The Romans worshiped the Olympian Gods and the Deified Emperors, Julius, Augustus. They did not require the Jews to sacrifice to the Emperor's genius, so they could get along if they wished. The Hasmonean high priests (Macabees) were usurpers and murders, but led a successful resolt against the Seleucids and later allied with the Romans. The High Priest's Party (political hacks appointed by Herod or the Romans) were Caiphas and Annas and the people who actually condemned Jesus to death for blasphemy at the Sanhedrin. The Pharisaic faction, a minority under Gamaliel, could not stop the murder. [Gamaliel, Saul's Rabbi, had a reasonable position that I follow to this day. If a religion is not divinely inspired it will fall of its own weight). According to the reports, Pontius Pilate, the Roman procurator of Judea, wanted to scourge Jesus and turn him loose.. He even asked him that great question: "What is truth?" but would not stay for an answer. He was contemptuous of the Jews, so despite his better judgment (and supposedly the advice of his wife) he ordered Jesus executed.
Today, of course, Jesus would be remanded for 60 days psychiatric observation. He would have been found incompetent to stand trial. Every cuckoo's nest is full of people who believe they are god. Imprisoned, he might have written a book (there is no evidence that Jesus could write (except for writing in the sand) but he might have learned. Or he might eventually been released to his friends, and holed up on a farm somewhere. He would have been about my age now when the Jews revolted against the Romans. He came, he said, to bring not peace but the sword. He might well have died in battle against Titus Flavius's veterans in the ruins of Zion. |
