It’s strange, isn’t it, that billions of people in the world have an image
of Jesus Christ on the cross emblazoned in their minds. But the killer of Jesus,
a man of the utmost importance, we know nothing about, or close to nothing.
We think he, or even they, deserve some attention, and after watching the show today, you’ll agree.
Something we need to first talk about is what crime did Jesus commit to end up on the cross,
no doubt in absolute agony. The Romans might have roasted people alive in a rather large bull; they
might have executed people by having elephants sit on their faces, but even as horrific as
that sounds, some Romans decried crucifixion for being cruel and inhumane punishment. No kidding.
In terms of being executed, crucifixion was no walk in the park. The Romans understood very
well that it could be very, very painful and humiliating, and without the help of
a soldier expediting the process with a knife or a cudgel, dying could take ages.
As the Roman philosopher Cicero wrote, crucifixion was the “most cruel and hideous of tortures.”
Trust us when we say being squashed by an angry pachyderm was way better than dying on the cross,
and the Romans knew it. So, now the question is, what in God’s name did Jesus Christ do
to make the Romans want to suffer the worst of all punishments.
It wasn’t as if they thought he was the son of God and was about to put an end to all their depravity
and decadence. They just thought he was another loon who walked through the streets preaching
superstitious nonsense. In Mark 3:21–22, it’s written that some of his own family thought he was
insane, even possessed by demons. His own brother, James- that’s right, the famous disciple and Saint
James- also believed this, though he changed his mind after the crucifixion and was eventually put
to death by the Jewish authorities for refusing to deny that Jesus really was the son of God,
some were more ready for their death than others. So, what did Jesus actually do,
in terms of a serious crime? Jesus claimed to be the messiah, the savior
figure predicted in the Old Testament for hundreds of years. This didn’t sit well with many of the
Jewish authorities, who were specially troubled by his ever growing popularity amongst the masses.
Fearing his growing influence, they held a sham trial and then handed him over to the Romans under
the charge that he was claiming to be the King of the Jews, and thus a threat to Rome’s authority.
At the start of his last week, Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey to great fanfare
along the way. When he arrived, thousands of pilgrims were there, many of whom were trading
stuff at the temple. Jesus went into a fit of rage, calling the place a “den of thieves”
and kicking over their stalls. This was because the merchants who had set up at the temple were
exploiting the faithful pilgrims, charging exuberant prices for sacrificial offerings
demanded in Jewish culture for the atonement of sins. All this happened under the watch,
and with the approval of, the Pharisees. He then went after the Jewish elders directly,
calling them out for hypocrisy and their devotion to tradition instead of their duty to love and
care for their fellow man. For them, this long-haired dude was becoming a
right royal pain in the backside. Jesus was exposing their hypocrisy
and avarice and they didn’t much like that. Those elders struck a deal with that back-stabbing
so-and-so Judas Iscariot, one of Jesus’ disciples. Judas told them for the price of 30 silver coins,
he’d betray Jesus. To cut a long story short,
Jesus and his disciples later had a Last Supper, although back then it was just supper. He broke
bread with his guys, and told everyone at the table, “This is my body, which is given for you.”
He then had them all drink from the same cup, and said, "This cup that is poured out for you
is the new covenant in my blood.” Though none knew it at the time, he was symbolically
prophesying his own impending martyrdom. Jesus also said, to some folks’ astonishment,
that someone at the table would betray him. Jesus understood at this point that
a fair amount of agony was coming his way, and when he and the disciples were
hanging out in the garden of Gethsemane, he prayed that things would work out alright.
We can’t overstate how stressed he was. In fact, part of the bible says he was so worked up that
he sweated blood. That can actually happen if the fear is bad enough. It’s called haematohidrosis.
Jesus wanted God to release him from this terrible fate, but in the end accepted his lot.
Judas betrayed Jesus by kissing him on the hand ( the infamous kiss of death)
and so showed the Temple guards who they should arrest. Those guards were working for the chief
priests. As you know, they were all miffed about Jesus calling them out as hypocrites.
One name that comes up in the bible is the Jewish high priest named Caiaphas.
He hated Jesus for exposing all the wrongs, and so he plotted to have him killed.
Not all the elders agreed with this, but then this guy Jesus had been stirring the pot somewhat.
Jesus was a rebel, and he was hurting their power, and so they agreed he had to go.
After a trial, the elders handed him over to the star of today’s show.
This man was named Pontius Pilate. Pilate was the guy that signed Jesus’ death warrant.
But why would the Romans want Jesus dead, seeing as all he was accused of was getting
on the nerves of some dodgy Jewish elders? What did the Romans care about this? Well,
historians now say the Roman didn’t want this rogue Jesus upsetting the apple cart. Jesus had
been a troublemaker and the Romans wanted harmony. The Jewish people were known for being rebellious,
and they sought to placate the Jewish religious authorities in order to calm the region.
To say this was faulty thinking is a huge understatement, but then we have hindsight.
Still, Pilate, the governor of Roman Judea, knew the anti-Jesus Jews were making a mountain out of
a molehill. After all, what had this Jesus fella really done? Maniacs preaching weird stuff in the
street were two a penny, thought Pilate. He wanted no part in killing Jesus, but by not
doing that, he was going to make a lot of folks mad. Pilate didn’t want riots in his streets.
So, he decided to wash his hands of the matter. This is a bit from the bible, “When Pilate saw
that he was gaining nothing but rather that a riot was beginning, he took water and washed his
hands before the crowd saying, ‘I am innocent of this man’s blood, see to it yourselves.”
Pilate was basically trying to get out of it. Had he not crucified Jesus and some
people had lost the plot, he’d very likely have been fired. He could have stopped the
crucifixion if he really wanted to, but he didn’t want to lose his cushy job.
But this wasn’t the Dark Ages (a joke guys), Jesus had to go to trial first. Before that,
Pilate looked at Jesus and in a roundabout way said this guy’s so-called crimes don’t come
under my jurisdiction. So, Pilate sent Jesus to Herod. Herod looked at Jesus and said, hmm,
you aint no major criminal, and so he sent him back to Pilate. Jesus had become a hot potato.
Pilate was now stuck with him, though. We’ll come back to this thriller very soon, but first…
Who was Pilate? Prior to becoming governor, he was a kind of a
knight belonging to the Samnite clan. As with many things we’re discussing today, the matter of his
life’s history is up for debate. But, it’s said Pilate was probably pretty good with a javelin
and went on to be a successful military man. You don’t become a Roman governor for nothing,
though. Pilate was skilled, educated, and likely had a lot of connections.
So, after holding some kind of military command, he greased a few palms and ended up with his gig
as governor of Judea, today the home of the West Bank and Israel. A long way from Rome for sure,
but Roman tendrils back then spread far and wide. Remember, the Romans were pagans. The Jews,
on the other hand, believed in one transcendent God compared to the Roman’s many Gods. Sure,
there was a fair bit of persecution going on, there always is, but the Romans also embraced
religious tolerance for the folks it ruled over – so long as they paid their taxes, of course.
Nonetheless, it’s written that Pilate was roundly disliked by the Jewish elders,
with one reason being that he insulted their beliefs. This also led to added pressure when
Jesus was in his hands. It’s sometimes written that Pilate was a bit weak this way - someone
who bent to pressure from the mob. Again, you must remember, there are
lots of different versions of what happened. One of them has some dialogue between Jesus
and Pilate that sounds like the “Yes or No” game you all played as kids.
Pilate: Are you the King of the Jews? Jesus: You have said so.
Pilate wasn’t going to get him on the first question.
We rather like the dialogue from Martin Scorsese’s movie, “The Last Temptation of Christ.”
Pilate: It's one thing to want to change the way people live; but,
you want to change how they think, how they feel. Jesus: All I'm saying is that change will
happen with love, not with killing. Pilate: Either way, it's dangerous.
It's against Rome…It simply doesn't matter how you want to change things. We don't want them changed.
You may laugh at us using a movie dialogue, but those lines are based on the general gist of
what might have happened. Pilate very likely didn’t hate Jesus, but his hand was forced.
In fact, most accounts have Pilate feeling rather sorry for Jesus. Pilate said, “I find no guilt in
him.” Still, he had to placate those angry folks outside who Jesus had called every name under the
sun. Pilate had to do something, so then, acting a bit spineless, he put a question to the crowd,
aka, the easily offended angry mob who wanted Jesus Christ’s mouth canceled once and for all.
Pilate asked them, should I crucify Jesus or this other bloke, Barabbas?
Barabbas was also in Roman custody at the time. We don’t know what he had done, although in the
bible Matthew says that he was “notorious” and was likely behind a bunch of riots. The Romans
hated riots, protests, that kind of thing. The Jewish elders meanwhile had been skulking
around the crowd whispering in people’s ears, saying something like, “Jesus, choose Jesus,
that one with the beard and long hair. Choose him. He’s bad…Repeat that back to me, ‘Je-s-us’.”
They chose Jesus, even though Barabbas was arguably a troublemaker of a higher degree.
Pilate was like, damn, but at least he could kind of blame the crucifixion of an innocent man
on the crowd. Now we are sure you appreciate the term to wash your hands of someone or something.
In one account, Pilate looked out at the madding crowd and shouted, “What should I do with him?”
Like a chant from WrestleMania, the crowd screamed in unison,
“'Crucify him, crucify him, crucify him…” In another account, it says Pilate even
thought about releasing Jesus, but that would have provoked the ire of the elders and basically
forced the Roman Emperor to get tough on Pilate – which will happen anyway, as you’ll see.
In this story, a Jewish elder then said to Pilate, “If you let him go, you disobey Caesar.
Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.” The elder was basically inferring that taking
sides with Jesus would really work out badly for Pilate. Pilate then went to
the crowd again and shouted, “Shall I crucify your king?” The chief priests shouted back:
“We have no king but Caesar.” Talk about kissing someone’s
behind. The elders probably despised Caesar and they were actively at odds with pagan beliefs,
but anything to get rid of the man who’d called them out for their hypocrisy.
So, now complicit in the murder of Jesus Christ we have back-stabbing Judas. We have some slighted
Jewish elders. We have a spinless Pilate, who admittedly, was between a rock and a hard place,
and we have the angry mob who Pilate cravenly asked to make the decision for him.
But Jesus was still alive at this point. Andwho put the nail in his coffin,
so to speak? Who actually, physically executed Jesus? You can be sure none of
the aforementioned folks wanted blood on their hands, after all, Pilate had just washed his.
Jesus was sentenced to various humiliations before he met with the dreaded cross, including a hefty
amount of scourging. That’s whipping to most of you, but with a whip embedded with sharpened bits
of metal. Some sources say Jesus must have been close to death after such a vigorous whipping,
but he still survived and made it to the cross. The cross used was likely a cross-beam,
as featured in many churches today. Nails might have been used to hold him in position,
although that’s something that’s also been debated. Various parts
of the bible say Jesus said things on the cross, such as, “I’m thirsty.”
Or, a much more moving account says he said, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”
And then there is arguably the most beautiful thing he said, “Father, forgive them; for they
do not know what they are doing.” But who were them?
Some of the artistic interpretations show quite a crowd at the crucifixion,
made up of Jesus’s supporters, Roman soldiers, and as always, that ubiquitous mob.
It’s thought that it was Roman soldiers who drove the nails in, while another soldier may
have pierced Jesus’ side. Some of them were likely still mocking him, saying
sarcastically, “Oooh, the king of the Jews.” One version goes, “When the soldiers had crucified
him, they threw lots to decide who would get his clothes.” Another says the soldiers played with
dice to see who got his clothes. That’s because, before they killed him, they stripped him.
So, we don’t really know who delivered the coup de grace.
Historians say with so many beatings and whippings and then the nails, or even without the nails,
Jesus would have died of cardiac stress pretty quickly, or from asphyxiation.
As for Pilate, who is usually said to be the man that killed Jesus, he eventually ended up in court
for slaughtering some Samaritans. Let’s just say that things didn’t go too well for him once
emperor Caligula came to power. His downfall could have been the work of God’s wrath,
but again, that’s just one take on the long, complex tale that is history.
Finally, as this was all God’s plan and Jesus had, in the end, followed orders,
you could blame the death on the father and son. As they would have said,
it was all for a good cause. Now you need to watch the brilliant sequel to this
story “Was Jesus Actually Resurrected.” Or, go to the dark side with “The Antichrist Explained.”