Nicodemus the lawgiver – part 3

I can’t say that I slept. Early morning found me praying, and reading Torah. I then left the house to go to the market to get some food to eat. Much to my surprise the usually quiet streets were bustling with people, and many of them on seeing me, turned their backs on me. I had no idea what was happening. When one stall holder refused to serve me, and another looked as if he was going to do the same, I took his arm and turned him to face me

‘What have I done that you are treating me like this?’

‘Your clothes proclaim you a member of the Sanhedrin, so know what you have done. You have condemned Rabbi Jesus to death. Even now the Roman soldiers are putting up the uprights of their crosses at Golgotha, and before the sun is much higher in the sky, Rabbi Jesus, carrying his own cross beam will be walking past here to Golgotha where the Romans will nail him to the cross and hang him until he is dead. And you don’t know why everyone is angry with you? Rabbi Jesus is the Messiah who was going to lead us out of this Roman rule. What hope is there for us now?’

I felt the blood leave my face. I dropped the man’s arm, and turned and almost ran to the Temple complex. I hurried through to the High Priest’s house, where my way was barred by members of the Temple Guard. Nothing I said would make them let me through. Ciaiphas was not receiving visitors today. I tried a number of rooms around the temple, but could find no one who could or would tell me anything. I became conscious of an angry noise coming from the city around the Temple, as if a swarm of angry bees were about to swarm, and then a great groan arose. and I knew that I must be too late to do anything. Rabbi Jesus was now on the cross.

I left the Temple and slowly walked to Golgotha. I didn’t really want to go there, but my feet just seemed to go in that direction. When I got there, I got such black looks from people in the crowd, that I just stood towards the back. I could see the three figures on their crosses silhouetted against the sky, and I could see a small group of women, with one man in their midst standing near the foot of the central cross. I watched Rabbi Jesus gather himself to face the pain as he straightened his legs pushing on the nail going through his feet as he raised his body to allow himself to take a deep breath. I could see the cost in his face, and in his mother’s, for it was surely she standing there watching. Surely he couldn’t keep going like this for long could he? It was agonising just to watch. As I stood indecisively there, a hand grasped my arm. I turned and looked into the drawn face of Joseph of Arimathea.

‘Will you come with me to Pontius Pilate?’ he asked ‘Will you come with me to ask that we can have the body of Rabbi Jesus to give it a decent burial? His family have no means of burying him today, and it must be done before the Sabbath begins. If no one claims his body, he will just be thrown in a pit dug by the Romans. We owe him more than that.’

I turned, and together we went to the residence of the Roman Governor. Joseph used all his famed skill in rhetoric to get us in, and to persuade Pilate to let us have the body. He told Pilate that he would bury Rabbi Jesus in his own tomb, just outside the city wall. Pilate eventually agreed, with the proviso that Roman soldiers would be left to guard the body for a week to stop anyone from stealing the body. I went to get a burial cloth and spices to anoint the body, while Joseph went to get his servants to to open up his tomb in readiness.

We returned to Golgotha just as the sky turned black and Rabbi Jesus cried out from his cross ‘ It is finished’ and died. Neither of us could move for shock for quite some while. It had all been rather quick, for the other two men were still alive. The Roman soldiers didn’t believe it either, and after about half an hour, one of them thrust his spear in the side of Rabbi Jesus, and blood and water came out. The Rabbi was truly dead.

Joseph moved forwards to speak to the Centurion overseeing the crucifixion, and gave him the letter of authorisation from Pilate. I moved to speak to his shocked mother, to reassure her that we were friends of Rabbi Jesus, and that we had arrange to take his body to be buried decently. At this point his mother turned to the young man next to her, and wept onto his shoulder. She wept again when the soldiers took down the body of her son and laid it in her arms. She wept when Joseph waved forward two of his servants who had arrived with a handcart to take the body to the tomb. She wept as his body was quickly wrapped in grave clothes, and was pushed through the emptying streets escorted by a group of soldiers, and she was dry eyed as Rabbi Jesus’ body was gently placed in the tomb, the tomb sealed and a guard set. Joseph and I watched as she walked away leaving the body of her only son in a stranger’s tomb. We walked away knowing that what we had just done was too little too late.

Nicodemus the Lawgiver – part 2

A servant was sent to bring me to the Hall of the Hewn Stones late on Thursday evening. When we were all seated, Ciaiphas announced that he had sent some of his servants, and a small number of the Temple Guard to find Rabbi Jesus and bring him to stand before us to answer for his actions. He had now been found, and was on his way. Ciaiphas said that he had been gathering evidence, and would be putting a case before us. It seemed a very odd hour to be beginning a trial, and I wondered what Ciaiphas was up to.

Rabbi Jesus was brought before us with his hands bound in front of him. The Temple Guards who had been sent to find him must have decided that he was very dangerous. As they shoved him into the centre of the semi circle of benches, he stumbled, and fell down onto one knee, but he managed to get himself upright again, and stood there calmly looking around at us all examining our faces one by one, with not a trace of fear in his eyes. Several men began to throw questions at him, some began to make accusations, but he just continued to look at them all, without uttering a single word. For a trial this was not going well. The defendant was not supposed to look so unconcerned either about where he was, nor the people accusing him or the charges that were being levelled at him. Nothing that was being said was having any impact on him. Finally he turned to face Ciaiphas who had sat down in his seat. Rabbi Jesus stood there looking directly at the man who was about to lead the formal accusations against him.

‘I have witnesses here who have seen you commit many deeds which are against the law.’

Rabbi Jesus just looked politely interested as a stream of men were brought before him, and made the most ridiculous unsubstantiated accusations I have ever heard. Some of them were at best just a misinterpretation of something that the Rabbi had said, and at worst were a complete fabrication. None of them met the test in law, that a fact had to be agreed by two or more male witnesses. None of them seemed to be able to agree on anything. Ciaiphas seemed to be getting more and more agitated. At one point Joseph of Arimathea was moved to ask Ciaiphas why we were all here, as no one had yet presented a case for Rabbi Jesus to answer. At that point Ciaiphas left his seat for a few minutes, and went off to consult with a figure standing in the shadows in one back corner of the room, When the shadowy man moved to leave the room, I realised that Ananus ben Seth had been watching the proceedings. Soon after he had left two men were brought before Rabbi Jesus who both accused him of saying that he had said that he was able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days.

A look of satisfaction came over Ciaiphas’ face and he stood up and pompously asked

‘Are you not going to answer this accusation? Are you not going to challenge the testimonly of these men?’

But as he had all evening, Rabbi Jesus remained silent just looking at Ciaiphas. Ciaiphas tried again

‘I charge you under oath by’ the living God: Tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God?’

At this question all the noise in the room ceased and it almost seemed as if everyone was holding their breath. For the first time Rabbi Jesus opened his mouth to speak

‘You have said this, not me, but I tell you all, from now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.’

There it was, the declaration, before us all. A look of extreme satisfaction briefly flitted over Ciaiphas’ face, and he turned to look at the deep corner shadow where I expected he could see his father-in-law again. Then his face settled into serious lines, and he stood up and solemnly tore his robes.

‘He has spoken blasphemy. We do not need any more witnesses, you have heard him with your own ear. What do you all now say?’

A cry came up from the gathered Sanhedrin

‘He must die’

I turned and found the face of Joseph of Arimathea, who looked as stunned as I felt. Something was going on here that was not right. Ananus was behind it all, but what was he up to? Some members now got up and began to hit and spit at Rabbi Jesus. I had never seen anything like it before in my life, and frankly I never wanted to see such sights again. Whatever I might have thought about Rabbi Jesus when I went to meet him that night, his coolness, his calm, and his honesty shone through. Tonight I believed him when he said that he was the Son of God.

I could not join in with what was going on, nor did I think I could influence these men who seem to have had their minds made up for them. I slipped out of the chamber, and was quickly joined by Joseph.

‘What do you think went on there?’ he asked,

as we walked quickly across the Temple precinct.

‘I have no idea. Despite what has been said, we do not have the authority to put anyone to death, and I cannot believe that Pontius Pilate will put to death such a man. He will order his soldiers to flog him, and send him back to Galilee, threatening him with further punishment should he return to Jerusalem, but that will be about it. It will have all blown over by the morning.’

‘I agree,’ I replied. ‘Lets get out of here.’

 

Nicodemus the Lawgiver – part 1

Night time is a time for shadows, for shameful actions and flickering lights. It is a time for fear and fright and nefarious deeds. It is not a time to pluck, by force, a popular leader from among his friends, bring him before the Sanhedrin sitting under flickering lights, try him, condemn him, get the sentence confirmed by the Roman authorities and by the king, and have the Roman soldiers ready to carry out the sentence by first light. Yet that is what we have just done, and much to my eternal shame I was part of that, and I scarcely raised a murmur.

After my visit to Rabbi Jesus, I could not let go of the fact that he was claiming to be the Son of God, the Messiah promised in Torah, yet how could that be, in this time, in my lifetime. I continued to listen carefully to stories about him swirling around Jerusalem from the lowliest man on the street to Ciaiphas the High Priest. All had views on what Rabbi Jesus was and what he was up to. Then I heard that a friend who lived in Bethany, Lazarus, had been taken ill and died. We were particularly busy with cases to hear in the Sanhedrin, so it was about four days after his death that I was able to get away, and walk down into the Kidron Valley, and up the other side to Bethany, where I hoped that I would find his sisters to offer them my condolences, and some comfort.

I was surprised by how many people seemed to be taking the same route as I. That path is very popular, but today people seemed to be swarming out of Jerusalem and heading up to Bethany. I fell in alongside a couple, and got chatting to them. They told me that they had heard that Rabbi Jesus was coming to Bethany. He hadn’t arrived in time to heal Lazarus, but maybe something else would happen now he was there. I felt mixed emotions when I heard about Rabbi Jesus. If he was going to be there, then I wouldn’t be able to talk to Mary and Martha, but I did want to see him again for myself, so I carried on.

I arrived at the place where Lazarus was buried, at just about the same time Mary and Martha led a weeping Rabbi Jesus to stand outside the entrance to the tomb. I stood back from the crowd, and managed to get myself up onto a large rock, so I had a very good view of what happened next. It appeared that Rabbi Jesus had asked some men to remove the stone from the entrance to the tomb. After Martha had protested, it was done, then Rabbi Jesus shouted, loud enough for everyone to hear ‘Come out Lazarus’. There was a long, long moment of silence with everyone watching the entrance to the tomb, and then like a man sleepwalking, Lazarus climbed up out of the hole, and was pulled up onto his feet by eager and willing hands. After looking wildly at Jesus for confirmation, Mary and Martha ran to Lazarus and threw their arms around him. So he was real, and no ghost. I turned and walked away back to Jerusalem with many conflicting thoughts running through my brain. Rabbi Jesus could even bring the dead back to life!

The next couple of weeks saw many members of the Sanhedrin whispering in corners together. I knew something was brewing. Two things really brought things to a head. The first was that Rabbi Jesus left Bethany, and came to stay in Jerusalem. People had been following him from place to place for months, but on this day a whole crowd gathered by the city gate waiting for him. As he rode up to the city wall, a great shout went up, and men began to pull down branches from nearby trees and strew them on the ground along with their cloaks. The crowd went a bit quiet, when he appeared before them, riding on a donkey, with its foal prancing about beside him. Some people at least thought that he was a laughable figure, the majority didn’t seem to care that this man they were now hailing as king, was on a lowly donkey not a beautiful horse. Jesus rode straight to the Temple, and went in to sit on the steps of the on the steps in the Court of the Women, where he began to teach the people around him, as is his right. But after a few days, it seemed as if the money changers, trading under the portico, had incurred his ire, and he suddenly got up, and turned over their tables, claiming that they were making the house of God look like a den of thieves. As you can imagine, that did not go down well, and the money changers sent representatives to Ciaiphas to get something done about Rabbi Jesus.

Nicodemus the Rabbi – part 2

I wanted to debate with Rabbi Jesus, but there had been so much informal muttering against him and his influence on the people, by men in the Sanhedrin that I dare not openly be seen with him, so I resolved to go to him at night to debate with him, teacher to teacher. I found him in the house of a friend sitting out in the garden just looking at the stars. I sat down opposite him, and he turned to look at me. I began:

“Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from Yahweh; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from his presence.”

I am not sure what I expected him to say, but he went, as I have often seen him do, to the real heart of the question I wanted him to answer.

“I tell you truly, no one can see the kingdom of Yahweh without being born from above.”

I never thought I had a choice about when, where and how I was born, so I asked for clarification.

“How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?”

Rabbi Jesus answered me,

“Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of Yahweh without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’ The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

I thought about my response to this for some while,

“How can these things be?”

He answered me again

“Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things? “Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. For Yahweh loves the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, he did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”

There it was the answer I had been looking for, and yet these words shocked me to the core. I wanted to know by whose authority this Rabbi was preaching, teaching and healing, and he had told me. This man, this itinerant teacher from Nazareth in Galilee was claiming to be the son of Yahweh! How arrogant was that claim. Rabbi Jesus just smiled at me across the space between us. I looked at him long and hard, then pulled my head cloth over my face, got up and slipped away into the night, disappointed.