Tidewater_Wave
Jr. Member
Posts: 519
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« on: March 07, 2012, 11:24:21 PM » |
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Another feature I would like to point out from the Pilate scene is Barabbas. “He released the man they asked for, the one who had been put in prison for insurrection” (Luke 20:25). Notice how during and after the war, murderers and rebels being sentenced to death would have been very common and hit home with many listeners. Luke follows how Mark felt about where Jerusalem was going. Instead of following the righteous, they follow the path of murderers. Barabbas though is likely to have been a creation of Mark’s.
“Now he was obliged to release someone for them at the festival” (Luke 23:17). Being released as a custom is nowhere to be found in the era in which Jesus lived. Had that been the case, it is very doubtful that Pilate would have honored it anyways. Releasing a criminal would have made about as much sense back then as it would today. Imagine the governor of a state pardoning a sentenced murderer every year on Easter. While this is funny to see the President of the United States do with turkeys every Thanksgiving, it would be looked at much differently if it were actually humans on death row. What we have here is more blaming of the Jewish authorities in order to make the case that the Jewish leaders have misled their people and now the message of Jesus is to be followed. “But they kept shouting, ‘Crucify, crucify him!’ A third time he said to them, ‘Why, what evil has he done’” (Luke 23:21-22). This is nothing like the historical Pilate who would likely be pleased to crucify in such a situation. Philo does tell us of a similar tradition performed near the time of festivals though where governors could postpone the execution until after the festival, or they could allow burial of the cruxified by his family.
“Rulers who conduct their government as they should and do not pretend to honor but do really honor their benefactors make a practice of not punishing any condemned person until those notable celebrations in honor of the birthdays of the illustrious Augustan house are over” (Against Flaccus 81-84). Here we see the Roman rulers honoring their own holidays but not holidays of the Jews. “I have known cases when on the eve of a holiday of this kind, people who have been cruxified have been taken down and their bodies delivered to their kinsfolk, because it was thought well to give them burial and allow the ordinary rites” (Against Flaccus 81-84). The whole point of Philo’s Against Flaccus though is because Flaccus performed inhumane actions and the policies and events described in this work are regarding Emperor Caligula’s birthday on Aug.31, 38. “For it was meet that the dead also should have the advantage of some kind treatment upon the birthday of the emperor and also that the sanctity of the festival should be maintained. But Flaccus gave no orders to take down those who had died on the cross” (Against Flaccus 81-84). What Flaccus did do however was delay the execution of prisoners, but not release them! “Instead he ordered the crucifixion of the living, to whom the season offered a short lived though not permanent reprieve in order to postpone the punishment though not to remit it altogether” (Against Flaccus 81-84). Here we have a historical citing of an actual tradition based on Roman holidays that at times was not completely honored even by the Romans themselves.
Barabbas probably did not exist and if he was sentenced to death at the same time of Jesus, then he would have been executed right alongside of him. It is more likely that Mark saw several bandits and rebels put to death by the Romans as freedom fighters. Just before the fall of the temple in 68 CE, the Romans forced many peasants and rebels into Jerusalem by circling the city. Mark also shows that Jerusalem sided with a rebel rather than a savior; someone perceived as violent compared to someone portrayed as peaceful. After Christianity had just failed in Jerusalem, I can easily see how Mark saw the scene with Barabbas as being a mythology or metaphor for what the Jews had just recently decided regarding their choice to reject the Christian message. Luke along with the other gospels followed Mark’s lead on Barabbas’s character.
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