High Stakes (12 page)

Jesus also held what we refer to as the last supper because he knew that no matter how things turned out, it was likely to be the last time his disciples would be able to convene with him fully in one place. He knew if he survived he would have to leave Israel and his disciples behind or risk recapture and death. It is interesting to note that where most scholars believe he held this last supper was in the Essene compound on Mount Sion, which insured privacy because the Essenes were a secular group.

Francine says that although Christ held a slight hope of survival in his mind, he was really mentally prepared to die. She says he felt his chances were very slim at best to survive and that what sustained him was the fact that he was doing all this for God. With this in mind, at the last supper, when he did tell them to remember everything he said and when they broke bread and drank wine to remember him, he really thought this would be the last time they would be together in life. I'm sure some of the disciples must have been puzzled over this, even though he had already told them about what he had to go through, and, as planned, he did say, “One of you will betray me.” This, of course, was ordained by prophecy, and Judas had already agreed to do it as part of the secret plot. Even though the Roman soldiers knew whom they were looking for, it made the plot more believable that one of his own would point him out.

Jesus did go to the garden at Gethsemane and ask God to remove this chalice (or pain) from him. Christ was referring to his probable execution, which he knew was coming. This also proves you can't get out of your Chart. After he petitioned God, we are also pretty sure that God said no because our Lord, again invoking Christ's Chart, said,
“Thy will be done.”
Eventually, after finding the disciples with him asleep, soldiers came to arrest him, and after a brief skirmish in which a disciple cut off the ear of a servant of the high priest (which Christ immediately healed), they bound Jesus and took him away.

Jesus was taken to the high priest of the Sanhedrin by the soldiers of the Temple (it was not the Romans who arrested Jesus but the Jewish soldiers who stood guard at the Jewish Temple, sent by the Sanhedrin). The Sanhedrin priests then questioned Jesus all night, and supposedly many false witnesses were brought to testify against him. The Sanhedrin also beat Jesus during his questioning and trial. My guide says this was done out of frustration and anger and they knew they had no other punishment but to beat and flog him.

Here is where we get into inconsistency again, as the four gospels differ on a key question put forth to Jesus. In the gospels of Matthew (Matthew 26:63–64), Mark (Mark 14:61–62) and Luke (Luke 22:66–70), Christ is asked by the high priest of the Sanhedrin whether or not he is the Son of God. Matthew has Christ saying,
“Thou hast said it. Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power and coming upon the clouds of heaven.”
Luke has Jesus answering,
“If I tell you, you will not believe me: and if I question you, you will not answer me, or let me go. But henceforth, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God. And they all said, ‘Art thou, then, the Son of God?' He answered, ‘You yourselves say that I am.'”
Mark, however, has Christ answering,
“I am. And you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power and coming with the clouds of heaven.”
John makes no mention at all of this question in his gospel, relating only that Jesus was asked questions concerning his disciples and teaching. This omission by John of this very important question again raises the issue of whether or not the question was even asked, especially as the question directly relates to his divinity and Jewish prophecy.

We also have inconsistency in the response to the question. Mark has Jesus answering that he is the Christ and Son of God and then, in the next sentence, referring to himself as the Son of Man. Both Matthew and Luke have Christ saying that the Sanhedrin says he is the Son of God and then he also refers to himself as the Son of Man. This is a very important inconsistency, because it has always been a huge theological question: was Christ the Son of God or the Son of Man? If Christ was the Son of God (although all of us are sons and daughters of God) and the Christ, then he indeed would be divine and the Savior that the Jews had waited for. If Christ was the Son of Man, then his divinity would be in question and he would not necessarily be the Christ. This issue was debated hotly in the early Church, and Jewish Christians always maintained that Jesus was a great prophet and teacher but not divine, being a Son of Man. Pauline Christians took the view that he was the Son of God and thereby divine and the Savior. Early Gnostic Christians seemed to be split on the issue.

Francine says that Jesus knew he was a special entity on a mission for God and that it was preordained that he go through these tribulations. She says he also knew that all of humankind were technically sons and daughters of God, but also knew full well that he was ordained by God to be the Christ that the Jewish prophecies had foretold was coming. He also knew that the Sanhedrin would not accept this fact, so he gave them an ambiguous answer (except for Mark's rendition).

We do know that Jesus definitely said he was the Son of Man, but he also said he was the Christ. I have often wondered whether this was just a question of semantics, as the Judaic people believed that the Christ would be the Son of God, while Jesus just thought he was a special mission entity from God that was the Christ of the Judaic people. Francine says that he was indeed the Christ for the Judaic people and that his teachings were so full of truth that they eventually spread throughout the world in the form of Christianity. On the one hand you could say that Jesus had only partial success in his mission, as the Judaic people did not accept him as the Christ or their savior. On the other hand you could say his mission was an overwhelming success in that many Jews converted to Christianity and his message spread throughout the world.

The Sanhedrin then took Jesus to Pontius Pilate and they demanded that he be crucified as a judgment for blasphemy. The Sanhedrin knew that only Pilate could make a final judgment on any person accused of a crime, as the Romans occupied Israel. Pilate made a valiant effort to try to save and free Christ and truly hoped to stop the situation right there by declaring he could not find fault with this man. He even sent him to Herod for judgment in the hope that he would be freed (Luke 23:7–12) and the issue resolved. Herod sent Jesus back to Pilate after mocking him, not wanting the responsibility.

Pilate then tried to use the tradition of freeing a prisoner at Passover to gain the freedom of Christ by having the crowd choose between Jesus and Barabbas. He was trying everything he could to live up to the promise that he had made to Jesus. Nothing worked, and the Sanhedrin-controlled crowd was now a mob shouting to crucify Jesus. Seeing the mob getting uglier, Pilate knew he would have to fall back to other planned contingencies in his effort to help Jesus survive. Knowing he could no longer free Jesus and keep him from being crucified, he only now hoped he could keep him alive. As a final gesture of frustration and self-protection, Pilate ordered a bowl of water and washed his hands in front of the crowd, saying,
“I am innocent of the blood of this just man; see to it yourselves”
(Matthew 27:24).

Matthew's is the only gospel to mention Pilate washing his hands of the matter, and Luke's is the only gospel that doesn't mention the scourging of Christ. The gospels of Matthew, Mark and John all have Pilate scourging Christ before he delivers him to the Sanhedrin for crucifixion. Luke says nothing about Jesus being scourged at all and just has him delivered by Pilate to the crowd to be crucified. Is this just an omission on Luke's part? Francine says that Pilate had Jesus whipped for the sake of appearances and also because he hoped that the beating would pacify the crowd and allow him to set Jesus free. Pilate had given orders to not scourge Jesus heavily, as Jesus had already taken some abuse from the Sanhedrin in his trial earlier, and he wanted Jesus as strong as possible to survive his ordeal of crucifixion if necessary. Pilate also was very adamant to his soldiers that this man was not to die.

The Sanhedrin-controlled crowd took Jesus and made him carry his own cross, but there were people who at intervals would help him when he fell. Even Joseph of Arimathaea helped him. This is not ever to lead you to believe that Christ's suffering was not excruciating. When they flogged him they even dumped water with heavy concentrations of salt over his wounds, which was very painful, and yet it helped staunch the bleeding.

Jesus was weak from having no food and very little water. If he had not been in good condition he would have died from the trauma of the beatings and having no sustenance. Francine says this is where his training in India helped him. He was able to put himself in an altered state of consciousness much like meditation or self-hypnosis, which helped to sustain him through his whole ordeal.

When they finally got him to Golgotha (the place of the skull), the Roman soldiers did nail Christ's wrists and feet to the cross; but they were very adept at missing the main arteries so that he wouldn't bleed out heavily. Pilate had given orders that this man was not to die, so unlike the two thieves crucified with him (to fulfill prophecy once again), Jesus had ropes tied under his armpits to give him more support. They also gave him a footrest, which the others did not have, and did not break his legs. According to the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, Christ was on the cross for about three hours and it was also part of Pilates' plan to only have him on the cross for a short period of time.

Before we go any further, let's review some facts about crucifixion. Most scholars agree that crucifixions are an agonizing and slow death. Most of the deaths from crucifixion are due to suffocation from too much pressure on the diaphragm. Most people who were crucified took several days to die and eventually either suffocated, by not being able to lift themselves up to breathe because of exhaustion, or died due to trauma and a lack of water in being exposed to the elements of sun and wind. The Romans had perfected this manner of execution at that time. If they wanted a person to die a quick death, they would break their legs so they couldn't push with their legs to breathe. Victims who had their legs broken usually lasted only from six to twelve hours, as opposed to those who lasted several days without their legs being broken. Victims of crucifixion were usually hung on the cross with ropes after being scourged. A few were nailed to the cross by their wrists and usually had the heels of their feet also nailed to the cross.

One of the fortuitous circumstances surrounding the crucifixion of Jesus was that he was crucified on the day before the Sabbath, known as Preparation Day. Pilate had delayed giving Jesus over for crucifixion, so that he was crucified in mid afternoon. With the Sabbath being a holy day, Jewish law forbade bodies being on the cross on the Sabbath, which started in the evening of Preparation Day, so the bodies of Jesus and the two thieves had to be down from the cross by evening. This fit in perfectly with Pilate's plan, as you will see.

Some of the gospels relate how Christ was crowned with thorns by Roman soldiers before his crucifixion. According to Francine one centurion did weave a crown of thorns and put it on Christ's head, for which he was later disciplined by Pilate. Above his head on the cross the Romans put a sign that read,
JESUS
,
KING OF THE JEWS
. You would think even if this was mocking, it would have made the Jews mad, but the Sanhedrin and Pharisees who witnessed the crucifixion mocked Jesus over it and jeered to him that if he was the Christ to save himself and get off the cross and they would believe. It was also at this time that some of the priests of the Sanhedrin started worrying over the lateness of the hour. They knew the bodies of Jesus and the two thieves had to be taken down from the cross before the Sabbath commenced or Jewish law concerning the Sabbath would be broken. They went to Pilate and asked that the legs of the victims be broken to hasten their deaths (John 19:31–33). Pilate sent soldiers to do this but also gave them orders not to break the legs of Christ because he was already dead. You will see why he gave these strange orders shortly.

While the crowd was mocking him on the cross and several priests had gone to Pilate to insist that Jesus' legs be broken, Roman soldiers were casting lots for Christ's clothing. This verifies what I said earlier about Christ being wealthy, for he had a robe that was of the finest cloth with no seams. This is not the clothing of a poor man, but a man of means who wore expensive garments. You certainly wouldn't compete with raggedy, worn clothes. It also fulfilled another prophecy concerning the Christ. Indeed, many prophecies concerning the Christ were fulfilled that day: being executed with the wicked (thieves); the casting of lots over his garments; no bones being broken during his execution; and the piercing of his body.

Pontius Pilate had what they call runners, who were either soldiers or people whom he could trust who were incognito, to report back to him and tell him the status of Jesus. As the third hour of his crucifixion approached, a runner reported to Pilate that Jesus seemed to be failing. Pilate had one of his physicians make up a concoction that would be very much like a sleeping potion, except it induced a light coma, and sent it back to the site of crucifixion. When Christ asked for water because he thirsted, a sponge was filled with this elixir and given to Jesus. In a very short period of time, Jesus fell into a light coma state and appeared for all practical purposes dead. All of this had been planned, and Christ accepted the elixir gratefully and hoped it would work. The centurion in charge had been told by Pilate to pronounce Jesus dead when he passed out and to lightly pierce his side to prove it. Because he was in a coma, Christ's body did not react to the piercing and he was pronounced dead. Joseph of Arimathaea then, according to the plan, immediately took the body of Jesus from the cross and, with Mary Magdalene and Nicodemus, placed him in linen cloth and put him in Joseph's tomb to be out of sight of prying eyes. The Jews were going to bury him, but it was prearranged with Pilate that they would use the tomb of Joseph to hide him and bring him back to consciousness. Why this is significant is because it was in a hewed-out cave of rock and had a type of stone bed and a rock that would seal the tomb. How convenient that he wasn't buried underground, where he would have died of suffocation.