Read Online Killing Jesus: A History by Bill O'Reilly, Martin Dugard - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Bill O'Reilly, Martin Dugard
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while sitting on a bench with his back against the wall of the small square room, reading from the sacred scrolls and singing the Psalms. It is in the synagogue that, as a young boy, he learns to read and write, because during this time of Roman occupation, holding on to their traditions has become an even greater priority to the Jewish people. A group of pious teachers known as the Pharisees has helped to ensure a system of schools in synagogues, teaching the children Hebrew and instructing them in Jewish law.
It is in the Nazareth synagogue that Jesus sits beside Joseph on the Sabbath, surrounded by those who call Joseph a friend. These men of Nazareth have all made the long walk to Jerusalem together as part of the great Passover caravan, and many can even remember the sight of a pregnant and unwed Mary enduring the pilgrimage before Jesus was born. These men remember the shame attached to the early days of that relationship between Mary and Joseph, when it was announced that she was pregnant out of wedlock. They recall Joseph’s stubborn loyalty and his refusal to shun her. The village of Nazareth eventually followed his example, accepting the eventual union between Joseph and Mary. In this way, Jesus came of age, growing into a hardworking man of the Jewish faith, intent on living a spiritual life, just like the other men and women of Nazareth.
The history of the Jews is a litany of resisting the oppression brought by foreign invaders who conquered the land now known as Israel. In a way, the Roman occupation links the people of Galilee to a centuries-long tradition. Thus, the worsening situation under Caesar Augustus is quietly accepted, but with a growing bitterness.
There is nothing exceptional about Jesus’s upbringing. To the people of Jerusalem, where he returns each year for Passover, his thick Galilean accent is noticeable. He labors six days a week as a carpenter alongside his father, building the roofs and doorposts of Nazareth and laying the foundation stones of sprawling nearby Sepphoris. Jesus seems destined to remain here always, raising his own family and building his own home into the slope of a Nazarene hill.
But the young Jesus is not long for this small town. The holiness and magnificence of Jerusalem call to him. He comes to know the smells and music of the city during his annual visits, even as he becomes comfortable navigating his way through such local landmarks as the Mount of Olives, the garden at Gethsemane, the Kidron Valley, and the Temple itself. With every passing year, as Jesus grows from a small child into a man with a carpenter’s square shoulders and callused hands, his wisdom and awareness of his faith increases. He develops the gifts of serenity and powerful personal charisma, and he learns to speak eloquently in public.
Yet Jesus is cautious when he talks to crowds. As a full-fledged member of the Jewish religious community from the age of thirteen on, he knows he is accountable for his behavior and that blasphemous talk about being the Son of God will lead to a very public execution. The Jews would stone Jesus for such language, and the Romans might kill him for suggesting he is their divine emperor’s equal. Stoning would seem a tame way to die in comparison with the evils of which the Romans are capable—evils Jesus has seen with his own eyes.
* * *
It was just a year earlier that Judas of Gamala 4 was likely crucified in Sepphoris. Jesus and every other Galilean bore witness to that horror. Judas was a learned man, and also a husband and father, who longed to raise his children in a better world—a Galilee ruled by Israelites instead of Roman puppets who crippled the people with unbearable taxes. Judas traveled through the farming villages and fishing ports of Galilee preaching a message of sedition to the impoverished peasants, urging them not to pay taxes to Rome or to tithe to the Temple in Jerusalem. He even founded a new sect of the Jewish faith, one that
It is in the Nazareth synagogue that Jesus sits beside Joseph on the Sabbath, surrounded by those who call Joseph a friend. These men of Nazareth have all made the long walk to Jerusalem together as part of the great Passover caravan, and many can even remember the sight of a pregnant and unwed Mary enduring the pilgrimage before Jesus was born. These men remember the shame attached to the early days of that relationship between Mary and Joseph, when it was announced that she was pregnant out of wedlock. They recall Joseph’s stubborn loyalty and his refusal to shun her. The village of Nazareth eventually followed his example, accepting the eventual union between Joseph and Mary. In this way, Jesus came of age, growing into a hardworking man of the Jewish faith, intent on living a spiritual life, just like the other men and women of Nazareth.
The history of the Jews is a litany of resisting the oppression brought by foreign invaders who conquered the land now known as Israel. In a way, the Roman occupation links the people of Galilee to a centuries-long tradition. Thus, the worsening situation under Caesar Augustus is quietly accepted, but with a growing bitterness.
There is nothing exceptional about Jesus’s upbringing. To the people of Jerusalem, where he returns each year for Passover, his thick Galilean accent is noticeable. He labors six days a week as a carpenter alongside his father, building the roofs and doorposts of Nazareth and laying the foundation stones of sprawling nearby Sepphoris. Jesus seems destined to remain here always, raising his own family and building his own home into the slope of a Nazarene hill.
But the young Jesus is not long for this small town. The holiness and magnificence of Jerusalem call to him. He comes to know the smells and music of the city during his annual visits, even as he becomes comfortable navigating his way through such local landmarks as the Mount of Olives, the garden at Gethsemane, the Kidron Valley, and the Temple itself. With every passing year, as Jesus grows from a small child into a man with a carpenter’s square shoulders and callused hands, his wisdom and awareness of his faith increases. He develops the gifts of serenity and powerful personal charisma, and he learns to speak eloquently in public.
Yet Jesus is cautious when he talks to crowds. As a full-fledged member of the Jewish religious community from the age of thirteen on, he knows he is accountable for his behavior and that blasphemous talk about being the Son of God will lead to a very public execution. The Jews would stone Jesus for such language, and the Romans might kill him for suggesting he is their divine emperor’s equal. Stoning would seem a tame way to die in comparison with the evils of which the Romans are capable—evils Jesus has seen with his own eyes.
* * *
It was just a year earlier that Judas of Gamala 4 was likely crucified in Sepphoris. Jesus and every other Galilean bore witness to that horror. Judas was a learned man, and also a husband and father, who longed to raise his children in a better world—a Galilee ruled by Israelites instead of Roman puppets who crippled the people with unbearable taxes. Judas traveled through the farming villages and fishing ports of Galilee preaching a message of sedition to the impoverished peasants, urging them not to pay taxes to Rome or to tithe to the Temple in Jerusalem. He even founded a new sect of the Jewish faith, one that
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