right hand of Power and coming with the clouds of heaven” (Mark 14:62).
Among Jews, claiming to be the messiah was not a blasphemous assertion,
but the Son of Man saying as Mark words it implies that Jesus arrogated
divine power and status to himself. Had Jesus made such a claim, it would
indeed have been regarded as blasphemy. But again, what he actually said
cannot be known.
The clearest indication of why Jesus was crucified comes from his Ro-
man executioners, in thetitulusthat Pilate had affixed to Jesus’ cross:
“King of the Jews” (Mark 15:26 pars.). With mocking irony, the inscription
suggests that he was executed on grounds of political sedition. This does
not mean that Pilate regarded Jesus or his followers as a potent political
threat to the Roman Empire as such, only that Jesus’ provocative demon-
stration in the Temple had to be dealt with so as to quell potential unrest in
Jerusalem during the politically charged atmosphere of Passover, a Jewish
festival celebrating liberation from foreign domination. In turning him
over to Pilate, the chief priests no doubt sought to avoid the vigorous po-
lice action from the Romans that any further disturbances in the city
would have risked (cf. John 11:48, “If we let him go on like this, everyone
will believe in him and the Romans will come and destroy both our holy
place and our nation” — a statement attributed to the chief priests apro-
pos of the raising of Lazarus that would make excellent historical sense in
relation to the Temple incident). Indeed, the chief priests may have been
working with Pilate to preserve public order and may have arrested Jesus
with Pilate’s approval.The Early Jesus Movement(s)
Within a few weeks of Jesus’ death around the year 30, several of his follow-
ers began boldly proclaiming that he had appeared to them risen from the
dead. Over the next months and years, their reflection on Jesus’ life, their
study of the Jewish scriptures, and their experience of his spiritual pres-
ence in their midst led them to elaborate on their core proclamation: God
had sent Jesus to redeem all humankind; his death was necessary to inau-
gurate God’s sovereign rule in the earth; and faith in the saving death and
resurrection of the one now exalted to God’s right hand would prepare all
who turned to him for the coming judgment and grant them eternal life in
the coming kingdom.
Initially the members of “the Way” or “the Assembly”(ekkl 3 sia),as the397Early Judaism and Early ChristianityEERDMANS -- Early Judaism (Collins and Harlow) final text
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