Asha'man

Lets try this line of speculation: the historical Jesus was stoned and hanged for blasphemy, and that's how the earliest story spread. But it didn't spread far, so it could be changed by a 2nd edition that 'got the facts right'.

Someone wanted a better villain in the story, so the Romans were chosen to take the fall. That meant that the Jewish trial (which still exists in the current gospels) gets downplayed, and a bigger Roman trial added afterwards. Stoning and Hanging is replaced with Crucifixion. The editor also has to add a few contrived elements to explain why Jesus is dead on the first day (which is the normal state of things after a stoning) instead of languishing on the cross for several days. The editor also needs to explain why Jesus can be removed from the cross before nightfall according to Jewish law, rather than letting the body rot in place according to Roman law. So the story gets revised, published, and spread among the masses.

Years pass, and we have yet another preacher trying to 'improve' the story. He doesn't like using Rome as the bad guy, since he's now preaching to Romans, but the Jews look like a good target. We can't change the story as much now, since more people are familiar with it, but some edits are still feasible. We can alter the fabricated Roman trial, and have Jesus found innocent of any crime against Rome. The Jewish mob is blamed, despite the absurdity of the idea.

I think allowing for 2 (or more) revisions by different authors helps explain how the story took it's current form. Again, there is no real strong evidence to support this speculation, but I think it does fit the scraps that we have, including a couple-odd references to Jesus on a tree rather than a cross.