Zealot - The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth

who had preached independence from Rome, the so-called prophets and false messiahs
     who had promised salvation from God in return for their fealty and zeal. They were
     the ones responsible for the Roman onslaught. They were the ones whom God had abandoned.
    In the years to come, the Jews would begin to distance themselves as much as possible
     from the revolutionary idealism that had led to the war with Rome. They would not
     altogether abandon their apocalyptic expectations. On the contrary, a flourish of
     apocalyptic writings would emerge over the next century reflecting the continued longing
     for divine deliverance from Roman rule. The lingering effects of this messianic fervor
     would even lead to the outbreak of a brief second Jewish war against Rome in 132 C.E ., this one led by the messiah known as Simon son of Kochba. For the most part, however,
     the rabbis of the second century would be compelled by circumstance and by fear of
     Roman reprisal to develop an interpretation of Judaism that eschewed nationalism.
     They would come to view the Holy Land in more transcendental terms, fostering a messianic
     theology that rejected overt political ambitions, as acts of piety and the study of
     the law took the place of Temple sacrifices in the life of the observant Jew.
    But that was all many years away. On this day—the day in which the beaten and bloodied
     remnants of the ancient Jewish nation were wrenched from their homes, their Temple,
     their God, and forcibly marched out of the Promised Land to the land of the heathens
     and idolaters—all that seemed certain was that the world as they knew it had come
     to an end.
    Meanwhile, in triumphant Rome, a short while after the Temple of the Lord had been
     desecrated, the Jewish nation scattered to the winds, and the religion made a pariah,
     tradition says a Jew named John Mark took up his quill and composed the first wordsto the first gospel written about the messiah known as Jesus of Nazareth—not in Hebrew,
     the language of God, nor in Aramaic, the language of Jesus, but in Greek, the language
     of the heathens. The language of the impure. The language of the victors.
    This is the beginning of the good news of Jesus the Christ
.

PART II

    The spirit of the Lord God is upon me
    because the Lord has anointed me
    to bring good news to the meek;
    he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted
,
    to proclaim liberty to the captives
,
    and release to the prisoners who are bound;
    to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor
,
    and the day of vengeance for our God
.
    I SAIAH 61:1–2

Prologue
Zeal for Your House
    Of all the stories told about the life of Jesus of Nazareth, there is one—depicted
     in countless plays, films, paintings, and Sunday sermons—that, more than any other
     word or deed, helps reveal who Jesus was and what Jesus meant. It is one of only a
     handful of events in Jesus’s ministry attested to by all four canonized gospels—Matthew,
     Mark, Luke, and John—adding some measure of weight to its historicity. Yet all four
     evangelists present this monumental moment in a casual, almost fleeting manner, as
     though they were either oblivious to its meaning or, more likely, deliberately downplaying
     an episode whose radical implications would have been immediately recognized by all
     who witnessed it. So revelatory is this single moment in Jesus’s brief life that it
     alone can be used to clarify his mission, his theology, his politics, his relationship
     to the Jewish authorities, his relationship to Judaism in general, and his attitude
     toward the Roman occupation. Above all, this singular event explains why a simple
     peasant from the low hills of Galilee was seen as such a threat to the established
     system that he was hunted down, arrested, tortured, and executed.
    The year is approximately 30 C.E . Jesus has just entered Jerusalem, riding a donkey and flanked by a frenzied multitude
     shouting,“
Hosanna!
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed be the coming kingdom of
     our father David!” The ecstatic crowd sings hymns of praise to God. Some spread cloaks
     on the road for Jesus to ride over, just as the Israelites did for Jehu when he was
     declared king (2 Kings 9:12–13). Others saw off palm branches and wave them in the
     air, in remembrance of the heroic Maccabees who liberated Israel from foreign rule
     two centuries earlier (1 Maccabees 13:49–53). The entire pageant has been meticulously