Rome and the East
Galilee and Jerusalem. But it is essential to state firmly that we cannot amal-
gamate the four accounts to construct a ‘‘life of Jesus.’’ We could attempt to
do so with the three Synoptics, but not with John, because the structure of
his narrative is fundamentally different. For the Synoptics, there is only one
journey to Jerusalem, that for the final Passover, the occasion of the cruci-
fixion. Their narratives thus lead from Galilee and its environs to a single
climax, namely the one pilgrimage to Jerusalem for Passover. As such, this is
entirely convincing. Josephus’ two narratives of the period give ample evi-
dence that Passover was indeed the main national pilgrim festival, when vast
crowds assembled, from Galilee not least, and when disturbances could be
anticipated.^6
This concentration on a single climactic visit has its effect also on the de-
tails of the Synoptic narratives. So, for instance, in Jesus’ life-time the Roman
census was imposed, and Roman taxation was payable, in Judaea but not in
Galilee, a fact which, as we have seen, Luke’s birth narrative overlooks. The
question of payment remained a burning issue. So all three Synoptics rep-
resent the trick question about whether to pay ‘‘the census’’ as having been
posed in Jerusalem, necessarily in the period before the last Passover (Mk. :
–; Mt. :–; Lk. :–). It is also in this context that they must
place the cleansing of the Temple (Mk. :–; Mt. :–; Lk. :–
). But in John this episode belongs in a quite different context. For just
as his trial narrative is structured round Pilate’s movements between Jesus,
inside thepraetorium(the residence of the Romanpraefectus), and his Jewish
accusers outside, as we shall see, so his narrative of Jesus’ preaching is struc-
tured round a whole series of Jewish festivals, proceeding in what looks like
an appropriate sequence through at least something more than one year, and
each necessitating an ascent from Galilee to Jerusalem. The sequence begins
with a first Passover, almost the earliest episode in Jesus’ activity as a preacher,
being preceded only by the marriage at Cana (:–), an item unique to
John. (Cana was a real village in Galilee, where Josephus once stayed on cam-
paign in.. [Vita]; unfortunately he does not report having heard
there any interesting local tales.) It is thus very early in the narrative that
John represents Jesus as going up to Jerusalem for ‘‘the Pascha of theIoudaioi,’’
cleansing the Temple, meeting ‘‘a man of the Pharisees, Nicodemus by name,
anarchon[magistrate] of theIoudaioi,’’ who is to reappear later after the cru-
cifixion (:), and then going out into the countryside of Judaea (:–:
). On his way back he has to pass, as Galilean pilgrims often did,^7 through
. See, e.g.,BJ, –; , –; , –; , –;Ant. , –; , –.
. See, e.g.,BJ, –;Ant. , –.