Primordial Groove

The show asks the question who is responsible for the death of Jesus. It revolves around 3 people: High Priest whats-his-face, Pilante, and Jesus.
The show alludes to Jesus being responsible for his own death. Although the high priest had the biggest motivations such as losing power and losing money and even though it was the governor that sentenced him to death, it was Jesus that made the decisions that lead to that point.

1. Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey was a highly provacative act. In Zachariah (I think), it mentions that the Messiah would ride in to Jerusalem on an ass. Jesus doing this seemed to set the stage for a showdown.

2. Jesus' acts in the temple. His mad rampage was also provacative and calculated, according to the show. He knew exactly what would happen to him.

3. The show alluded to him conspiring with Judas instead of being betrayed by Judas.

4. The bleeding from his forehead is a sign of stress and has been observed fairly recently. What caused the stress? Was it the plans he had for himself?

5. When he was asked if he was the Messiah and he said yes. Jesus knew this was blasphemy and was punishable by death. The high priest couldnt kill him so Jesus went before Pilante. After claiming him not guilty, a crowd formed demanding his death. Perhaps this crowd was whipped up by the high priest or perhaps the Jews thought he was crazy and wanted him dead.

6. through this whole passover scene, Jesus never tried to escape or cover his ass.

Did Jesus plot his own death. Was he rational enough to make that kind of choice?

Steven Carr

Zech. 9:9 '9 Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion!
Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you,
righteous and having salvation,
gentle and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.'

Nothing there about a Messiah

Primordial Groove

Is that the only passage relating to this? According to the show, it was a prophecy in Zechariah that the messiah would ride into Jerusalem on a pony.
If there is no such prophecy, then a big portion of their premise could be construed as false. Surely, there is something more or perhaps I had the wrong Book. Although I am quite sure they did say zachariah perhaps I am wrong. Surely the producers would not have made that big of a mistake.

lugotorix

This sounds a lot like a plot device used by both Nikolas Kazantzakis in The Last Temptation of Christ and Robert Graves in King Jesus. I'm not saying it's untrue, just suspicious without corroboration.

IIRC, claiming to be a Messiah wasn't considered blasphemy, since for Jews the Messiah was absolutely human and not divine (only divinely guided). Cyrus of Persia was hailed as a Messiah for repatriating the exiled Jews. If someone in first-century Judea claimed to be the Messiah, their response would have been, "Prove it. Drive out the Romans."
I seriously doubt it. The more likely explanation to me was that he fully expected to drive out the Romans with the help of God. His death as a criminal at the hands of the Romans was a real surprise to his followers (not to mention him, given his exclaming 'God, why have you forsaken me?' on the cross). The transformation of the story of Jesus from a human to a spiritual saviour was most likely the response of a millenarian cult dealing with failed prophecies. It's the same sort of thing that happened with the Millerites in the nineteenth century and the Unarians in the twentieth.

Daniel

Theophage

Jesus is responisble of course. As the son of God he coudl have stopped his death if he wanted to.

Coordinator: Crucifixion?
Stan: Yes.
Next prisoner.
Stan: Er, no, freedom actually.
Coordinator: What?
Stan: Yeah, they said I hadn't done anything and I could go and live on an island somewhere.
Coordinator: Oh I say, that's very nice. Well, off you go then.
Stan: No, I'm just pulling your leg, it's crucifixion really.
laughing
Stan: Yes I know, out of the door, one cross each, line on the left.

Daniel "Theophage" Clark

Primordial Groove

The messiah would be the 'king of the jews.' According to the show, this would be punishable by death under Roman Law because a king would imply rulership, which is treason.
Now, if this is the case, then he should not be to surprised to get his ass staked, would you not agree?

Doctor X

One of the biggest problems to speculative reconstructions is that the Romans did not hunt down his followers. If his "treason" towards Rome was sufficient for them to hang him up with the morning laundry, the Romans would sure as shit decorated the hill with his followers.

--J.D.

Rick Sumner

Unless, as Paula Fredriksen observes, Rome knew he was harmless.

Regards,
Rick

Secular Pinoy

Heh, I remember an exchange with Doc X where I also invoked Fredriksen's speculations as to why Jesus alone was executed, and quoted a line or two from her book. Perhaps the good Doctor should try getting his (her?) hands on a copy of that book.

SLD

Indeed, but it was not blasphemy. It was a political statement, not a theological one. The point is not trivial. There were many self-proclaimed messiahs of that time period. They were all dealt ruthlessly by Romans as a direct challenge to their rule in the area. Anyone claiming to be the Messiah would have been crucified by the Romans for sedition against the state.

SLD