Adonis Diaries

The high priests of Jerusalem denied Jesus membership

            Thus, Jesus accompanied by large numbers of followers is marching slowly toward Jerusalem. Jesus and most of his disciples are apprehensive of entering this hostile city of Jerusalem; they belong to a Jewish sect Essonite (Essenian) who worships in the Great Temple on Mount Carmel. The Sanhedrin in Jerusalem has infiltrated the masses of followers and is luring Jesus to advance.  The Sanhedrin formed of the highest priests of the Pharisee and Sadducee sects have no administrative, religious, or political hold on Jesus in the countries of his peregrination. (Read my previous post “Complete story of Jesus’ visit to Jerusalem”). 

            Jesus camped outside Jerusalem City limits and enjoyed a triumphal entrance on Sunday; he was acclaimed “Glory to son of man” (Oshana Ibn al Inssan).  Jesus returned to outside the city limits and sent Judas Iscariot (a genuine Jew from the tribe of Benjamin in south Palestine) to negotiate a formal meeting with the highest priests of the Sanhedrin.

            The Sanhedrin had gathered through intelligence on Jesus; it knew that Jesus of Galilee was the “son of Marie”; it was convinced, and their rumors aided a lot, that Joseph was not the legitimate father of Jesus; Mathew poured oil on the fire by relating a not convincing story 60 years later. I don’t care one way or another who was the real father of Jesus but everyone else at that period did care and must have known, especially the Sanhedrin. The Jews named the sons and, especially, the eldest son after the patriarch of the family.  The Sanhedrin knew that Jesus was a “gentile” who was circumcised by law during the century old Macabe Kingdom and were coerced to follow the Jewish rituals. Jesus sect the Essonite had many headquarters outside Galilee; it had the largest and most flourishing center in Alexandria and other centers in Damascus in Mesopotamia. Jesus was a high priest in that sect.  The Essonite sect read from their own Books and the educated members were very literate in Greek philosophy and Indian theologies; they preached mostly Gnostic messages while adhering to the strict Jewish laws and rituals.

            Initially, Jesus was to disseminate the Essonite message in Galilee and around Damascus. Then, on the third year of wandering in the vicinities Jesus was assigned the task of including the Essonite as a formal sect in the Sanhedrin along side the Pharisee and Sadducee sects. It was fundamentally the job of imposing reforms within the Sanhedrin to unite all Jewish sects under common denominators. Jesus entered Jerusalem in a strong show of force; his followers were numerous, a credible entity, and willing to accept Jerusalem as one of their main religious centers.

            Judas was lured into believing that a meeting is scheduled on Thursday.  The Sanhedrin was not about to permit Jesus in the Holy of Holy of the Jewish organization; Jesus was to face humiliation and an appropriate punishment for spreading a different message to the masses. Judas must have told Jesus that the Sanhedrin position was to apprehend Jesus for questioning before any decision of formal meeting could be contemplated. Jesus realized that his mission has failed and that he is trapped; the chances were very slim to meet the high priest at equal footing but it was an opportunity not to avoid. Jesus ordered Judas to lead the apprehending force.  The customs were that anyone with high rank or standing should be apprehended with someone of equal ranking; since no high priest was to lead the force then Judas is bestowed the rank of brother; honor was saved.  Indeed, the kiss of Judas to Jesus at Gethsemane was of equal ranks nature; Judas was thus to lead the disciple in periods of emergencies.  The swift trial and execution dashed any hope for further leadership.  Jack, the brother of Jesus and not even one of Jesus’ followers or believer in his message, was anointed leader of the congregation: customs are hard to break. In any case, the third of the original disciples were close relatives of Jesus and of the same town of Qana (Lebanon).

            Most probably Judas hoped that Jesus will have at least an occasion to expose and discuss his proposal; he had no idea that the events were planed to end into putting Jesus to death and even crucifixion, the lowest forms of execution. Jesus loved Judas and Judas’ family and this love was returned.  Judas could not imagine the Sanhedrin behaving for these kinds of humiliations and mistreatments. 

            Judas did not flee; he stayed in Jerusalem and bought a piece of land. Judas was not scared of the disciples who were huddled in secrecy and scared for their lives; actually, Judas didn’t have the heart of meeting with this bunch of cowards who followed Jesus in triumph and failed to support him in time of need: they would have had a stoke assuming that he might be leading the Pharisee forces to their hideout.  Judas followed ordered; he was the man for the hard missions, and he had no excuses to offer to anyone.  There are two stories: Judas hanged himself or he fell from a wall while working in his olive field. Both versions are plausible; I am inclined that Judas had the courage to decide for his own destiny. He was a leader, he had a mission, he failed, and he must commit suicide.

            The first martyr, the Greek educated Saint Etienne (Estephanous), was lapidated to death shortly after Jesus crucifixion. The Nazarene congregation in Jerusalem (as they were called for over 30 years after Jesus crucifixion), was headed by Jack (brother of Jesus).  Jack easily stroked a deal with the Sanhedrin; mainly with the Pharisee sect within the Sanhedrin. It seems that the terms were acceptable to Jack and most of the original ultra conservative disciples who observed the Jewish laws even stingier than the majority of the Jews in Jerusalem. This moratorium with the Sanhedrin could not have been reached without the initial attempt by Jesus and Judas Iscariot.

            A barely tenable coexistence went on for another 20 years until Jack was lapidated to death; the “Christians” fled Jerusalem and settled first in Qana (the birth town of Virgin Mary in Lebanon) before pushing further on to all directions.  I contend that most of the Essonite members in these vicinities joined the Nazarenes.  It is during this peaceful period that St. Paul visited the Nazarene congregation three times in Jerusalem. Saint Paul transformed the Essonite sect from one of the Jewish sects into a new religion with world ramifications.

Note 1: The Prophet Muhammad was initially a convert to an Essonite Christian sect in Mecca (the Arabic Peninsula).  The first 13 years of Muhammad’s message was to unite the three main Christian sects in the Peninsula under a common denominator dogma. The religion of Muhammad deleted most of the abstract concepts in the Byzantium “orthodox” Christian religion into a down to earth and simple dogma that could be understood by the Arabic tribes.

Note 2: The Christian Copts in Alexandria (Egypt), mostly of Essonite sources, converted to Islam: there were no major theological differences between their brand of Christian dogma and Islam. This principle applies to many Christian sects in Syria, Lebanon, and Mesopotamia (Iraq) when Islam conquered all these lands.