BiAS 7 – The Bible and Politics in Africa
see to it that Rome had eyes and ears almost everywhere to guard against
the hatching of any rebellions. Actually there were five rebellions during
his tenure which he succeeded in thwarting and such efficiency could
not have happened without reliable intelligence resources.^30 Though
Jesus is presented as having differed from the implicit conclusions of
those who told him about the Galileans, evident from his remark: “Do
you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other
Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! [...] (v.2-3a), what
is evidently clear is that they had carried the sad news to him. They knew
of course that Jesus had no bonds of friendship with Pilate and their
message could have served as a warning to Jesus also. It is actually diffi-
cult to imagine that they had simply come to prove their innocence be-
fore Jesus and compare themselves as better off than those Galileans
who had been killed. What is more interesting also is that their names
were not mentioned and from the fore-going analysis on the operating
nature of spies we saw that it is exactly the nature of spies of not wanting
to be known by names. Even though there is no explicit mention that
these people were part of Jesus’ followers there is certainly every reason
to suggest that they had some kind of sympathy towards him and it
remains an open possibility that they could have been his secret follow-
ers.
Yet another spy tactic we find being employed by the Jesus movement is
that of field agents who are sent into the public to carry out specified
missions against the enemy and come back to report to the command
center. In the two related incidences where Jesus first sends out the
twelve (Mk 6:7-13) and then the seventy more (Lk 10:1-12, 17-20) we find
Jesus targeting his main opponent, the Devil, in an effort to weaken him
and put his house in disarray. When those who had been sent out came
back to report to the command center on the success of their missions,
“Lord, even the demons are subject to us” we find Jesus too rejoicing on
the accomplished mission saying: “I saw Satan having fallen like light-
ning from heaven [...]” Lk 10:18). In the success story of his disciples,
Jesus saw already the demise of his opponent. This finds echo in the
words of Bob Deffinbaugh who says:
If they saw the demons as subject to them, Jesus saw Satan in the begin-
nings of his demise. Satan was, like lightning, falling from heaven. That is,
(^30) Cf. R.M. Sheldon, Spies of the Bible: espionage in Israel from the Exodus to the Bar Kokhba
Revolt, 153.