Today is Good Friday. Christians the world over will take time to reflect on the day it commemorates, the crucifixion of Jesus Christ at the hands of the Romans, who in turn were encouraged by elements in the Judean Sanhedrin, who thought Jesus a dangerous troublemaker. It is a day believers must get past in order to celebrate the Resurrection on Easter Sunday.
Tomorrow, Passover begins. While “officially” Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur outrank it, many Jews regard it as their most important holiday. It celebrates the day (the night, actually), when Hebrews in Egypt marked their doors with lamb’s blood so that the Angel of Death would “pass over” their homes and confine his visits, lethal to first-born sons, to the homes of the Egyptians. The passage of the Death Angel was the last of the plagues promised by Moses, and the one that caused Pharaoh to allow the Hebrews to leave Egypt (“the Exodus”).
The two holidays are tied together because Jesus and his 12 Apostles, all Jews themselves, were in Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. The “Last Supper,” which Christians remembered last night (“Maundy Thursday”), was a traditional Passover Seder meal, a ritual dinner Jews have celebrated annually for at least, if my calculations are correct, 3,200 years. I say at least, because, while traditional scholars place the Exodus at about 1200 B.C.E., and some even doubt it happened, recent findings suggest it took place about 400 or 500 years earlier.
I find the latter view persuasive, although the traditional date, which places the Exodus during the reign of Pharaoh Rameses II, made really good theater when Cecil B. DeMille filmed “The Ten Commandments.” I have read and watched much that seek to explain both the Exodus and the Crucifixion. Most of these seek to tell the viewer or reader “what really happened.” I find most of these interesting, some persuasive, and none likely to alter my religious beliefs.
For example, some scholars now think the Hebrews actually crossed the marshy “Sea of Reeds” to the north of the Red Sea, and not the deep water to the south. Thus, they say, tidal action from the Mediterranean Sea to the north of the Sea of Reeds pulled the water out of the marsh, creating dry land for the Israelites to cross, and the returning tide hopelessly mired the Egyptian chariots. This seems to me more likely than the parting of the sea shown so dramatically in the DeMille film.
Likewise, much ink and documentary film has been spilt or reeled off about who is to blame for Christ’s execution — the Romans or the Jewish leadership. The question is important because throughout history ever since, those who have been ignorant, or malignant, or both, have used the Crucifixion as an excuse to persecute Jews. Even today, offenses against Jews are the most frequent “hate crimes.”
I don’t claim to be the last word on the subject, but here are some things I’ve pieced together: First, crucifixion was a Roman form of execution used primarily for political prisoners or foreign enemies because it was so brutal. Roman auxiliary soldiers escorted Jesus to his execution.
Secondly, Judea had historically enjoyed a special status among the client kingdoms that were nominally independent but under Rome’s thumb. The rulers of the Herodian dynasty furnished troops and support to Rome. In turn, the Judeans out of all the subject kingdoms were exempted from acknowledging the Roman deities. But, despite this special status, the Judeans were not happy under Rome.
A large number of Judeans wanted armed revolt. Thus, Judea was dry kindling that was waiting to be set on fire, and the fire was to break loose in 66 A.D., 30 years after Christ’s execution, in a revolt the Romans brutally suppressed.
Thus, the Jewish leadership, the Sanhedrin, were terrified of any movement or leader that might cause the wrath of Rome. At the same time, many other Jews thought the Sanhedrin were collaborators who toadied to the Romans, and also used their connections to get rid of anyone they didn’t like themselves.
So, the followers of Jesus, all Jews themselves, believed the Judean leadership had maliciously fingered Jesus for arrest and execution. So, the Romans killed Christ, but they had some help from the Sanhedrin.
At least, that’s my opinion. And no, I don’t hate Jews because of it any more than I hate Italians, and that is not at all.