THE LAST DAYS OF JESUS CHRIST (part one) 

                                                          

If you click your mouse on the words that are underlined, you will get more information.

Thiese articles is are extremely long. They  comprises of 12,033 words. It is divided into ten subsections. They are; 

(1)Did Jesus really exist? (2) Jesus Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem. (3) His betrayal, (4) His arrest, (5) His trials. (6) His sentence by Pontius .Pilate. (7) His whipping and His crucifixion. (8) His burial. (9) His resurrection. (10) What happened to him and his disciples after his resurrection.

I want to point out to my readers that I am an atheist because I do not believe in the existence of any god whatsoever, however, I  except the teachings for the most part of the prophets in the Old Testament and the teachings of Jesus and the prophets in the New Testament. And now, my articles that is about one of the greatest men in history—Jesus Christ.

Did Jesus Christ really exist?

                                                           

Within a few decades of Jesus Christ’s death, he was mentioned by Jewish and Roman historians, as well as being in dozens of Christian writings of that era. The Jewish historian, Flavius Josephus, who wrote a history of Judaism around 93 AD added two references to Jesus in his writings. About 20 years after Josephus’s writings, there were two Roman politicians. Pliny and Tacitus, who held some of the highest offices of state at the beginning of the second century AD mentioned Jesus in their writings. From Tacitus we learn that Jesus was executed while Pontius Pilate was the Roman prefect in charge of Judaea. From this information, there is no doubt in my mind that Jesus Christ was not merely a figment of imagination in the minds of those who re-wrote the New Testament back in the Sixteenth Century

Jesus Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem

According to the Gospels in the New Testament, Jesus and his disciples were staying at the small village of Bethany  six days before the Passover began and before he entered Jerusalem. Jesus sent two of his disciples into another village ahead of them in order to obtain  two animals—a donkey and a colt that had been tied up but never ridden and if questioned, to say to the owner of the animals that the donkey was needed by their master and the animals  would be later returned to the owner. The disciples laid their cloaks on both animals and returned to Bethany.

In Luke 19, 41: as Jesus approaches Jerusalem, he looks at the city and weeps over it (an event known as Flevit super illam in Latin), foretelling the suffering that awaits the city that was later totally destroyed on the orders of the Roman emperor, Tiberius.

I am not saying that Jesus could see in the future but he may have heard such in his travels that Tiberius may destroy the city some day in the future if the Jews intended to overthrow the Romans in their country. Certainly Pontius Pilate wasn’t told by the Roman emperor of that upcoming event. Of course this story may have been a result of the imaginations of the writers of the New Testament. Keep in mind that in the Sixteenth Century, the Christian Bible as we know it was written by 47 scholars who were members of the Church of England and were acting on the orders of King James of England.  

If Jesus and his disciples were in Bethany on a Sunday afternoon, they probably would have started their trek from Jericho which is about 25 kilometers (15 miles) away from Jerusalem. That would have been a full day’s journey when walking and talking with others on the road to Jerusalem.  Thus Jesus would have entered Jerusalem on the next day.

The Gospels go on to recount how Jesus rode into Jerusalem while on the back of the donkey  and the people there had laid down their cloaks in front of him and also laid down small branches of trees.

How did they know that he was coming to Jerusalem?  I doubt that most of them them had never seen Jesus as an adult so I have to presume that one or more of his disciples ran ahead of Jesus and told the people that Jesus the healer was coming towards them. There is mention in the New Testament that he did heal some people during his lifetime.

On his entry into the city, Matthew's account suggests that Jesus evoked great excitement, He wrote. "All the city was moved." That was impossible because at that time in history, as many as 40,000 people lived in Jerusalem. Further, Jesus would not really have been known to a great many of the people of Jerusalem. In fact, some of them asked, "Who is this man?" 

Someone replied, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee.”  It is conceivable however that many of the people in Jerusalem had heard stories of Jesus. Traditionally, entering the city on a donkey symbolizes arrival in peace, rather than as a war-waging king arriving on a horse so the people who saw him in the city were obviously  pleased that he was visiting their city.  

The people sang part of Psalm 118: 25-26: Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. We bless you from the house of the Lord.

According to the Gospel writings, Jesus went to the temple grounds and when he saw the money lenders sitting at their small tables covered  with coins, he was furious and so he upset the tables with the coins falling on the ground. No doubt many of those in attendance grabbed the coins for themselves.

The priests at the temple in Jerusalem not only officiated over the religious life of the Jews, they were also rulers of Judea and judges. It follows that they would have been furious when they learned what Jesus had done to the money lenders since Jesus had told them to leave the temple area. If they did leave the temple area and did their business elsewhere, the priests would not have got their regular piece of the action. 

End of part one