Why Christ was Crucified

Adrian Goldsworthy’s Pax Romana has an interesting description of the sequence of events that led to Christ’s crucification. As per Roman law, Christians could be executed if they refused to recant. While provincial governors enforced this law, they did not actively seek out and hunt Christians. Hunting them down cost money and effort, and to what end? They didn’t pose a threat to the empire, so why bother? Thus, prosecution of Christians was rare, and even then initiated only if influential locals called for it.

 

One time, Paul (later apostle) was accused of being a troublemaker. His crime? He had “cured” a slave girl who possessed by an evil spirit. The slave’s owner was furious because in her possessed state, she used to tell fortunes for money (that went to the slave owner, of course). A large crowd gathered, forcing the magistrate to act:

“Without a hearing, Paul (was) stripped, beaten and imprisoned.”

 

Roman citizens were entitled to (slightly) better treatment – they could not be subjected to arbitrary beatings and imprisonment. The next day, when being released, Paul protested how they could have done this to him even though he was a Roman citizen. Hearing this, the magistrate personally came down to release him with apologies. This wasn’t the last time Paul was treated better on account of being a Roman citizen.

 

Jesus, on the other hand, was neither a Roman citizen nor from a well-off family. When he drove out the moneylenders from the temple at Jerusalem, it was a challenge to the (Jewish) priests. The Romans needed the support of the elite high priests to govern. Unsurprisingly then, the governor named Pilate was receptive to the call for the prosecution of Jesus by the high priests.

 

Perception mattered. Thus the principal charge against Jesus was his claim to be the King of the Jews. Isn’t that a direct challenge to the emperor in Rome, demanded the priests. It was too risky a topic for Pilate to ignore.

“Whoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caeser.”

Refusal to act on a “challenge” to the emperor was suicidal. Pilate definitely was not a suicidal man.

 

Pilate therefore decided to have the accused flogged, but didn’t see any reason to execute him. But the key figures of the local elite demanded more. Pilate insisted the record show that he was not acting arbitrarily, that he was acting as per the wishes of the community and its leaders. Only after such a record was created did he order the crucification. The way Jesus was killed was not uncommon in that era… Pilate was not being excessively cruel or savage by the standards of the era.

 

Goldsworthy says the entire account of events fits:

“The way the events occurred, the pressures brought to bear on the governor and his assertion of his authority, fit with everything we know of Roman provincial government.”

 

It’s amazing how little human nature has changed in the last 2,000 years.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Student of the Year

Image
As a toddler, my daughter loved Alia Bhatt’s songs, esp. the ones from Student of the Year . (That movie did have many good songs and well-choreographed dances). Fast forward to present day, when she is 12 yo. She rarely watches Hindi movies now, but one of the few ones she likes of late, Raja aur Rani ki Prem Kahani has, yes, Alia Bhatt.   If I had any hopes that there was anything to be read in the name of her toddler-time favorite ( Student of the Year ), they have been dashed. Our conversations come exam time are perfectly captured by this photo and its caption: In fact, the pic below captures how she and I look at her answer sheets – me intently, she with an expression of “It’s over, so why are you even looking at it?”   Of late, we pull her leg and tell her that she isn’t showing any signs of academic prowess, she’d better find a rich guy to marry. Some time later, she showed us this meme on the Internet: “Me No Study, Me No Care Me Go Marry Millionaire If He Die
Read more

On Two Wars, and Another Possible One

When the Ukraine war started, the West was sure that their economic countermeasures against Russia would cripple it and force an early end to the war. The EU would stop buying oil and natural gas. Western companies would shut shop in Russia, from Visa and Mastercard to McDonald’s. Russia would be kicked out of the international financial system. Sanctions imposed.   Did things work out as expected? Nope, the Ukraine war continues, and Russia has had positive economic growth despite all Western efforts.   On the other hand, there is the Israel war in Gaza that has been going on for several months, with no end in sight. Despite no sanctions, and in fact, complete support from the West (well ok, America really; and what America says, the West follows), Israel’s economy shrank by 5.2% on a quarter-by-quarter comparison . “The sharp drop was caused in part by the call-up of 300,000 reservists, who had to leave behind their workplaces and businesses to embark on months of army se
Read more

The Retort of the "Luxury Person"

Image
Coming up with biting and witty retorts. It’s something we dream of, but rarely manage to pull off. Worse, the more we stew over the offending remark, the more likely we are to come up with that dream retort, as Calvin ruefully points out: During our last holiday at the Taj Resort, seeing my wife carrying towels to our poolside chairs, one of the kids there mistook her for a member of the staff and asked for a towel. When my wife narrated this to us, I did not imagine that my 8 yo daughter would come up with her own retort. But a day later, my daughter recapped the incident, an incident that didn’t even involve her in the first place , and said, “You know what I’d have told that kid who asked for the towel?”. And without waiting for an answer, she told us anyway: “I don’t work here. I too am a luxury person who is living at this resort. Go get your own towel.” We were highly amused by the phrase she had coined: “luxury person”. It certainly captures the kind of holid
Read more