The Life of Jesus Part 38

John, who professes to have seen it,[1] insists strongly on this circ.u.mstance. It is evident, in fact, that doubts arose as to the reality of the death of Jesus. A few hours of suspension on the cross appeared to persons accustomed to see crucifixions entirely insufficient to lead to such a result. They cited many instances of persons crucified, who, removed in time, had been brought to life again by powerful remedies.[2] Origen afterward thought it needful to invoke miracle in order to explain so sudden an end.[3] The same astonishment is found in the narrative of Mark.[4] To speak truly, the best guarantee that the historian possesses upon a point of this nature is the suspicious hatred of the enemies of Jesus. It is doubtful whether the Jews were at that time preoccupied with the fear that Jesus might pa.s.s for resuscitated; but, in any case, they must have made sure that he was really dead. Whatever, at certain periods, may have been the neglect of the ancients in all that belonged to legal proof and the strict conduct of affairs, we cannot but believe that those interested here had taken some precautions in this respect.[5]

[Footnote 1: John xix. 31-35.]

[Footnote 2: Herodotus, vii. 194; Jos., _Vita_, 75.]

[Footnote 3: _In Matt. Comment. series_, 140.]

[Footnote 4: Mark xv. 44, 45.]

[Footnote 5: The necessities of Christian controversy afterward led to the exaggeration of these precautions, especially when the Jews had systematically begun to maintain that the body of Jesus had been stolen. Matt. xxvii. 62, and following, xxviii. 11-15.]

According to the Roman custom, the corpse of Jesus ought to have remained suspended in order to become the prey of birds.[1] According to the Jewish law, it would have been removed in the evening, and deposited in the place of infamy set apart for the burial of those who were executed.[2] If Jesus had had for disciples only his poor Galileans, timid and without influence, the latter course would have been adopted. But we have seen that, in spite of his small success at Jerusalem, Jesus had gained the sympathy of some important persons who expected the kingdom of G.o.d, and who, without confessing themselves his disciples, were strongly attached to him. One of these persons, Joseph, of the small town of Arimathea (_Ha-ramatham_[3]), went in the evening to ask the body from the procurator.[4] Joseph was a rich and honorable man, a member of the Sanhedrim. The Roman law, at this period, commanded, moreover, that the body of the person executed should be delivered to those who claimed it.[5] Pilate, who was ignorant of the circ.u.mstance of the _crurifragium_, was astonished that Jesus was so soon dead, and summoned the centurion who had superintended the execution, in order to know how this was. Pilate, after having received the a.s.surances of the centurion, granted to Joseph the object of his request. The body probably had already been removed from the cross. They delivered it to Joseph, that he might do with it as he pleased.

[Footnote 1: Horace, _Epistles_, I. xvi. 48; Juvenal, xiv. 77; Lucan., vii. 544; Plautus, _Miles glor._, II. iv. 19; Artemidorus, _Onir._, ii. 53; Pliny, x.x.xvi. 24; Plutarch, _Life of Cleomenes_, 39; Petronius, _Sat._, cxi.-cxii.]

[Footnote 2: Mishnah, _Sanhedrim_, vi. 5.]

[Footnote 3: Probably identical with the ancient Rama of Samuel, in the tribe of Ephraim.]

[Footnote 4: Matt. xxvii. 57, and following; Mark xv. 42, and following; Luke xxiii. 50, and following; John xix. 38, and following.]

[Footnote 5: Dig. XLVIII. xxiv., _De cadaveribus puntorum_.]

Another secret friend, Nicodemus,[1] whom we have already seen employing his influence more than once in favor of Jesus, came forward at this moment. He arrived, bearing ample provision of the materials necessary for embalming. Joseph and Nicodemus interred Jesus according to the Jewish custom--that is to say, they wrapped him in a sheet with myrrh and aloes. The Galilean women were present,[2] and no doubt accompanied the scene with piercing cries and tears.

[Footnote 1: John xix. 39, and following.]

[Footnote 2: Matt. xxvii. 61; Mark xv. 47; Luke xxiii. 55.]

It was late, and all this was done in great haste. The place had not yet been chosen where the body would be finally deposited. The carrying of the body, moreover, might have been delayed to a late hour, and have involved a violation of the Sabbath--now the disciples still conscientiously observed the prescriptions of the Jewish law. A temporary interment was determined upon.[1] There was at hand, in the garden, a tomb recently dug out in the rock, which had never been used. It belonged, probably, to one of the believers.[2] The funeral caves, when they were destined for a single body, were composed of a small room, at the bottom of which the place for the body was marked by a trough or couch let into the wall, and surmounted by an arch.[3]

As these caves were dug out of the sides of sloping rocks, they were entered by the floor; the door was shut by a stone very difficult to move. Jesus was deposited in the cave, and the stone was rolled to the door, as it was intended to return in order to give him a more complete burial. But the next day being a solemn Sabbath, the labor was postponed till the day following.[4]

[Footnote 1: John xix. 41, 42.]

[Footnote 2: One tradition (Matt. xxvii. 60) designates Joseph of Arimathea himself as owner of the cave.]

[Footnote 3: The cave which, at the period of Constantine, was considered as the tomb of Christ, was of this shape, as may be gathered from the description of Arculphus (in Mabillon, _Acta SS.

Ord. S. Bened._, sec. iii., pars ii., p. 504), and from the vague traditions which still exist at Jerusalem among the Greek clergy on the state of the rock now concealed by the little chapel of the Holy Sepulchre. But the indications by which, under Constantine, it was sought to identify this tomb with that of Christ, were feeble or worthless (see especially Sozomen, _H.E._, ii. 1.) Even if we were to admit the position of Golgotha as nearly exact, the Holy Sepulchre would still have no very reliable character of authenticity. At all events, the aspect of the places has been totally modified.]

[Footnote 4: Luke xxiii. 56.]

The women retired after having carefully noticed how the body was laid. They employed the hours of the evening which remained to them in making new preparations for the embalming. On the Sat.u.r.day all rested.[1]

[Footnote 1: Luke xxiii. 54-56.]

On the Sunday morning, the women, Mary Magdalen the first, came very early to the tomb.[1] The stone was displaced from the opening, and the body was no longer in the place where they had laid it. At the same time, the strangest rumors were spread in the Christian community. The cry, "He is risen!" quickly spread amongst the disciples. Love caused it to find ready credence everywhere. What had taken place? In treating of the history of the apostles we shall have to examine this point and to make inquiry into the origin of the legends relative to the resurrection. For the historian, the life of Jesus finishes with his last sigh. But such was the impression he had left in the heart of his disciples and of a few devoted women, that during some weeks more it was as if he were living and consoling them.

Had his body been taken away,[2] or did enthusiasm, always credulous, create afterward the group of narratives by which it was sought to establish faith in the resurrection? In the absence of opposing doc.u.ments this can never be ascertained. Let us say, however, that the strong imagination of Mary Magdalen[3] played an important part in this circ.u.mstance.[4] Divine power of love! Sacred moments in which the pa.s.sion of one possessed gave to the world a resuscitated G.o.d!

[Footnote 1: Matt. xxviii. 1; Mark xvi. 1; Luke xxiv. 1; John xx. 1.]

[Footnote 2: See Matt. xxviii. 15; John xx. 2.]

[Footnote 3: She had been possessed by seven demons (Mark xvi. 9; Luke viii. 2.)]

[Footnote 4: This is obvious, especially in the ninth and following verses of chap. xvi. of Mark. These verses form a conclusion of the second Gospel, different from the conclusion at xvi. 1-8, with which many ma.n.u.scripts terminate. In the fourth Gospel (xx. 1, 2, 11, and following, 18), Mary Magdalen is also the only original witness of the resurrection.]

CHAPTER XXVII.

FATE OF THE ENEMIES OF JESUS.

According to the calculation we adopt, the death of Jesus happened in the year 33 of our era.[1] It could not, at all events, be either before the year 29, the preaching of John and Jesus having commenced in the year 28,[2] or after the year 35, since in the year 36, and probably before the pa.s.sover, Pilate and Kaapha both lost their offices.[3] The death of Jesus appears, moreover, to have had no connection whatever with these two removals.[4] In his retirement, Pilate probably never dreamt for a moment of the forgotten episode, which was to transmit his pitiful renown to the most distant posterity. As to Kaapha, he was succeeded by Jonathan, his brother-in-law, son of the same Hanan who had played the princ.i.p.al part in the trial of Jesus. The Sadducean family of Hanan retained the pontificate a long time, and more powerful than ever, continued to wage against the disciples and the family of Jesus, the implacable war which they had commenced against the Founder. Christianity, which owed to him the definitive act of its foundation, owed to him also its first martyrs. Hanan pa.s.sed for one of the happiest men of his age.[5] He who was truly guilty of the death of Jesus ended his life full of honors and respect, never having doubted for an instant that he had rendered a great service to the nation. His sons continued to reign around the temple, kept down with difficulty by the procurators,[6] ofttimes dispensing with the consent of the latter in order to gratify their haughty and violent instincts.

[Footnote 1: The year 33 corresponds well with one of the data of the problem, namely, that the 14th of Nisan was a Friday. If we reject the year 33, in order to find a year which fulfils the above condition, we must at least go back to the year 29, or go forward to the year 36.]

[Footnote 2: Luke iii. 1.]

[Footnote 3: Jos., _Ant._, XVIII. iv. 2 and 3.]

[Footnote 4: The contrary a.s.sertion of Tertullian and Eusebius arises from a worthless apocryphal writing (See Philo, _Cod. Apocr., N.T._, p. 813, and following.) The suicide of Pilate (Eusebius, _H.E._, ii.

7; _Chron._ ad annl. Caii) appears also to be derived from legendary records.]

[Footnote 5: Jos., _Ant._, XX. ix. 1.]

[Footnote 6: Jos., _l.c._]

Antipas and Herodias soon disappeared also from the political scene.

Herod Agrippa having been raised to the dignity of king by Caligula, the jealous Herodias swore that she also would be queen. Pressed incessantly by this ambitious woman, who treated him as a coward, because he suffered a superior in his family, Antipas overcame his natural indolence, and went to Rome to solicit the t.i.tle which his nephew had just obtained (the year 39 of our era). But the affair turned out in the worst possible manner. Injured in the eyes of the emperor by Herod Agrippa, Antipas was removed, and dragged out the rest of his life in exile at Lyons and in Spain. Herodias followed him in his misfortunes.[1] A hundred years, at least, were to elapse before the name of their obscure subject, now become deified, should appear in these remote countries to brand upon their tombs the murder of John the Baptist.

[Footnote 1: Jos., _Ant._, XVIII. vii. 1, 2; _B.J._, II. ix. 6.]

As to the wretched Judas of Kerioth, terrible legends were current about his death. It was maintained that he had bought a field in the neighborhood of Jerusalem with the price of his perfidy. There was, indeed, on the south of Mount Zion, a place named _Hakeldama_ (the field of blood[1]). It was supposed that this was the property acquired by the traitor.[2] According to one tradition,[3] he killed himself. According to another, he had a fall in his field, in consequence of which his bowels gushed out.[4] According to others, he died of a kind of dropsy, accompanied by repulsive circ.u.mstances, which were regarded as a punishment from heaven.[5] The desire of showing in Judas the accomplishment of the menaces which the Psalmist p.r.o.nounces against the perfidious friend[6] may have given rise to these legends. Perhaps, in the retirement of his field of Hakeldama, Judas led a quiet and obscure life; while his former friends conquered the world, and spread his infamy abroad. Perhaps, also, the terrible hatred which was concentrated on his head, drove him to violent acts, in which were seen the finger of heaven.

[Footnote 1: St. Jerome, _De situ et nom. loc. hebr._ at the word _Acheldama_. Eusebius (_ibid._) says to the north. But the Itineraries confirm the reading of St. Jerome. The tradition which styles the necropolis situated at the foot of the valley of Hinnom _Haceldama_, dates back, at least, to the time of Constantine.]

[Footnote 2: _Acts_ i. 18, 19. Matthew, or rather his interpolator, has here given a less satisfactory turn to the tradition, in order to connect with it the circ.u.mstance of a cemetery for strangers, which was found near there.]

[Footnote 3: Matt. xxvii. 5.]

[Footnote 4: _Acts_, _l.c._; Papias, in Oec.u.menius, _Enarr. in Act.

Apost._, ii., and in Fr. Munter, _Fragm. Patrum Graec._ (Hafniae, 1788), fasc. i. p. 17, and following; Theophylactus, in Matt. xxvii. 5.]

[Footnote 5: Papias, in Munter, _l.c._; Theophylactus, _l.c._]

[Footnote 6: Psalms lxix. and cix.]