Killing Jesus: A History

by Bill O'Reilly

  Somewhat shockingly, Joseph and Nicodemus are publicly declaring their allegiance to the teachings of Jesus. Joseph takes Jesus’s body to his own private family tomb, a brand-new man-made cave carved out of the soft Jerusalem rock on a nearby hillside. The Jews believe that a criminal’s presence in a tomb desecrates it. Even worse, for a member of the Sanhedrin to touch a dead body on Passover makes him unclean and disqualifies him from eating the Seder. By law, Joseph and Nicodemus will be declared impure and must undergo a seven-day cleansing ritual.3

  No matter, these two bold members of the Sanhedrin demonstrate their role as followers of Jesus by carrying his limp corpse down off Golgotha and then to the nearby tomb. There is no time to perform the ritual washing and anointing of the corpse with oil. But they do make the extravagant gesture of coating the body in expensive myrrh and aloe, to overwhelm the coming smell of decomposition. Then they wrap the body tightly in linen, making sure to keep it loose around Jesus’s face in case he is not really dead but merely unconscious. In this way, he will not suffocate. Jewish tradition dictates that all bodies be examined three days after apparent death.4 Thus the tomb will be reopened and Jesus will be observed on Sunday.

  But all this is merely adherence to ritual. For Jesus is clearly dead. The spear rupturing the pericardial sac around his heart left no doubt.

  Nonetheless, the tomb will be reopened on Sunday. When death is formally pronounced, his body will rest inside the tomb for a full year. Then the bones will be removed from his decomposed body and placed in a small stone jar known as an ossuary, to be either stored in a niche carved into the tomb wall or removed to a new location.

  The tomb of Jesus is in a garden outside the city walls. The stone that will cover its entrance weighs hundreds of pounds. It is already in position, resting atop a track that makes it easier to roll. The track, however, is engineered at a slightly downhill angle. Sealing the tomb today will be much easier than rolling away the heavy stone on Sunday.

  Joseph and Nicodemus carry the body into the tomb and lay it down on the carved rock ledge. The air is dusty and laden with the smell of heavy perfume. The men say a formal good-bye to Jesus, then step outside the tomb.

  Mary, the mother of Jesus, watches as the two men strain to roll the stone across the tomb entrance. Mary Magdalene also looks on. The shaft of daylight penetrating the tomb grows smaller and smaller as the rock rolls into position.

  Jesus of Nazareth predicted his death and even prayed that God take the cup of sorrow from his lips. But now it is done. The silence of the grave is complete. Alone in the darkness of the tomb, Jesus of Nazareth finally rests in peace.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  PILATE’S PALACE, JERUSALEM

  SATURDAY, APRIL 8, A.D. 30

  DAY

  Pontius Pilate has visitors. Once again, Caiaphas and the Pharisees stand before him. But now they are inside the palace, no longer fearful of being made unclean by the governor’s presence, for Passover is done.

  For the first time, Pilate notices that Caiaphas is actually terrified of Jesus’s power. What was not so obvious in the Nazarene’s lifetime is now quite apparent in death, for the chief priest is making an unheard-of request. Caiaphas tells Pilate directly, “That deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples might come, steal the body, and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead.”

  There is a certain logic to the request, for the disappearance of Jesus’s body might lead to an uprising against the Temple priests as his followers convince people that this man who claims to be the Christ has actually proven himself to be immortal. The presence of a Roman guard will deter any attempt to break into the tomb to steal the corpse.

  Pilate consents to Caiaphas’s request.

  “Take a guard,” he orders. “Make the tomb secure.”

  And so it is that a Roman guard is placed at the tomb of Jesus, just in case the dead man tries to escape.

  * * *

  That should have been the end of it. The troublemaker and blasphemer is dead. The Sanhedrin and Rome no longer have any cause for concern. If the Nazarene’s followers had any plans for trouble, there is no sign of it. The disciples have proven themselves timid, still stunned that their messiah is dead. They have gone into hiding and pose no threat to Rome.

  Pilate is relieved. Soon he will be on his way back to Caesarea, there once again to govern without the constant interference of the Temple priests.

  But Caiaphas will not go away. Wearing his expensive robes and linen, he postures before Pilate, not knowing how the Roman governor will report back to Rome. Caiaphas has much at stake and he is uneasy over Pilate’s hand-washing display, which makes it clear that the governor is trying to distance himself from this proceeding. He will lose everything if Emperor Tiberius blames him for the death of Jesus. So Caiaphas stands firm, looking for any sign of approval from Pilate. But the Roman governor has had enough of this arrogant priest. Without a word, he stands and walks away.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  JESUS’S TOMB

  SUNDAY, APRIL 9, A.D. 30

  DAWN

  The morning is dark. Dawn will soon break over Jerusalem, marking the third day since Jesus’s death. Mary Magdalene now takes it upon herself to perform the traditional task of examining the dead body. She travels with another woman named Mary, though not the mother of Jesus. Just as on the day the Nazarene was executed, the streets of the Upper City are quiet as the two women pass through. They exit the city walls at the Gennath Gate and now travel in the Nazarene’s last footsteps as they walk toward Golgotha.

  The vertical pole on which Jesus was crucified still stands atop the hill, awaiting the next crucifixion. The two Marys look away from the gruesome image and walk around the hill to Jesus’s tomb.

  They have practical matters on their minds. Mary Magdalene has never forgotten the many kindnesses Jesus showed her during his lifetime. And just as she once anointed him with perfume and washed his feet with her tears, she now plans to anoint the body with spices. It is unconscionable to her that Jesus’s corpse might molder and emit a foul smell. Perhaps a year from now, when she returns for Passover and is among those who roll away the stone in front of Jesus’s tomb to collect his bones, the smell of sweet perfume will pour forth from the cave entrance instead of the stench of death.

  But this presents another immediate challenge: Mary is physically incapable of rolling away the tombstone; she will require help. Yet most of Jesus’s disciples are still in hiding. Since yesterday was the Sabbath, and she followed the mandate to do nothing but rest, she does not know about the Roman soldier ordered to stand guard outside the tomb.

  But there is no guard. As the two Marys approach the tomb, they are stunned. The tombstone has been rolled away. The crypt is empty.

  Mary Magdalene cautiously steps forward and looks inside. She smells the myrrh and aloe in which Jesus’s body was anointed. She clearly sees the linen shroud in which the body was wrapped. But there is nothing else there.

  To this day, the body of Jesus of Nazareth has never been found.

  AFTERWORD

  What comes next is the very root of the Christian faith. The Gospels record that Jesus’s body was not stolen. Instead, Scripture puts forth that Jesus rose from the dead and ascended into heaven. After his body was found missing, the Gospels state that Jesus appeared twelve times on earth over a forty-day period. These apparitions range from a single individual to groups of more than five hundred on a mountain in Galilee. Some in that large crowd would speak vividly of the event for years to come. A quarter century later, the disciple Paul included the mountain appearance in a letter to the Corinthians.

  Whether or not one believes that Jesus rose from the dead, the story of his life and message achieved much greater status after his crucifixion. He would go down in history not just as Jesus or Jesus of Nazareth, but as Jesus the Christ, the Messiah. Roman write
rs of the period referenced his name, often preferring to call him Christus, the Latinized version of Christ. Unlike all other self-proclaimed messianic figures, Jesus became a noted personage in the history of Jerusalem and beyond. Theudas, the Egyptian prophet, and others such as Judas of Gamala were almost instantly forgotten. Only Bar Kochba (c. A.D. 132–35) retained as much Jewish interest. Followers of Jesus within Judaism are attested to well beyond the first century; the elite did not welcome them, but archaeological evidence and outside sources show that they persisted.

  The Roman historians Pliny the Younger, Cornelius Tacitus, and Suetonius all mention Jesus in their writings. The secular Greek-speaking historians Thallus and Phlegon, the satirist Lucian of Samosata, and the eminent Jewish historian Flavius Josephus also mention Jesus. Not all the writers were kind. Lucian, for example, mocks the early Christians for putting their faith in a man who died such a lowly death. Indeed, for centuries, Christians were embarrassed by the cross, for it was considered a punishment best suited for slaves, murderers, and members of the lowest class. Those opposed to the new Christian faith mocked believers for worshipping “a criminal and his cross”1 and parodied Christianity as a form of madness. However, Christians began crossing themselves on the forehead and chest (“the sign of the cross”) as a way of warding off demons. By the fourth century, the cross was more commonly viewed with pride, as a symbol that Jesus had suffered a lowly death for the benefit of all mankind. The crucifix, that iconic image showing the body of Jesus affixed to a cross, was not a part of the Christian culture until six centuries after his death. The lack of representation of the cross may have been due to the Church’s belief in his resurrection.

  * * *

  After the crucifixion, the disciples of Jesus underwent a radical shift in behavior. They were quite positive that they had seen a resurrected Jesus and soon went out into the world and fearlessly preached his message. Known as the apostles, the men paid a tremendous price for their faith.

  In A.D. 44, the grandson of Herod the Great, Herod Agrippa, who ruled Judea at that time, ordered that James, one of the sons of thunder,2 be put to the sword. The beheading of James made him the first disciple to be martyred. Agrippa was violently opposed to Christianity and used his power to ruthlessly suppress the new theology of Jesus. For a time, he imprisoned Peter but did not kill him.

  Peter’s missionary work eventually took him to Rome, where he formalized the nascent Christian Church. The Romans were not amused, sentencing Peter to death on the cross. When he protested that he was not worthy to die in the same manner as Jesus, the Romans agreed—and nailed him to the cross upside down. The year is thought to be sometime around A.D. 64–67. There is good evidence that Peter is buried beneath St. Peter’s Cathedral in Vatican City.

  The deaths of most disciples are consigned to legend. Andrew, the apostle known for being optimistic and enterprising, preached Jesus’s message in what is now the Ukraine, Russia, and Greece. He was finally believed to have been crucified in Patras, a Roman-controlled region of Greece. Legend says Andrew was bound to an X-shaped cross, thus giving rise to the Saint Andrew’s cross that adorns the national flag of Scotland to this day.

  The often-pessimistic Thomas is thought to have been speared to death near Madras, in India. Bartholomew preached in Egypt, Arabia, and what is now Iran before being flayed (skinned alive) and then beheaded in India. Simon the Zealot was thought to have been sawed in half for his preaching in Persia. Philip evangelized in what is now western Turkey. He is said to have been martyred by having hooks run through his ankles and then being hung upside down in the Greco-Roman city of Hierapolis. The gregarious former tax collector Matthew may have died in Ethiopia, murdered just like all the rest for his fervent preaching.

  Little is known about what happened to the others, except that each apostle spent his life preaching and was killed for doing so. It is a fact that the disciples of Jesus traveled as far as India, Britain, and even into Africa in their zeal to spread their faith, marking a vast sea change from their timid behavior during Jesus’s life and in the hours after his death.

  The last to die was John, the other son of thunder, who was taken prisoner by the Romans for preaching Christianity and exiled to the Greek island of Patmos. There he wrote his Gospel, and also what would become the final pages of the New Testament, the book of Revelation. John died in A.D. 100 in Ephesus, in what is now Turkey. He was ninety-four and the only apostle not to have been martyred.

  Matthew’s Gospel and the first book of Acts attributes Judas Iscariot’s death to suicide. Matthew writes that upon learning that his plan to force Jesus’s hand had resulted in the execution order, Judas flung his thirty pieces of silver into the Temple and hung himself from a tree. Legend has it that he used a horse’s halter to break his own neck. Whether or not this is true, Judas Iscariot was never heard from again.

  The same is true for Mary Magdalene. After her appearance at the tomb of Jesus, she disappears from the story. She’s very likely included among “the women” mentioned in Acts 1:14, as those empowered by the Spirit at Pentecost.

  Mary, the mother of Jesus, is mentioned in the book of Acts and alluded to in the book of Revelation as “a woman clothed with the sun,” but her fate goes unrecorded. On November 1, 1950, the Roman Catholic Church decreed that her body had been “assumed into heaven.” Pope Pius XII noted that Mary, “having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory.”3

  * * *

  Six years after washing his hands of the Nazarene’s execution, Pontius Pilate intervened in another case involving a messiah—and this time it cost him his job. The preacher was a Samaritan who had holed up in a mountaintop sanctuary in Gerizim. Concerned by the man’s growing legion of followers, Pilate suppressed the movement with heavily armed Roman soldiers. This resulted in many deaths and led Pilate to be recalled to Rome to explain his actions. He thought his appeal would be heard by his friend Emperor Tiberius. But by the time Pilate reached Rome, Tiberius was dead, done in either by disease or by being smothered, depending upon which Roman historian is telling the story. No matter, the seventy-seven-year-old debauched emperor was gone. The fourth-century historian Eusebius records that Pilate was later forced to commit suicide, becoming “his own murderer and executioner.” Where and how Pilate died is still debated. One report says he drowned himself in the Rhone River near Vienne, a city in modern-day France. There a Roman monument still stands in the heart of the city and is often referred to as “Pilate’s Tomb.” Another report says he hurled himself into a lake near Lausanne, in what is now Switzerland, where Mount Pilatus is said to have been named in his honor. There is also a rumor that Pilate and his wife, Claudia, converted to Christianity and were killed for their faith. Whether or not that is true, both the Coptic and Ethiopic Christian Churches venerate him as a martyr.

  * * *

  Tiberius was replaced by Caligula, the twenty-four-year-old son of Tiberius’s deceased adopted child, Germanicus. Caligula promptly squandered almost all the fortune he inherited from Tiberius—a fortune partially earned on the backs of Galilean peasants. He served for only four years before being stabbed to death in an assassination eerily similar to that of the great Julius Caesar. He was succeeded, in turn, by the emperors Claudius and Nero, who continued the ruinous policies that eventually led to the downfall of Rome. This occurred four hundred years later, in 476, when the Roman Empire was toppled by Germanic tribes. However, long before the empire’s collapse, Rome turned away from its pagan gods and began worshipping Jesus Christ. Christianity was officially legalized throughout the Roman Empire in 313, with the Edict of Milan.

  * * *

  With Pilate gone, Caiaphas was left without a Roman political ally. He had many enemies in Jerusalem and was soon replaced as the Temple high priest. Caiaphas then left the stage and disappeared into history. The dates of his birth and death are unrecorded. But in 1990, an ossuary containing his bones was discovered in Jerusalem.
They are currently on display at the Israel Museum.

  * * *

  Herod Antipas may have been well schooled in palace intrigue, but it eventually brought about his demise. His nephew Agrippa was known to be a close friend of the Roman emperor Caligula. The Jewish historian Josephus relates that when Antipas foolishly asked Caligula to name him king, instead of tetrarch (at the suggestion of his wife, Herodias, who continued to get him into trouble), it was Agrippa who lodged charges that Antipas was plotting to execute Caligula. As proof, Agrippa pointed to the enormous arsenal of weaponry possessed by Antipas’s army. So it was that Caligula ordered Antipas to spend the rest of his life exiled to Gaul. His fortune and territories were handed over to the younger Agrippa. The former tetrarch was joined in what is now France by Herodias. The two lived in Lugdunum, which many believe to be the location of modern-day Lyon.

  * * *

  The tension between Rome and the Jewish people did not abate after the unjust crucifixion of Jesus. In A.D. 66, the Jews waged war on the Roman occupying army and took control of Jerusalem. Taxation was a key component of this struggle. However, the Romans did not accept defeat. By A.D. 70 they had surrounded the city with four Roman legions (including the legendary Legio X Fretensis, which set up its forces on the Mount of Olives) and were laying siege. Pilgrims arriving to celebrate Passover were allowed into the city—then not allowed to leave, which put considerable pressure on Jerusalem’s limited water and food supplies. Somewhere between six hundred thousand to one million men, women, and children were stuck inside the city walls. Those attempting to escape were promptly crucified, and their crosses left on the surrounding heights for the residents of Jerusalem to witness the fate that awaited them. Thousands were eventually nailed to the cross during the siege, so many that the Romans ran out of wood. Trees had to be logged and carried to Jerusalem from miles away in order to accommodate the tremendous number of crucifixions. Some of those who tried to flee were not crucified but were instead sliced open so that Roman soldiers could scour their digestive tracts because it was thought that many of Jerusalem’s residents had swallowed their gold before trying to make their escape.