Jesus’ reputation as healer had one very important historical consequence: he attracted crowds, as the early chapters of Mark (e.g., 1:28, 45; 2:2) reveal. By doing so Jesus could spread his message to more people, but he also ran the risk of attracting those whose interest in him was purely selfish and who came hoping for cures only. Moreover, crowds were politically dangerous. One of the reasons Herod Antipas executed John the Baptist was because he drew such large crowds that Antipas feared an uprising (Josephus, The Antiquities of the Jews 18.116–119).
Although Jesus’ message was not necessarily socially dangerous, the revolutionary implications of its promise of future reversal of status may have made some a little uneasy, and Jesus’ promise to sinners might have been irritating to the scrupulous. Still, without crowds these aspects of his message would not have mattered very much. He did not strike at the heart of the Jewish religion as such: he did not deny the election of Abraham and the requirement of circumcision; nor did he denounce Moses and the law. Nevertheless, during his Galilean ministry some people regarded him with hostility and suspicion, partly because of the crowds and partly because of his autonomy. It was impossible to know what someone who was autonomous might do next, and this could be dangerous, especially if he had a following. Scribes and Pharisees
In the 1st century, scribes and Pharisees were two largely distinct groups, though presumably some scribes were Pharisees. Scribes had knowledge of the law and could draft legal documents (contracts for marriage, divorce, loans, inheritance, mortgages, the sale of land, and the like). Every village had at least one scribe. Pharisees were members of a party that believed in resurrection and in following legal traditions that were ascribed not to the Bible but to “the traditions of the fathers.” Like the scribes, they were also well-known legal experts: hence the partial overlap of membership of the two groups. It appears from subsequent rabbinic traditions, however, that most Pharisees were small landowners and traders, not professional scribes.
In Mark’s view, Jesus’ main adversaries in Galilee were scribes, but, according to Matthew, they were Pharisees. These apparently conflicting views are readily reconciled: men knowledgeable about Jewish law and tradition would have scrutinized Jesus carefully, and it is likely that both scribes and Pharisees challenged his behaviour and teaching, as the Gospels indicate (e.g., Mark 2:6, 16; 3:22; Matthew 9:11; 12:2). According to one passage, the Pharisees (along with the Herodians, Mark adds) planned to destroy Jesus (Matthew 12:14; Mark 3:6). If the report of this plot is accurate, however, it seems that nothing came of it, since the Pharisees did not play a significant role in the events that led to Jesus’ death. Mark and Luke assign them no role, while Matthew mentions them only once (Matthew 27:62).
Some people in Galilee may have distrusted Jesus, and legal experts probably challenged his interpretation of the law, but he was never charged formally with a serious legal offense, and opposition in Galilee did not lead to his death. Mortal danger faced Jesus only after he went to Jerusalem for what turned out to be the last time. Jesus’ last week
In about the year ad 30, Jesus and his disciples went to Jerusalem from Galilee to observe Passover. Presumably they went a week early, as did tens of thousands of other Jews (perhaps as many as 200,000 or 300,000), in order to be cleansed of “corpse-impurity,” in accordance with Numbers 9:10–12 and 19:1–22. The Gospels do not mention purification, but they do place Jesus near the Temple in the days preceding Passover. He entered Jerusalem on a donkey, perhaps intending to recall Zechariah 9:9, which Matthew (21:5) quotes: “your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey.” This touched off a demonstration by his followers, who hailed Jesus as either “Son of David” (Matthew 21:9) or as “the one who comes in the name of the Lord” (Mark 11:9). Matthew speaks of “crowds,” which suggests that many people were involved, but the demonstration was probably fairly small. Jerusalem at Passover was dangerous; it was well known to both Caiaphas, who governed the city, and Pilate, the prefect to whom the high priest was responsible, that the festivals were likely times of uprisings. Pilate’s troops patrolled the roofs of the porticoes of the Temple. A large demonstration would probably have led to Jesus’ immediate arrest, but, because he lived for several more days, it is likely that the crowd was relatively small.
Jesus spent some time teaching and debating (Mark 12) and also told his disciples that the Temple would be destroyed (Mark 13:1–2). On one of the days of purification prior to the Passover sacrifice and meal, he performed his most dramatic symbolic action. He entered the part of the temple precincts where worshipers exchanged coins to pay the annual temple tax of two drachmas or bought pigeons to sacrifice for inadvertent transgressions of the law and as purificatory offerings after childbirth. Jesus turned over some of the tables (Mark 11:15–17), which led “the chief priests and the scribes” (“and the principal men of the people,” Luke adds) to plan to have him executed (Mark 11:18; Luke 19:47; cf. Mark 14:1–2).
Later, the disciples found a room for the Passover meal, and one of them bought an animal and sacrificed it in the Temple (Mark 14:12–16; verse 16 states simply, “they prepared the passover”). Judas Iscariot, however, one of the 12, betrayed Jesus to the authorities. At the meal, Jesus blessed the bread and wine, designating the bread “my body” and the wine “my blood of the covenant” (Mark 14:22–25) or “the new covenant in my blood” (Luke 22:20 and 1 Corinthians 11:25). He also stated that he would not drink wine again until he drank it with the disciples in the kingdom (Matthew 26:29).
After supper, Jesus took his disciples to the Mount of Olives to pray. While he was there, Judas led armed men sent by the chief priests to arrest him (Mark 14:43–52). They took Jesus to Caiaphas, who had gathered some of his councillors (called collectively the Sanhedrin). Jesus was first accused of threatening to destroy the Temple, but this charge was not substantiated. Caiaphas then asked him if he was “the Christ, the Son of God.” According to Mark (14:61–62), Jesus said “yes” and then predicted the arrival of the Son of Man. According to Matthew (26:63–64), he said, “You say so, but [emphasis added] I tell you that you will see the Son of Man,” apparently implying the answer was no. According to Luke he was more ambiguous: “If I tell you, you will not believe” and “You say that I am” (22:67–70). (Some scholars believe that the New International Version misrepresents Jesus’ answer in Matthew and Luke.)
Whatever the answer, Caiaphas evidently had already decided that Jesus had to die. He cried “blasphemy” and rent his own garments, a dramatic sign of mourning that the Hebrew Bible prohibits the high priest from making (Leviticus 21:10). The gesture was effective, and the councillors agreed that Jesus should be sent to Pilate with the recommendation to execute him.
It is doubtful that the titles Messiah and Son of God were actually the issue because there was no set meaning for either in 1st-century Judaism. As Mark, reprised by Matthew and Luke, presents the scene, when the attempt to have Jesus executed for threatening the Temple failed, Caiaphas simply declared whatever Jesus said (about which we must remain uncertain) to be blasphemy. This may be what convinced the council to recommend Jesus’ execution. It appears, however, that the charges against Jesus that Caiaphas transmitted to Pilate (Mark 15:1–2, 26) may have included the accusation that Jesus claimed to be “king of the Jews.”