Jesus Delivered to Pilate
The chief priests and elders worked together, bound Jesus, and delivered his to Pilate.
Judas Hangs Himself
Judas saw Jesus condemned to death and changed his mind. He tried taking back the money to the chief priests and elders saying he betrayed innocent blood. They said it isn't their business, he had to take care of it himself. He threw the money down and went off and killed himself. The chief priests said they couldn't put the money back in the treasury because it is blood money, so they instead buried it in a field, which was then called the field of blood. This was to fulfill a prophecy.
I remember this story from when I was a kid from the old cartoons we would watch in sunday school. I can close my eyes and see Judas dropping the coins on the ground. (It's funny, I haven't thought about that in years and it comes right back, memory is a funny thing). I don't recall him killing himself though. They probably left that out of the cartoon.
Also, more prophecy stuff, bleh.
Jesus Before Pilate
the governor asks Jesus if he is king of the Jews and he says "you have said so", but refuses to answer directly. Everyone is amazed.
Why is everyone so amazed at this? I don't get it
The Crowd Chooses Barabbas
The governor gets to release one prisoner of the crowds choosing. He didn't like the way things went down with Jesus, so he figured he would give the crowd a choice between Jesus and Barabbas, who was a notorious criminal. That way Jesus would go free. But the crowd chose to release Barabbas instead, shocking the governor. He then asked what to do to Jesus and they said to crucify him. He asked them what evil Jesus had done, but they were in a frenzy and just kept repeating to crucify him.
I remember this story too from those cartoons.
Pilate Delivers Jesus to Be Crucified
Pilate saw that he wouldn't win the fight to free Jesus, so he told the crowd he washed his hands of this innocent man's life, and they said "His blood be on us and on our children"
Ahh yes, sins of the father
Jesus Is Mocked
The soldiers took Jesus, dressed him up in a scarlet robe and crown of thorns and made fun of him. When they were done they led him away to be crucified.
The Crucifixion
The crucified Jesus along with a few robbers. They put a sign over his head that read "king of the Jews". People came by and asked why he didn't save himself as he had saved so many others. "If you are the son of God why not come down off of the cross?"
A valid question in my estimation.
The Death of Jesus
When Jesus died, it went dark from noon to 3. The curtain in the temple was torn in 2, and many bodies of saints who had fallen asleep were raised out of their tombs. After his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many.
Wait, so after Jesus was resurrected there were a bunch of zombies of saints running around? I never heard that before.
Jesus is Buried
Joseph of Arimathea got the body of Jesus from Pilate and put him in a tomb. He covered the tomb with a big boulder.
The Guard at the Tomb
Jesus said that he would be resurrected, so the guards of the chief priest and the Pharisees put guards at his tomb so the disciples couldn't steal the body and claim he had risen.
Seems like a prudent move.
Judas Hangs Himself. In Acts 1:18, he also buys a field. In the other account he falls headfirst and his bowels burst from his body. I've often heard this reconciled by people saying that he tried to hang himself and then was unsuccessful and then his body fell and burst upon the rocks. I really think this is a stretch personally. Verses 9 and 10 refer to Zechariah 11:12-13. While the quote isn't exactly the same, its close enough for me.
ReplyDeleteJesus Before Pilate. I don't really understand why people are amazed at this either. It's kind of like saying “hey, you said it, not me.” In John 18:33-38 he doesn't remain silent, but says some stuff to them.
The Crowd Chooses Barabbas. I remember reading somewhere that this was really out of character for Pilate, if it ever happened. I can't remember where I read or heard that, so definitely don't quote me on that.
Pilate Delivers Jesus to Be Crucified. Sadly the “sins of the father” verse (25), has been long used to justify antisemitism.
Jesus is mocked. There are also quite a few places where the gospels differ a bit. In verse 28 they put a scarlet robe over him, but in Mark and John it is a purple robe. It is also put on by pilate's soldiers, but in Luke, its actually Herod's soldiers. In John its only Jesus mentioned that carried his cross instead of being helped. Mark 15:23, Luke 23:36, and John 19:39 all say different things from here in verse 34 where he is given “wine to drink mixed with gall.” This last verse might be explainable by the different drinks, I know sour wine turns into vinegar, but its really a matter that one must determine personally whether they differ or not.
The Crucifixion. Some more differences.. The sign above his head reads something slightly different in each gospel and in Luke only one robber reviled Jesus.
The death of Jesus last words were different in Luke and John from this gospel, as well as the words of the centurion from the gospel of Luke. In John it says that the women that were looking from far away were actually near the cross when this happened. I think it can be reconciled if you want by saying that they eventually approached the cross. With all the crazy things that happened like people raising from the dead, the temple curtain tearing in two and the darkness covering the land, how was this not documented elsewhere? I think that this stuff isn't really mentioned because it's hard to explain. I never knew about it until I actually read the bible when I was older. I think I remember something about the curtain in a cartoon, but I probably thought that it was a minor detail. It's kind of like when you get to revelations and read about a dragon with 7 heads and 10 horns and a sea monster. It sounds a little nuts to an outsider.
Jesus is Buried. Who buried Jesus varies from gospel to gospel. See Acts 13:27-29 and John 19:38-42. Someone on the net said that they all could have been there and the different authors chose different people to mention.
Joseph of Arimathea got the body of Jesus from Pilate and put him in a tomb. He covered the tomb with a big boulder.
The Guard at the Tomb. I probably would have done the same thing.
Thanks for pointing out the discrepancies. It is interesting. Most of them seems fairly minor, but if you think it is divinely authored it seems like it would be hard to explain. Why would an all powerful God who wants to give us this important message allow so many discrepancies in which are potentially going to confuse people.
ReplyDeleteAs for the curtain, I was actually thinking it seems like a minor detail. Think about the 3 things that happen. Sun goes dark for 3 hours, zombies, curtain rips. It sounds like someone was running out of mana or something and had to use a lower level spell. In all seriousness though, what is the deal with that curtain? Why is it ripping elevated to the importance of zombies rising from the grave?
I like your "ran out of mana" take. Lol! I'm not really sure, but I'd assume that it was a very prominent giant expensive piece in the temple? Maybe it was the most impressive thing that could happen to the temple short of its destruction, as it was prophesied to happen later. I think it might have had a lot more significance in their culture than we see it today. I'd really like to get someone else's perspective on it. But I do agree with you, if I had seen all of that and retold it later, I probably would have forgotten about the temple curtain ripping in half.
ReplyDeleteI did a google search and found an interesting page about it
ReplyDeletehttp://www.swrc.com/ministry/faqs/jesus/veil.html
seems the curtain could not be torn apart by 4 horses pulling on it. That page says that the curtain separated the most holy place in the temple where only the high priest could go from the rest of the temple. The ripping of the curtain symbolizes that we can talk directly to God now.
While we are talking about the holy of holies, I remember hearing (maybe in my college Judaism class) that when the high priest went in there, he would have a rope tied to his leg in case he was found lacking and killed by God. Because if that happened no one would be able to go in there and get him out, they had the rope so they could pull him out. (Now that I type that I really hope that is real and not some old joke I am half remembering)
That is pretty awesome! I am now a little more impressed. While the physical part still seems less impressive than zombies and the world going dark thing, I like the symbolism.
ReplyDeleteInteresting thing about the rope. I will take it with a grain of salt as you said you aren't sure if its a joke.
I am pretty sure it is real, I do have memories of my teacher telling us that in class, but it was like 10 years ago and you know how malleable memory is. Also, he was a pretty funny guy, maybe he was messing with us and I just fell for it hook line and sinker.
ReplyDeletewell, the first few google hits say it is a myth, but hey, at least I didn't make it up :)
ReplyDeletehttp://www.christiananswers.net/q-eden/anklerope.html
Interesting. :) Thanks for the info!
ReplyDelete