Pleased as punch that Pilate had proven himself a true friend of the crown, by releasing that Lestai, that Sicarai, that Roman murdering BarAbbas? Pilate seems to have just dodged a bullet, what with the crowd yelling and threatening that if he releases Jesus, he is no friend of Caesars?
Caesar must have been tickled pink to know good ol Barabbas was once more on the street and a danger to Roman soldiers. Yes the wise Pilate knew where his bread was buttered and now with Barabbas back in the shadows sharpening his blade and that Galilean fellow who he saw no wrong in, off to Golgotha, him and Caesar were gonna be like two peas in a pod. And the crowd was quieted and possible riot averted.
Does anybody else see something wrong with this whole scenario when all was said and done?
Rak Rega wrote: ↑Sat Aug 12, 2017 9:14 am
Pleased as punch that Pilate had proven himself a true friend of the crown, by releasing that Lestai, that Sicarai, that Roman murdering BarAbbas? Pilate seems to have just dodged a bullet, what with the crowd yelling and threatening that if he releases Jesus, he is no friend of Caesars?
Caesar must have been tickled pink to know good ol Barabbas was once more on the street and a danger to Roman soldiers. Yes the wise Pilate knew where his bread was buttered and now with Barabbas back in the shadows sharpening his blade and that Galilean fellow who he saw no wrong in, off to Golgotha, him and Caesar were gonna be like two peas in a pod. And the crowd was quieted and possible riot averted.
Does anybody else see something wrong with this whole scenario when all was said and done?
Oh yeah. It is these awkward points in a writer's presentation of the trial and execution that tells us something about what kind of ideas or rhetoric they are reacting to.
Personally, I think the canonical Gospels are reactionary literature, essentially "Apologies" for gentile oriented Christians who saw Jesus as a divine figure who effects some sort of vicarious sacrifice that "saves" those who are initiated into their cultus. These folks were not politically motivated, which is probably different than the motives of the original Judean and gentile converts to Judsaism who followed Jesus' lead on these matters: initiation of a new Judean kingdom by an anointed leader (maybe in conjunction with a HP of some kind) who would effectively rule it as (a) representative(s) of God himself, a concept that is inherently political.
So, IMHO, the gentile Christians had these subversive (from Roman POV) origins of the Jesus movement thrown at them in polemic. "Why do you follow such a man? He was caught and executed for being an unauthorized royal claimant!" The response was that Jesus was actually a misunderstood mystic who was tragically executed on charges trumped up by those "looser" Judeans. This rationalization dates this change in thinking to after war of 66-73 CE. By then, gentiles who had formerly been associated with the early Jesus movement were interpreting his death as actually a sacrifice for the sake of members of all mankind, planned in advance by God himself, as long as you believe in this Sacred Mystery."
Like going to any store with my mother. She would inevitably threaten the counter help with 'get me the manager.' Wasn't fun.
“Finally, from so little sleeping and so much reading, his brain dried up and he went completely out of his mind.”
― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote
