Killing Jesus: A History

and where God gathered dust to create Adam, the first man. There is no more profound or greater symbol of Jewish belief.
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    Mary and Joseph step through the Temple gate, leaving the Court of the Gentiles behind. Now their task gets only more frustrating because Jesus could be inside any of the many rooms within the Temple—or in none. They pass through the colonnades of the Eastern Gate and into the Court of Women. At 233 feet long on each side, ringed by four lamp stands rising 86 feet tall, this square courtyard is capable of holding six thousand worshippers at a time. And at the height of Passover, just a few days earlier, there were certainly many crowded together. But now it is empty enough that Mary and Joseph can easily see that Jesus is not here.
    The search becomes a process of elimination. Jesus is obviously not in the Chamber of the Lepers. The Chamber of the Hearth houses priests while they are on duty and contains just dormitories and offices, so that is unlikely. The Chamber of Hewn Stone is where the select council of high priests known as the Sanhedrin resides, so that, too, is probably out of the question. But Mary and Joseph are desperate and willing to look anywhere. They scour the Temple with the same frantic urgency with which they searched the bazaars and alleys of Jerusalem earlier in the day.

View of the Temple from the south
    So as Mary and Joseph make their way through the courts, the sounds and smells of cows and sheep fill the air as priests prepare the animals for their ceremonial death on the altar, strip dead carcasses, and clean up the gallons of blood that flow when an animal is offered up to God. Ritual animal sacrifices are a constant of Temple life. An animal is slaughtered in order that an individual’s sins might be forgiven. The rich smell of blood inevitably fills the air.
    Finally, outside, on the terrace where the sages and scribes teach the Scriptures to believers during Passover and other feasts, Mary hears Jesus’s voice. But the words coming from his mouth sound nothing like those of the son she knows so well. Jesus has never shown any sign of possessing such deep knowledge of Jewish law and tradition. So Mary and Joseph gasp in shock at the ease with which he is discussing God.
    Nevertheless, they are also understandably irate. “Son,” Mary stammers. “Why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”
    “Why were you searching for me?” he responds. There is innocence to his words. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my father’s house?” 1
    If the esteemed Temple rabbis overhear Jesus’s response, they don’t let on. For if the boy is inferring that God is his actual father—literally, not just figuratively—then it is tantamount to blasphemy, being a claim to divinity, and no different, in their eyes, from the claims of Caesar Augustus. But the Roman emperor is not a Jew and thus not held accountable for his blasphemy under Jewish law. If he were, the punishment handed down through the Jewish patriarch Moses would be death.

    But Jesus is a Jew. And Jewish law says that upon commitment of blasphemy, the entire congregation should place their hands upon him, then step back and hurl rocks at his young and defenseless head and body until he collapses and dies.
    For Jesus of Nazareth is not claiming Joseph, the carpenter and son of Jacob and the man standing helplessly at Mary’s side in the Temple courts, as his father. Jesus is instead claiming that the one true God of the Jewish people is his rightful parent.
    But under the law, Jesus cannot be convicted of blasphemy. He has not come of age and is not yet responsible for his words. So perhaps the rabbis do hear his bold statement and breathe a sigh of relief, knowing that this brilliant young scholar is exempt from a most cruel death.
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    Mary and Joseph lead their son from the Temple and back home. The roads are unpaved, and the village is not protected from invaders by walls or other fortifications. At that time, various families shared dwellings, sometimes separated by small courtyards. Nazareth is situated in a hollow formed by the rolling hills of rural Galilee. An ancient caravan route passes within six miles, but no major highways go through Nazareth. It is a small town that is destined to remain that way, thanks not just to the topography but also to the fact that the only water source is a single freshwater spring.
    And