The True Story of Jesus — Page 69
Chapter Ten—Chronology of Jesus’ Trial 69 imagine that Jesus was brought before Pilate much earlier than six o’ clock in the morning when the Jewish day began. Yet within three hours everything is decided and Jesus is at the place of exe- cution. In the interval Pilate had heard the charges against Jesus, has interrogated him, has listened and responded to a plea to release a prisoner according to custom and the people have cho- sen Barabbas; he has yielded to the demand that Jesus should be crucified, and ordered him to be flogged; the soldiers have taken him away and had their sport with him, and then have led him at a slow pace some distance outside the city to Golgotha. Pilate must surely have condemned Jesus with extraordinary haste, which is not what the other sources convey. According to Matthew, the wife of Pilate sends to tell him of a dream she has had and begs him not to proceed against Jesus, and so reluctant is the governor to act that he sends for water and publicly washes his hands to signify his guiltlessness. Luke introduces another element of delay. Pilate, learning that Jesus is a Galilean, has him sent to Herod Antipas, in residence at his palace in Jerusalem. ’1 Moreover, the Biblical account that Jesus as was handed over for crucifixion as soon as the trial ended is hard to believe because the preparation for crucifixion could only start after the crucifixion orders. Surely ample time was needed for preparation. Obviously, all these activities cannot possibly fit on a Friday morning. Again, there is the problem of the Passover Festival which we have to solve in this connection. ‘On the particular week that Jesus 1. The Passover Plot, by Hugh J. Schonfield, published by Macdonald and Jane’s, London 1974. p. 128, 129.