Killing Jesus: A History

about understanding his true nature and his message for the world.
    He has been very specific with the disciples that he is more than just an earthly Christ.
    They don’t understand.
    He has told them again and again that he is a divine being, the Son of God.
    They cannot comprehend that concept.
    Jesus has made it clear that he is the Christ but that his kingdom is not of this world.
    They don’t understand what he’s talking about.
    Three times, Jesus has told his disciples that he will die this week.
    But his followers refuse even to contemplate that.
    Most frustrating of all is the fear that his disciples cannot understand the true message of Jesus. These men know him better than any other. They have walked countless miles at his side, listened to his teaching for hours on end, and sat with him in quiet reverence to pray. Yet the disciples still do not understand who he truly claims to be.
    *   *   *
    In his moment of triumph, Jesus is experiencing agony. He has long strategized about the words he will say at Passover and the effect they will have on his followers, both old and new. He knows that his claims of being a king will lead to his crucifixion. He will be sacrificed, just as surely as those countless Passover lambs. It is just a matter of when.
    The Nazarene stares down at the path coursing through the olive trees. In the distance, he sees the garden at Gethsemane and then the flat depression of the narrow Kidron Valley. Looking across the valley, he sees this same well-trod path rising up to Jerusalem’s city walls. The city gates are clearly visible, as are the Roman soldiers who man the entrances. Jesus sees the people rushing out to worship him, eagerly ripping palm branches off nearby trees and waving them. The green flutter of respect impresses Jesus, for it is a reminder that many believe he is the anointed one—Moses and David in the flesh, come to save them and lead them out of bondage.
    But Jesus knows that while Moses and David are remembered for their great achievements, they were also cast out by society. Jesus is not a prince like Moses or a warrior like David. He is an intellectual. He deals in logic. The book of Deuteronomy predicted: “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him.”
    But that prophecy is dangerous. To claim he is the Son of God would make Jesus one of three things: a lunatic, a liar, or a divinity who fulfills Scripture. Few in the crowd believe that Jesus is deranged or a charlatan. But will they make that incredible leap to believe that Jesus is God in the flesh?
    *   *   *
    Time to go. As the hosannas rain down on all sides, and the Pharisees look on from a place nearby with their usual veiled contempt, Jesus coaxes the donkey forward. Step by careful step, the two descend the Mount of Olives, cross the Kidron Valley, and travel through a tunnel of worshippers, with Jesus riding majestically up the hill and into the great and golden city of Jerusalem.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN
    JERUSALEM
MONDAY, APRIL 3, A.D. 30
MORNING
    It is dawn. Jesus and the disciples are already on the move, walking purposefully from Bethany back into Jerusalem. The pandemonium of yesterday’s jubilant entry into that city still rings in the Nazarene’s ear. He was adored by the people as “Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee” when he dismounted at the city gates. It was a coronation of sorts, a celebration. But to the authorities, the exhibition is cause for great concern. Jerusalem hasn’t seen such a moment since Jewish rebels tried to capture the city in 4 B.C. and again in A.D. 6. Those rebels, of course, paid for the action with their lives.
    Jesus knows this, just as he knows that the Roman governor and the Jewish high priest are constantly on the lookout for rebels and subversives. He is well aware that Pilate and Caiaphas received at least some word that the Nazarene had ridden into the city on a donkey, stirring up the Passover crowds. During the event, Jesus was calm, stepping down off the animal and walking straight up the great steps into the Temple courts. He did not go there to teach but to be a pilgrim just like any man from Galilee, observing the sights and smells and sounds of the Temple during Passover week.
    Roman soldiers are posted throughout the Court of the Gentiles, and the Temple guards no doubt took note of Jesus and the people who crowded around him. But none of