) however, Josephus says that Emmaus is a “little distance” from the city of Tiberias in Galilee.

  108 Luke 24:13.

  109 There has been great speculation about the identity of the unnamed apostle who accompanied Cleopas that day outside Emmaus (see the Anchor Bible Dictionary entry for “Cleopas”). The main scholarly choices include Peter, Nathaniel, Deacon Philip, Nicodemus, Simon, and many others. We leave you to make your own choice, as we have.

  110 A good reference here is The Oxford History of the Biblical World, edited by Michael Coogan, pp. 567–69.

  111 For pictures of these artifacts, see Ben-Dov’s Historical Atlas of Jerusalem, p. 139.

  112 What Jesus actually said on the cross has been a subject of heated debate for almost two thousand years. This saying is found only in Mark and Matthew. The controversy stems from the fact that the words recorded by Mark and Matthew are not Greek, Hebrew, or Aramaic. Mark’s version, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani, which is written in Greek, is at best a “Hebraized” transliteration of Aramaic that is probably an attempt to make Jesus appear to be quoting Ps. 22:1. Two early manuscripts of Mark read zaphthani, rather than sabachthani, which is at least closer to the Hebrew. In addition, many of the ancient Latin translators couldn’t bring themselves to translate the nonsense word sabachtani as “forsaken,” so that we find they substituted exprobasti me (you have tested me), or me in opprobrium dedisti (you have given me over to hatred), and even meledixisti (you have wished me ill). The apocryphal Gospel of Peter reads he dunamis mou (my Power) for “My God,” and kateleipsas me (you have left me behind), rather than egkatelipes me (you have forsaken me).

  The best discussion of the evidence can be found in Mark: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary, by C. S. Mann, pp. 650–51.

  113 Despite what the evangelists record, we know from a wide variety of historical resources that there was no eclipse of the sun during Passover of the year 30. There was an eclipse of the sun during the month of Nisan in the year 33, but it was utterly invisible from Jerusalem. The only solar eclipse visible from Jerusalem during the time period in question occurred on November 24 of the year 29. The Greek historian Phlegon mentions this event in his History of the Olympiads, and notes that it was accompanied by an earthquake. There were, however, eclipses of the moon on the eve of Passover in the years 30 and 33. A good discussion of the astronomical events surrounding the crucifixion can be found in Glorious Eclipses: Their Past, Present, and Future, by Serge Brunier and Jean-Pierre Luminet.

  114 M Shabbat VI 10; B Shabbat 67a; J Shabbat VI 9; Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Hilkhot Shabbot 6, 10; Plinius, Historia Naturalis, 28, 36. In addition, Haim Cohn’s chapter entitled “The Crucifixion,” pp. 219–21, is essential reading for anyone interested in the legal and cultural traditions of both the Jews and Romans.

  115 This is par
tly based on the real Tomb of the Shroud located in the Hinnom valley just outside the old city walls of Jerusalem. Ossuaries labeled MARI and SALOME were found there, as well as the shrouded skeleton described in this novel. See Tabor’s The Jesus Dynasty, pp. 1–21, for more information.

  116 The Gospel of Mary, 17 and 18.

  117 According to the Gospel of Nicodemus XV, Joseph of Arimathea was questioned by Kaiaphas and Annas. His answers make great reading!

  118 This tomb also exists. It’s better known as the Talpiot Tomb, also south of the old city walls of Jerusalem in East Talpiot. For more information, see Tabor, pp. 22–33. Anyone familiar with the ossuaries in this tomb will note that we have slipped the famous James ossuary into the Talpiot Tomb. This is not purely artistic license. The Talpiot Tomb was discovered in l980. When you read Amos Kloner’s original archaeological report, it notes that ten ossuaries were recovered during the excavation. The tenth ossuary was given accession number IAA:80.509, which means it was catalogued, along with the other artifacts, by the Israel Antiquities Authority. However, in 1994 the State of Israel published a catalogue of the ossuaries from the Talpiot Tomb and listed only nine. The tenth ossuary was mysteriously missing. James Tabor recently noted that the dimensions of the missing ossuary, 60 by 26 by 30 centimeters, exactly match those of the James ossuary. This by no means proves that the James ossuary was originally found in the Talpiot Tomb—it’s just interesting.

  119 There are two other Jesus son of Joseph ossuaries known in Israel. One was first written about in 1931 by E. L. Sukenin of the Hebrew University (it was purchased by the Palestine Archaeological Museum, 1926). This ossuary is inscribed twice. One inscription says simply Yeshu, the other inscription reads Yeshua bar Yehosef. Yehosef is another spelling of “Joseph.” The other ossuary has one inscription: Yeshua bar Yehosef. (See Shanks and Witherington, The Brother of Jesus, pp. 58–60.) One of the most interesting references that uses this name is found in the Cave of Letters at Nahal Hever, seven miles north of Masada. The document says that a woman named Babata married Yeshua ben Yosef, and that their son was named Yeshua (Meier, vol. 1, p. 357).

  All this proves is that the name “Jesus son of Joseph” was very common.

  120 Shanks and Witherington, pp. 56–59.

  121 This description comes from “The Hymn of the Pearl,” a stunning narrative poem about a savior who must himself be saved, and is probably pre-Christian and pre-Gnostic. It is a beautiful fable of redemption.

  122 Mark 14:28. It is, perhaps, not surprising that there is a grave of Yeshu ha Notzri, Jesus of Nazareth, found in Galilee, just north of Tsfat (Safed). Few people know about it. Almost no one visits it.

  In the sixteenth century, the Kabbalistic rabbi Isaac ben Luria listed this grave along with the graves of other Jewish sages and saints, calling them “the burial places of the righteous.”

  123 For more information on the issue of the resurrection, we recommend Gregory J. Riley’s book Resurrection Reconsidered: Thomas and John in Controversy.

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