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Comments Upon Theory That Jesus Negotiated His
Own Surrendered To The Roman and Jewish Authorities
Herodian Messiah contains many theories, one of which is that Jesus sent Judas to the Jewish authorities to negotiate his own surrender in the Garden at Gethsemane. See Herodian Messiah at pages 109-117 for discussion of arrest of Jesus. The genesis of this theory comes the recently published Gospel of Judas. This page is dedicated to a discussion of that and related issues.
Comments
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From: Ii Naotaka
Date: December 30, 2011
Subject: Women At The Cross
Comment: Based on what I've been reading, it's pretty clear this whole thing is about Hasmonean women. Your idea of Jesus purposely surrendering himself to the Romans (another whole cohort acoording to the G. of John) at the base of the Mt. of Olives to avoid a blood bath makes perfect sense. When Peter slices off the ear of one of the Romans arresting his brother, Jesus just tells him to put the sword away. Why was Peter not immedately killed, run-through by a squad of legionaires? Because there were a whole hell of a lot of armed Zealots there (clearly these "fishers of men" guys with Christ went around well armed). They probably even wore armor (I now see Peter and the other disciples as Judean thorakitai or thureophoroi rather than these pan-faced chickens in robes one gets from the NT). Everyone wanted to avoid a battle; Jesus surrendered to the Romans and everyone went home. Why do we simply read over things like this in Sunday school?
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From: jjray
Date: December 31, 2011
Subject: Reply
Comment: Thanks for the comment. You bring up an interesting point about Peter. He drew his sword and struck a member of the arresting party in the head, yet no soldier laid a hand on him. They not only refrain from killing him on the spot but, also, allowed him to go free. A cohort is at least 500 soldiers. The Jewish authorities also brought a party of men (maybe religious police) in addition to the Roman cohort. Yet Jesus is said to be in the garden at the base of the Mount of Olives with only three disciples (Peter and the two sons of thunder): 4 against 500+. What the Gospel narratives do not say is how many of Jesus' followers were camped out on top of the Mount of Olives overlooking the location of the arrest. I suggest this is why the Jewish authorities / Romans did not take action against Peter and instead just arrested Jesus according to the prearranged deal with Judas. If 30,000 followers of Jesus were on top of the Mount of Olives that night, then the extreme caution of the authorities in arresting Jesus becomes clearer. Since publication of Herodian Messiah, I have been working on a new theory that the person referred to by Josephus simply as "the Egyptian" was in fact Jesus the Nazarene. Link to my article on this topic. If true, then Jesus had 30,000 followers with him on the Mount of Olives when arrested and one can understand the trepidation of the Roman cohort that night. As to the comment that everyone went home, I'm not sure that is entirely correct either. Josephus seems to indicate that Pontius Pilate attacked Samaria directly after Jesus' coup failed. Perhaps the Judean Nazarenes and those in Idumea escaped punishment but I think the Samaritans were dealt a blow by Rome for supporting Jesus, although that conclusion is requires supposition.
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