(Gospel of John 20:1 - 20:31)
Early on Sunday morning while it was yet dark, Mary of Magdala visited the tomb and noticed that the stone had been removed from the entrance. She ran and fetched Simon-Peter and the other disciple (the one that Jesus loved). She told them, "They've taken the Master out of his tomb, and we don't know where they've put him!"
And so Peter and the other disciple went out to the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and peered inside the tomb. He saw strips of linen lying on the ground, but did not enter. When Peter arrived, he went right inside. He saw the strips of linen. He also saw the cloth that had covered Jesus' head; it had been folded and was lying by itself away from the other wrappings. Then, the other disciple, the one who had reached the tomb first, went inside. He saw and was convinced. (But they still didn't comprehend that, in accordance to the Scriptures, Jesus must rise from the dead.) The disciples then went back to where they were staying.
But Mary of Magdala remained outside the tomb, weeping. As she did so, she happened to gaze into the tomb. There, she saw two beings dressed in white, one sitting at the head, the other at the foot of where Jesus' body had lain.
"Madame, why are you weeping?" they asked her.
"Because they've taken away my master, and I don't know where they've taken him," she told them. She turned to leave, but someone else was standing there. It was Jesus! But she didn't recognize him.
"Madam, why are you weeping?" he asked her. "Who is it you're looking for?"
Assuming he was the gardener, she asked of him, "Sir, if you have carried him away, please tell me where you've put him so I can go there and get him."
Jesus called to her, "Mary!"
She turned and exclaimed, "Rabboni!" (which means "teacher" in Aramaic.)
“Please don’t touch me,” Jesus warned her, “because I have yet to ascend to the Father. Go to my brethren and tell them, ‘I will be ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God’.”
Mary of Magdala went to see the disciples and announced, "I have seen the Master!" She told them what he had said.
On Sunday evening the doors of the house where the disciples were meeting were locked, for fear of the religious authorities. But Jesus appeared there and stood amongst them, saying, "Peace be with you." After that he showed them his wounded hands and side. The disciples were filled with joy when they saw the Master. Jesus again said, "Peace be with you," and "As the Father has sent me, I send you." He breathed upon them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit! If you forgive someone's sins, they will be forgiven. If you withhold forgiveness, then such forgiveness will be withheld.”
Thomas (called the Twin), one of the twelve apostles, was not with the others when Jesus appeared. They told him, "We have seen the Master." He answered, "Well, I won't believe it until I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound on his side."
A week later the disciples were again in the same house and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were closed, Jesus appeared and stood among them. "Peace be with you," he declared. To Thomas he said, "Put your finger here and observe my hands. Stretch out your arm and place your hand into the wound at my side. Cast aside your doubts and --- believe!"
"My Master, my God!" Thomas responded.
Jesus said to him, "You have come to believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who have not seen and still believe."
Jesus performed before his disciples many other miracles that are not recorded in this book. But these have been written down so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and through that belief you may achieve in his name life everlasting.
Notes
1. Mary of Magdala come to the tomb early in the morning on Sunday. Jesus had already risen and left the tomb on Saturday at dusk. Since Jesus more than once prophesied, unambiguously, that he would spend three days and three nights in the grave, we must therefore assume that he was entombed at the end of the day on Wednesday, expiring on the cross in the mid afternoon. The following day, Thursday, the 15th day of Nisan was the first day of Passover, and the Passover seder was eaten the night before. (One must always remember that the new day begins just after sundown.) The day of crucifixion was not Friday, the day before the weekly Sabbath, but Wednesday, the day before the holiday of Passover. This misunderstanding has resulted from confused translations and the failure to realize that during the week of Jesus’ crucifixion there were, in fact, two Sabbaths. Although there are some ambiguities and inconsistencies in the gospels, the preponderance of evidence points clearly to a Wednesday crucifixion. If the three-day-and-three-night prophecy is taken seriously (and if it didn't come to pass, it surely would have been deleted from the gospel narratives), then belief in a Friday crucifixion is indefensible. The false Good Friday, an error almost two millennium in duration, continues to be observed not because it is biblical, but because it is traditional. (The lengths to which biblical apologists will go to defend a Friday crucifixion is mind-blowing, especially the insistence that three days and three nights really can fit within a time period of less than 36 hours.) Knowing that the Passover was on Thursday, it can be determined that the crucifixion occurred on Wednesday, March 24, 34 AD, not on the commonly accepted dates of 30 AD (which is too early anyway) or 33 AD, when the Passovers were on Friday evenings. Since he was preceded by John the Baptist, Jesus’ ministry would have begun after 29 AD, the 15th year of the reign of the Emperor Tiberius, when the evangelism of John the Baptist was reported to have begun (Gospel of Luke). There is sufficient time for all the gospel events to have taken place, which is doubtful if the earlier dates are accepted. And in 34 AD Caiaphas was still high priest and Pontius Pilate was still governor. The conversion of Paul, therefore, would have occurred in 35 AD, which is not too late to conform to other events of known chronology.
2. An important part of the Resurrection narrative is that the stone sealing the tomb is rolled away -- or maybe dragged away, or picked up and moved. The impression is given that the tomb opening is not that large. It is, of course, large enough to accommodate a body, but it seems that one must stoop to peer inside. Even so, the size of a boulder or dressed stone needed to block and close the entrance would have been fairly massive, too weighty for a man of normal strength to heave by himself. So, who moved the stone? Jesus, endowed posthumously with superhuman strength, or some other being or beings who had materialized inside the tomb could have moved it from the inside. Or some persons or otherworldly beings could have moved it from the outside. Or the stone could have been moved by some force acting upon it.
3. It is assumed that the stone was moved so that Jesus could exit the tomb. After he left the tomb, he didn't put the stone back, presumably to leave evidence of his departure from the grave and his resurrection. However, since Jesus was now able to materialize and dematerialize, he would not have needed to move the stone to free himself from his tomb. So the moving of the stone was strictly for show.
4. Jesus unwraps his grave clothes, the spiced linen strips in which his once dead body was wound, and leaves them lying on the ground. He removed the head cloth. For whatever reason, he doesn't discard it with the strips of linen, but folds (or rolls) it up, neatly one assumes, and places it elsewhere. This gives the impression that the resurrection was a mere reawakening, a returning to life. For instance, his grave clothes were not burned off his body in a numinous flash of light and lightning. There is no mention of a shroud and if a shroud had been laid across his body, which it might have been, it would not, like the still-controversial Shroud of Turin, have received the impression of his wounds, since his body was swathed in linen. (If the Shroud of Turin is genuine and was created in a burst of some divine energy produced during the resurrection process, as is often claimed, then the gospel accounts of a deceased Jesus undergoing normal burial procedure, being wrapped in linen, must be incorrect.)
5. Peter and the disciple that Jesus loved, presumably John, rush to the tomb, summoned by Mary of Magdala when she finds the stone has been removed from the entrance. John reaches the tomb first. Why? Well, the assumed author of the account must keep a little glory for himself. And it must be considered that Peter was a big guy and probably not as fast a runner as John was and therefore, would have gotten there last. But Peter was a rash, impetuous man, so he entered the tomb immediately without thinking. He was the apostle leader and it was his place to do so. However, it is Mary of Magdala who is able to see the risen Jesus first and not the apostles Peter and John. One may speculate as to the reason for this, but perhaps Jesus simply wasn't ready to face his disciples at that point and wanted to visit them when they were all together. Or he may have valued Mary of Magdala more than any of his disciples.
6. Looking into the tomb, Mary first sees the two beings dressed in white sitting on the place where Jesus' body had been placed. Why were they not seen before by Peter and John? Were they incorporeal and decided to reveal themselves only to Mary of Magdala? Why were they seated? Were they tired? Was the tomb too small for standing room? One assumes that the beings were from Heaven and had come to assist Jesus after the resurrection, or to facilitate the resurrection -- perhaps to remove the stone from the tomb entrance. But why would the Son of God need their assistance? Irrespective of their function, their appearance sets the stage for the revelation of the miraculous event. It suggests that Jesus, now risen, is no longer in the company of men, but of heavenly beings.
7. Mary of Magdala does not recognize Jesus when she first sees him. Is this because he has been physically altered after his resurrection, or because it is still dark and she wasn't able to get a good look at him? Jesus himself first treats her as if he doesn't know who she is, as if she is a stranger, only later addressing her by name. She is warned about touching or holding on to Jesus. Why? Is he radioactive? Will she get an electric shock? Obviously if Jesus is still inhabiting a reanimated physical body, it has been altered in some way. Or, if his spirit is manifest in an astral body that appears in all respects material, he may be fearful she will find that his body is not wholly corporeal and be freaked out. Later, though, when Jesus appears to Thomas, he has the doubting disciple touch the wounds he received on the cross. This would lead one to believe that his body was entirely physical, although Jesus feels no pain from his earthly wounds. Yet, he materializes in the presence of his disciples (he doesn't just walk in the door), something that he, despite being the self-declared Son of God, was not able or willing to do while he was alive. Is this the manifestation of a physical body or the total materialization of an astral one? If the astral body is being seen, then what has happened to the physical body? He could have just as easily have appeared before his disciples in astral form with his physical body still in the tomb, yet the gospels support the belief that Jesus appears postmortem in the same physical body he inhabited during his life.
8. A compelling question, seldom asked, is what happened to the 75 pounds of aloes and myrrh applied to Jesus' body and his grave clothes. Wouldn't he have reeked of the stuff when Mary of Magdala saw him, or did he have time to bathe? It is not mentioned how Jesus was clothed. I'm sure Mary would have noticed if he was still nude and covered with lash wounds. Did someone, the beings in white perhaps, present him with some resurrection-appropriate wardrobe?
9. Thomas, a man from the Holy Land equivalent of Missouri, does not believe the other disciples when they say they have seen the once dead Jesus alive. He is somewhat maligned in this regard. He is not doubting Jesus, he is doubting Jesus' disciples. He is merely questioning what seems preposterous and incredible. When, on his second appearance before them, Jesus allows him to examine and touch his wounds, Thomas is convinced. But Jesus does not compliment his common-sense caution, but praises those who do not need to see to believe. He and the religion promulgated under his name values faith above all: to believe without proof is nobler than believing after evidence has been presented and examined, and reasoned conclusions formed. Thomas, who evinces the skepticism of a man who thinks, who accepts nothing unquestioningly, is not the sort of sheep-like follower that Jesus is apparently seeking.
10. Jesus gives his apostles the authority to forgive or not to forgive sins, assuming what one would think would be the sole prerogative of God, or at least the Son of God. They were to be divine judges. Were the apostles faultless in their assessment of guilt? Did they have omniscient knowledge of facts or some infallible insight into the hearts of men?
11. Incidences of people, especially those suffering a sudden, traumatic death, appearing in apparently physical form after death are not uncommon. Sometimes ghostly apparitions are witnessed, but there are well authenticated cases of manifestations that are indistinguishable from a living person. These wraiths often communicate telepathically, but there are occasions as well when a total materialization allows for seemingly normal verbal communication.
12. The mystery of the resurrection, of what really happened -- whether it is a complete myth or utter fact or something between -- cannot be solved. With any mystery there are many things that are probably, but unprovably true, things which only might be true, but always a few things that can be accepted as incontrovertible fact. Here, there is nothing that can be accepted without question, nothing upon which a theory can be solidly built. For no historian contemporary with Jesus ever referred to him; there is no record of his life outside the gospels. The gospels are purportedly first-hand accounts, but we know that their authors were not the apostles to whom they were ascribed. They are, therefore, second-hand accounts at best. They were written decades after the fact. And they are religious propaganda intended to glorify its subject, indoctrinate the faithful, and convert the doubtful, not objective historical records. The gospels themselves disagree and present conflicting and incompatible accounts. In the end, the truth that Pilate inquired about cannot be known.
Showing posts with label Mary Magdalene. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mary Magdalene. Show all posts
Monday, March 23, 2015
Saturday, March 21, 2015
The Crucifixion and Burial of Jesus
(Gospel of John 19:17 - 19:43)
Bearing the cross himself, Jesus went out of the city to a hill called the Place of the Skull (or Golgotha, in Hebrew). There the soldiers nailed him to the cross. Two others were crucified with him; they were placed on either side, with Jesus between them. Pilate had posted on the cross an inscription that read, "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Judeans." Many people were able to read the inscription because it was written in Aramaic, Latin, and Greek and the location where Jesus was crucified was just outside the city. The chief priests, though, complained to Pilate, "Don’t write ‘King of the Judeans,’ but instead, ‘He who claims to be King of the Judeans’.” But Pilate dismissed their objections. "What I have written, I have written,” he told them.
As soon as the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they helped themselves to his clothes, dividing them evenly between the four of them. Remaining was the undergarment, the tunic. This article was woven from top to bottom and, therefore, had no seam. "Let's not tear it," they decided. "Let's draw lots to see who gets it." And that's what the soldiers did, fulfilling a prophecy that said, "They divided my garments among them and drew lots for my clothing.”
Standing near the cross were Jesus' mother, Mary, her sister-in-law, Mary, who was the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. When Jesus saw his mother there with a disciple he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, "Madam, here is your son!” And to the disciple he said, “Here is your mother." And from that time the disciple would shelter her in his own home.
Shortly after, Jesus, knowing that all had now come to fruition said, in fulfillment of prophecy, "I'm thirsty!" A jar of vinegar was there, and so the soldiers soaked a sponge in the vinegar. They attached the sponge to the end of a hyssop branch and conveyed it to his mouth. After tasting it, Jesus proclaimed, "It is finished!" He bowed his head and expired.
As it was the day of Preparation of the Passover and the following day was to be a special holiday, the religious authorities did not want any bodies left on the crosses. They requested of Pilate that the crucified men have their legs broken and removed from the crosses. The soldiers thus came and broke the legs of one of the men who were crucified with Jesus, and then the other, but when they came to Jesus, they found that he had already died; therefore they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, causing a spurting of blood and water. (An eye witness testified to this factual event. He insists that he speaks the truth, so you can believe him.) These things occurred in fulfillment of Scriptures that prophesied, "None of his bones will be broken," and "They will gaze upon the one that has been pierced."
After this, Joseph of Arimathea, who was only a secret follower of Jesus because he feared the religious authorities, asked Pilate if he could take custody of the body of Jesus. With Pilate's permission he came and took the body away. He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who had visited Jesus by night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, a quantity weighing 100 litras. According to the burial customs of the Judeans, the body was wrapped in linen sheets soaked in spices. Near the place where Jesus had been crucified was a park and in it a new tomb in which no one had been interred. Since it was the day of Preparation before the Hebrew Passover and since the tomb was so near, they laid Jesus to rest there.
Notes
1. Golgotha, or the Place of the Skull, was just outside the Jerusalem city gates. Helena, the mother of Emperor Constantine, identified in 325 AD what has become the traditional location of Golgotha (or Calvary). Constantine built the Church of the Holy Sepulchre there; it is the Christian Quarter of the Old City. Alternative sites have been proposed, including one, on Skull Hill, north of the Damascus Gate, that was famously endorsed by the famous British General Charles George "Chinese" Gordon during his travels in Palestine in 1882, a few years before his death at Khartoum. (Gordon, an evangelical Christian and a believer in reincarnation, also asserted that the earth was enclosed in a hollow sphere with Heaven above Jerusalem and Hell above the Pitcairn Islands and that Eden was on the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean.)
2. That Jesus carried his own cross is scarcely possible. The stake and crossbar would have comprised a very serious piece of timber perhaps weighing as much as 300 pounds. Even a man of Herculean physique would find it a bit dicey carrying such a load especially after being whipped nearly to death. Stakes were usually permanently installed in the place of execution. It seems more likely that Jesus was forced to carry on his back just the crossbar, which would still weigh a 100 pounds or so. Jesus was nailed to the crossbar when he reached the site of execution. (The iron nails would eventually be removed and reused.) Then he was either hoisted to the top of the stake, or, more likely, the stake was lowered and with the crossbar attached, raised into position and secured. Best evidence suggests that the cross would have resembled a capital letter “T,” although it is not certain that the crossbar was, in fact, secured at the top of the stake. If his feet were secured, nailed or tied, or allowed to support the body with a shelf to stand on, it is possible that the nails were hammered through his hands. If not, the nails would have had to go through his wrists. The exact technique used can not be definitively determined; there were several variations on the crucifixion procedure. Victims were generally stripped naked and a man was lucky if his privates were not impaled. It was all intended to be the most excruciatingly painful, cruel, and undignified death possible. Romans reserved it mostly for slaves and rebels, and no free Roman citizen could be crucified. (That is why Paul, a Roman citizen, escaped crucifixion.) Enlightened Romans, such a Cicero, who lived a century before Jesus, deplored its barbarity and many advocated its abolition.
3. It seems credible that the soldiers might confiscate and keep for themselves the clothes of condemned criminals, but why would they want a sweaty, bloody, probably ragged tunic, the underwear of someone who was a non-Roman provincial and, in their eyes, either a criminal or a religious fanatic? Or did rags fetch so a high price on the market that Roman soldiers, who were fairly well paid, would fight over them? It is ambiguous whether lots were drawn for the clothes or if dice were thrown for them. Although dice have been around for thousands of years and comprised a popular form of gambling during the Roman Empire, their use was in fact illegal except during the Saturnalia. It seems plausible that the soldiers, rather than risk drawing the ire of their officer for what would be an infraction, would have simply drawn lots rather than using dice. (Short stick gets the dead guy's underwear!)
4. Present at the crucifixion are Jesus's mother, Mary, another Mary who was probably her sister-in-law or possibly her cousin and not her sister as most translations say. This Mary was probably also the wife of Clopas (Joseph's brother?), although this Mary and Clopas' wife could have been different people. The third (or fourth) woman there was Mary of Magdala (or Mary Magdalene), a devout follower referred to intriguingly in other gospels. She was probably from a place called Magdala, meaning "tower," although its location is not positively known. It is possible, though, that the term Magdalene could have another meaning. (It should be mentioned that this Mary is definitely not the repentant prostitute, as she has been popularly and incorrectly portrayed.) There is also present an unnamed disciple that Jesus loved. (I thought Jesus loved all his disciples.) This unnamed disciple would take Jesus' mother into his home and treat her as his own mother. Jesus apparently has no money or property to leave her, so she is reduced to having to stay with a stranger. But this is a noble gesture on Jesus’ part surely, seeing that his mother will be provided for while he is enduring a painful death on the cross. Note that when Jesus says to Mary, “Here is your son,” he is not referring to himself, but to the disciple -- who is probably meant to be John, the purported author of this gospel.
5. The two men who were crucified with Jesus are not here named. Traditionally they are thieves, career criminals, or rebels. The highly questionable 4th Century Gospel of Nicodemus identifies them as Dismas and Gestas, but it seems unlikely that their names would only be remembered centuries after the event.
6. The crucified man would endure a process of acute suffering that might take hours, or even days. Breaking the legs of the person being crucified would make him unable to support the body otherwise held up only by the nailed wrists or hands. He would then become unable to breathe and would soon die by asphyxiation. Jesus had already died, but, to make sure, a soldier throws a spear at him, piercing his side. That blood and water spurt out of the wound is, of course, miraculous and symbolic, the blood conveying atonement and the water, purification.
7. The soldier who threw the spear is unnamed in the John, but in Nicodemus he is identified as Longinus, a centurion who converted to Christianity and became a saint. Much was subsequently written of him, but he must be regarded as a strictly legendary personage. The Spear of Longinus, also known as the Holy Lance, or the Spear of Destiny, mentioned only in John, is a relic with much lore attached to it. Several candidates for the original have been revered. One, held for a thousand years in Nuremberg and Vienna, has been the center of several fascinating conspiracy theories involving the Nazis. Recent tests, though, have proven that the spear is a phony, old, but not nearly old enough to be the spear.
8. Practically every incident during the crucifixion occurs in order to fulfill some prophecy, or is it that the story is adjusted to make the prophecies seem to come true? Belief that Jesus is the Messiah partly hinges on the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy, so the narrative, as propaganda, emphasizes this.
9. Joseph of Arimathea, who is presumed to be a wealthy man, claims the body. He is simply identified as a secret follower of Jesus and a friend of another, Nicodemus, but a huge amount of mythic material has been attached to him -- connections to the Holy Grail, his introduction of Christianity to England, his tutoring of Jesus as a boy, and so forth. Joseph is thought by some to be the uncle of Jesus, but the author of John obviously did not think so.
10. Those crucified were usually left to rot on the cross. It would have been very unusual for one to be taken down and given a proper burial. Pilate was, according to the narrative, available to grant Joseph of Arimathea permission to do just that. Good thing, for the resurrection story would have otherwise been more complicated. It is generally assumed that the tomb granted Jesus belonged to this Joseph, but John does not say so, only that the tomb happened to be handy and Joseph purchased it. The burial was hastily arranged, and there doesn’t seem to be anything like funeral held.
11. The myrrh and aloes brought by Nicodemus for the preparation of the body weighed 100 litras, about 75 pounds (some say 100 pounds). The quantity is preposterous. One might drolly question whether Jesus could even rise from his tomb weighed down by strips of spice-soaked linen strips weighing so much. And how did all this stuff cost? Did Nicodemus have a couple slaves to carry it for him? At any rate, it would all be wasted, for Jesus’ body would not need to be perfumed.
12. Most translations say that the tomb was located in a “garden.” I have used the word “park.” In modern usage a garden is commonly a plot of ground where flowers or vegetable are grown. A park is a large area of greenery and that is what is obviously meant here.
Bearing the cross himself, Jesus went out of the city to a hill called the Place of the Skull (or Golgotha, in Hebrew). There the soldiers nailed him to the cross. Two others were crucified with him; they were placed on either side, with Jesus between them. Pilate had posted on the cross an inscription that read, "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Judeans." Many people were able to read the inscription because it was written in Aramaic, Latin, and Greek and the location where Jesus was crucified was just outside the city. The chief priests, though, complained to Pilate, "Don’t write ‘King of the Judeans,’ but instead, ‘He who claims to be King of the Judeans’.” But Pilate dismissed their objections. "What I have written, I have written,” he told them.
As soon as the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they helped themselves to his clothes, dividing them evenly between the four of them. Remaining was the undergarment, the tunic. This article was woven from top to bottom and, therefore, had no seam. "Let's not tear it," they decided. "Let's draw lots to see who gets it." And that's what the soldiers did, fulfilling a prophecy that said, "They divided my garments among them and drew lots for my clothing.”
Standing near the cross were Jesus' mother, Mary, her sister-in-law, Mary, who was the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. When Jesus saw his mother there with a disciple he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, "Madam, here is your son!” And to the disciple he said, “Here is your mother." And from that time the disciple would shelter her in his own home.
Shortly after, Jesus, knowing that all had now come to fruition said, in fulfillment of prophecy, "I'm thirsty!" A jar of vinegar was there, and so the soldiers soaked a sponge in the vinegar. They attached the sponge to the end of a hyssop branch and conveyed it to his mouth. After tasting it, Jesus proclaimed, "It is finished!" He bowed his head and expired.
As it was the day of Preparation of the Passover and the following day was to be a special holiday, the religious authorities did not want any bodies left on the crosses. They requested of Pilate that the crucified men have their legs broken and removed from the crosses. The soldiers thus came and broke the legs of one of the men who were crucified with Jesus, and then the other, but when they came to Jesus, they found that he had already died; therefore they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, causing a spurting of blood and water. (An eye witness testified to this factual event. He insists that he speaks the truth, so you can believe him.) These things occurred in fulfillment of Scriptures that prophesied, "None of his bones will be broken," and "They will gaze upon the one that has been pierced."
After this, Joseph of Arimathea, who was only a secret follower of Jesus because he feared the religious authorities, asked Pilate if he could take custody of the body of Jesus. With Pilate's permission he came and took the body away. He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who had visited Jesus by night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, a quantity weighing 100 litras. According to the burial customs of the Judeans, the body was wrapped in linen sheets soaked in spices. Near the place where Jesus had been crucified was a park and in it a new tomb in which no one had been interred. Since it was the day of Preparation before the Hebrew Passover and since the tomb was so near, they laid Jesus to rest there.
Notes
1. Golgotha, or the Place of the Skull, was just outside the Jerusalem city gates. Helena, the mother of Emperor Constantine, identified in 325 AD what has become the traditional location of Golgotha (or Calvary). Constantine built the Church of the Holy Sepulchre there; it is the Christian Quarter of the Old City. Alternative sites have been proposed, including one, on Skull Hill, north of the Damascus Gate, that was famously endorsed by the famous British General Charles George "Chinese" Gordon during his travels in Palestine in 1882, a few years before his death at Khartoum. (Gordon, an evangelical Christian and a believer in reincarnation, also asserted that the earth was enclosed in a hollow sphere with Heaven above Jerusalem and Hell above the Pitcairn Islands and that Eden was on the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean.)
2. That Jesus carried his own cross is scarcely possible. The stake and crossbar would have comprised a very serious piece of timber perhaps weighing as much as 300 pounds. Even a man of Herculean physique would find it a bit dicey carrying such a load especially after being whipped nearly to death. Stakes were usually permanently installed in the place of execution. It seems more likely that Jesus was forced to carry on his back just the crossbar, which would still weigh a 100 pounds or so. Jesus was nailed to the crossbar when he reached the site of execution. (The iron nails would eventually be removed and reused.) Then he was either hoisted to the top of the stake, or, more likely, the stake was lowered and with the crossbar attached, raised into position and secured. Best evidence suggests that the cross would have resembled a capital letter “T,” although it is not certain that the crossbar was, in fact, secured at the top of the stake. If his feet were secured, nailed or tied, or allowed to support the body with a shelf to stand on, it is possible that the nails were hammered through his hands. If not, the nails would have had to go through his wrists. The exact technique used can not be definitively determined; there were several variations on the crucifixion procedure. Victims were generally stripped naked and a man was lucky if his privates were not impaled. It was all intended to be the most excruciatingly painful, cruel, and undignified death possible. Romans reserved it mostly for slaves and rebels, and no free Roman citizen could be crucified. (That is why Paul, a Roman citizen, escaped crucifixion.) Enlightened Romans, such a Cicero, who lived a century before Jesus, deplored its barbarity and many advocated its abolition.
3. It seems credible that the soldiers might confiscate and keep for themselves the clothes of condemned criminals, but why would they want a sweaty, bloody, probably ragged tunic, the underwear of someone who was a non-Roman provincial and, in their eyes, either a criminal or a religious fanatic? Or did rags fetch so a high price on the market that Roman soldiers, who were fairly well paid, would fight over them? It is ambiguous whether lots were drawn for the clothes or if dice were thrown for them. Although dice have been around for thousands of years and comprised a popular form of gambling during the Roman Empire, their use was in fact illegal except during the Saturnalia. It seems plausible that the soldiers, rather than risk drawing the ire of their officer for what would be an infraction, would have simply drawn lots rather than using dice. (Short stick gets the dead guy's underwear!)
4. Present at the crucifixion are Jesus's mother, Mary, another Mary who was probably her sister-in-law or possibly her cousin and not her sister as most translations say. This Mary was probably also the wife of Clopas (Joseph's brother?), although this Mary and Clopas' wife could have been different people. The third (or fourth) woman there was Mary of Magdala (or Mary Magdalene), a devout follower referred to intriguingly in other gospels. She was probably from a place called Magdala, meaning "tower," although its location is not positively known. It is possible, though, that the term Magdalene could have another meaning. (It should be mentioned that this Mary is definitely not the repentant prostitute, as she has been popularly and incorrectly portrayed.) There is also present an unnamed disciple that Jesus loved. (I thought Jesus loved all his disciples.) This unnamed disciple would take Jesus' mother into his home and treat her as his own mother. Jesus apparently has no money or property to leave her, so she is reduced to having to stay with a stranger. But this is a noble gesture on Jesus’ part surely, seeing that his mother will be provided for while he is enduring a painful death on the cross. Note that when Jesus says to Mary, “Here is your son,” he is not referring to himself, but to the disciple -- who is probably meant to be John, the purported author of this gospel.
5. The two men who were crucified with Jesus are not here named. Traditionally they are thieves, career criminals, or rebels. The highly questionable 4th Century Gospel of Nicodemus identifies them as Dismas and Gestas, but it seems unlikely that their names would only be remembered centuries after the event.
6. The crucified man would endure a process of acute suffering that might take hours, or even days. Breaking the legs of the person being crucified would make him unable to support the body otherwise held up only by the nailed wrists or hands. He would then become unable to breathe and would soon die by asphyxiation. Jesus had already died, but, to make sure, a soldier throws a spear at him, piercing his side. That blood and water spurt out of the wound is, of course, miraculous and symbolic, the blood conveying atonement and the water, purification.
7. The soldier who threw the spear is unnamed in the John, but in Nicodemus he is identified as Longinus, a centurion who converted to Christianity and became a saint. Much was subsequently written of him, but he must be regarded as a strictly legendary personage. The Spear of Longinus, also known as the Holy Lance, or the Spear of Destiny, mentioned only in John, is a relic with much lore attached to it. Several candidates for the original have been revered. One, held for a thousand years in Nuremberg and Vienna, has been the center of several fascinating conspiracy theories involving the Nazis. Recent tests, though, have proven that the spear is a phony, old, but not nearly old enough to be the spear.
8. Practically every incident during the crucifixion occurs in order to fulfill some prophecy, or is it that the story is adjusted to make the prophecies seem to come true? Belief that Jesus is the Messiah partly hinges on the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy, so the narrative, as propaganda, emphasizes this.
9. Joseph of Arimathea, who is presumed to be a wealthy man, claims the body. He is simply identified as a secret follower of Jesus and a friend of another, Nicodemus, but a huge amount of mythic material has been attached to him -- connections to the Holy Grail, his introduction of Christianity to England, his tutoring of Jesus as a boy, and so forth. Joseph is thought by some to be the uncle of Jesus, but the author of John obviously did not think so.
10. Those crucified were usually left to rot on the cross. It would have been very unusual for one to be taken down and given a proper burial. Pilate was, according to the narrative, available to grant Joseph of Arimathea permission to do just that. Good thing, for the resurrection story would have otherwise been more complicated. It is generally assumed that the tomb granted Jesus belonged to this Joseph, but John does not say so, only that the tomb happened to be handy and Joseph purchased it. The burial was hastily arranged, and there doesn’t seem to be anything like funeral held.
11. The myrrh and aloes brought by Nicodemus for the preparation of the body weighed 100 litras, about 75 pounds (some say 100 pounds). The quantity is preposterous. One might drolly question whether Jesus could even rise from his tomb weighed down by strips of spice-soaked linen strips weighing so much. And how did all this stuff cost? Did Nicodemus have a couple slaves to carry it for him? At any rate, it would all be wasted, for Jesus’ body would not need to be perfumed.
12. Most translations say that the tomb was located in a “garden.” I have used the word “park.” In modern usage a garden is commonly a plot of ground where flowers or vegetable are grown. A park is a large area of greenery and that is what is obviously meant here.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)