Killing Jesus: A History

absurd and the behavior of the Pharisees and Sadducees to be even more so.
    The time has come to move against the Nazarene.
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    One spring day, a Pharisee taunts Jesus: “Why don’t your disciples live according to the traditions of the elders instead of eating their food with unclean hands?”
    Jesus is calm. He begins by answering a question with a question, a technique he often uses. “Why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition?”
    It is April in Galilee, a time on the Roman Empire’s Julian calendar when shepherds and their flocks dot the hillsides and farmers conclude the barley harvest and turn their attention to the great fields of wheat. Jesus and his disciples have just purchased a meal in the marketplace and have retired to enjoy it. Soon a circle of Pharisees gathers around to condemn them for not engaging in the ceremonial washing of the hands. This ritual includes a pre-meal cleansing of cups, plates, and cutlery, and is far more suited to the Temple courts than a Galilean fishing village. Of course, the famished disciples are in no mood to indulge in such a lengthy process.
    Jesus says little at first. The Pharisees take this as a sign to move closer. A crowd of curious onlookers gathers just behind them. The two groups form a tight ring around Jesus and his disciples. It is a noose of sorts, within which the Nazarene is trapped. He has nowhere to run—just as the Pharisees planned.
    The trap is baited. The Pharisees hope that Jesus will now utter words of blasphemy and heresy. If he does that, he can be condemned. The pronouncement that the Pharisees want to hear more than any other is a claim of divinity, a public proclamation by Jesus that he is the Son of God—not an earthly king, but one exalted above the angels and seated on the throne with God.
    That would be enough to have him stoned to death.
    The religious leaders are dressed in expensive robes adorned with extra-long blue tassels. Small wooden boxes are fastened to their foreheads by a headband. Inside each is a tiny scroll of Scripture telling about the exodus from Egypt. Both the fringe and the phylactery, as this box is known, are designed to call attention to the Pharisees’ holiness and to remind one and all of their religious authority.
    But Jesus does not recognize this authority.
    He stands to address the Pharisees. The people of Galilee press closer to hear what the Nazarene will say. These simple artisans and fishermen look poor and tattered in comparison with the Pharisees. Jesus, their fellow Galilean, is dressed just like they are, in a simple square robe over a tunic, with small fringes and no phylactery.
    The people know that this is not the first time the Pharisees have tried to goad the Nazarene into a public incident, and the drama and wit of Jesus’s responses are widely known.
    “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites,” Jesus says, looking directly at the Pharisees and Sadducees. The Nazarene then quotes from the Scripture: “‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.’”
    Jesus is fearless. The force of his words carries out over the crowd. There is a deep irony to his lecture, for while the Pharisees have come here to judge Jesus, the tone of his voice makes it clear that it is he who is judging them. “You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men,” he scolds his accusers.
    Before they can reply, Jesus turns to the crowd and says, “Listen to me. Understand this: Nothing outside a man can make him ‘unclean’ by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him unclean.”
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    The Pharisees walk away before Jesus can further undermine their authority. The remaining crowds make it impossible for the disciples to eat in peace, so Jesus leads them into a nearby house to dine without being disturbed.
    But the disciples are unsettled. In their year together, they have heard and absorbed so much of what Jesus has said and have been witness to many strange and powerful events they do not understand. They are simple men and do not comprehend why Jesus is so intent on humiliating the all-powerful Pharisees. This escalating religious battle can only end poorly for Jesus.
    “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended?” one of them asks Jesus, stating the obvious.
    Then Peter