Caesar's Messiah: The Roman Conspiracy to Invent Jesus:Flavian Signature Edition (31 page)

To see how the four versions combine into one continuous story, it is first necessary to recognize that the New Testament places the contradictory versions in one temporal stream of events, and that each version enters this shared stream of events at a different point.

The sun’s position in the sky places each version of the story in sequential order. John’s version begins earliest and the events progress through Matthew, Mark, and finally Luke.

This can be determined as follows:

In John, the first visit occurs while it is “still dark.”

In Matthew, the first visit occurs while the sun “is rising.” The author specifically uses the present tense.

Luke and Mark use the Greek words
proi
¹⁰⁸
and
bathus
.
¹⁰⁹
Both mean “early in the morning”; however, in Mark, the superlative
lian
,
¹¹⁰
meaning “extremely” or “beyond measure,” is used in conjunction with
proi.
Notice below that in Mark the sun has indeed
risen when the visit occurs, thus creating the awkward expression “the very earliest moment in the morning after the sun had risen.” Thus, Mark’s version begins after Matthew’s but before Luke’s.

Below are the related passages in the original Greek with their English translations.

John 20:1
| th de {But on the} mia {first [day]} twn {of the} sabbatwn {week} maria {Mary} h {the} magdalhnh {Magdalene} ercetai {comes} prwi {early} skotiaV {dark} eti {still} oushV {it being} eiV {to} to {the} mnhmeion {tomb} kai {and} blepei {sees} ton {the} liqon {stone} hrmenon {taken away} ek {from} tou {the} mnhmeiou {tomb}.

Matthew 28:1
| oye de {Now late} sabbatwn th {on sabbath,} epifwskoush {as the sun was dawning}

Mark 16:2
| kai {and} lian {extremely} prwi {early in the morning} thV {on the} miaV {first day} sabbatwn {of the week} ercontai {they come} epi {to} to {the} mnhmeion {tomb,} anateilantoV {having risen} tou {the} hliou {sun}.

Luke 24:1
| th de {But on the} mia {first [day]} twn {of the} sabbatwn orqrou {week} baqeoV {early in the morning} hlqon {they came} epi {to} to {the} mnhma {tomb}.

The relative position of the sun indicates that the four visits do not occur simultaneously, but rather within a sequence on the same day and within moments of one another. The first visit is the one given in John because Mary Magdalene visits Jesus’ tomb in the dark, while the other three visits occur either during or after sunrise.

The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulcher.

John 20:1

The fact that Mary Magdalene is described as being
in the dark
not only establishes that this is the beginning of the combined story, it is also the start of the lampoon. In the
dark, Mary sees a tomb that has had its stone moved away. Of course, in the dark it is easy to make a mistake about whose tomb it is, especially if there is
another
tomb close by that also has had its stone rolled away. In fact, the Gospel of John describes just such a tomb. The tomb of Lazarus.

Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb; it was a cave, and a stone lay upon it.

Jesus said, “Take away the stone.”

John 11:38–39

It is important to note that in the New Testament, Lazarus’ “resurrection” occurs in the same week as Jesus’ burial and in the same general location. Bethany, the village where Lazarus lived, was located just outside Jerusalem on the Mount of Olives. The New Testament also states that Lazarus left behind burial clothes and a
soudarion
, a funeral cloth used to cover the face of the corpse, exactly like those found in the tomb of Jesus.

The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with bandages, and his face wrapped with a cloth [soudarion]. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

John 11:44

I believe that these facts, though they have no theological significance, are included in the New Testament to allow the alert reader to understand that the tomb of Lazarus has had its stone removed, is adjacent to Jesus’ tomb, is empty at the time that Jesus is entombed, and has the same burial clothes inside it as those discovered in Jesus’ tomb. In other words, the details indicate that Lazarus’ tomb is a parallel of Jesus’ tomb.

Continuing with the version of the visit to the tomb in the Gospel of John, Mary Magdalene then informs “Simon Peter” and “the other disciple, whom Jesus loved,” meaning the Apostle John, that Jesus’ tomb has had its stone removed. However, notice below that it is not “Simon Peter” but “Peter” and the “other disciple” who are then described as running to the tomb. The other “disciple” arrives first but does not enter the tomb.

Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, “They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him.”

Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulchre.

So they ran both together: and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre.

John 20:2–4

So the author, by including the odd details of the race between Peter and the other disciple, creates a moment when there is
one individual
on the
outside
of the tomb because, for some reason, after beating Peter to the tomb, the other disciple does not enter it but only looks in. However, notice that he does inspect the inside of the tomb, so he is aware while still on the outside of the tomb that Jesus has “risen.”

And he stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in.

John 20:5

The author of John now points out that there is a period of time during which one person, “Simon Peter,” is alone in the tomb because the other disciple chooses to wait outside.

Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie,

And the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself.

John 20:6–7

At this point, not “Peter” but “Simon Peter” arrives and is the first person to actually enter the tomb and, once inside, sees “the linen clothes lying” and the
soudarion
.
¹¹¹
Notice that the reader’s attention is drawn to the linen clothes and the
soudarion
, on three consecutive lines.  The soudarion was a funeral cloth used by Romans – not by Jews.

Next the author provides another strange detail, that the other disciple eventually does enter, creating a moment when the two men are alone in the tomb.

Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and believed …

John 20:8

At this point Simon Peter and John return home.

Then the disciples went away again unto their own home

John 20:10

Thus, in the Gospel of John, the sequence of events when Simon Peter and John visit the empty tomb is:

First, one individual on the outside of the tomb.

Second, one individual on the inside of the tomb.

Third, two individuals inside the tomb.

Using the time line established by the relative position of the sun, the sequence of events, the number and location of the “angels” who are inside or outside the tomb, and who greet the visitors in Matthew, Mark, and Luke is as follows:

First, one individual on the outside of the tomb. (Matthew)

Second, one individual on the inside of the tomb. (Mark)

Third, two individuals inside the tomb. (Luke)

Obviously, the sequence of events in John is the same as the sequence of the encounters with “angels” in the other three Gospels. The timeline, shown by the relative position of the sun, places “Simon Peter” and the other disciple at the exact time and location, and in the same number, as the first three encounters with the “angels” described in the other Gospels.

However, there is yet another encounter with “angels” described in the New Testament. In the Gospel of John after Simon Peter and John return home, a character named “Mary” is described as standing outside the tomb weeping. She stoops down and sees two “angels” inside the tomb. She then turns and encounters Jesus on the outside of the tomb.

But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb;

and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet.

They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.”

Saying this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing.

John 20:11–14

If, as I am suggesting, Simon Peter and John are the “angels” that Jesus’ followers encounter in the visits to the tomb described in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, then who are the angels that Mary encounters in the passage above? The Gospel of Luke records that certain men “went to the tomb” after having been told by “some women of our company” that Jesus’ tomb was empty and that they saw “angels.”

“Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning

“and did not find his body; and they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive.

“Some of those who were with us went to the tomb, and found it just as the women had said; but him they did not see.”

Luke 24:22–24

The author of Luke, for some reason, includes the detail that the men
who go to the tomb do so only after a visit by
women
who had seen
angels
. Notice the use of the plural. Only in the
final
visit to the tomb, in Luke, does the group encounter more than one angel. Therefore, the visit to the tomb described in Luke could occur only after Simon Peter and John, the “angels” that the first three groups encounter, have returned home. This sequence of events ties in perfectly with the details described in the Gospel of Luke.

Notice that the plural “those” is also used to describe the number of men who go to the tomb. This fact is also essential, since the Mary described at the final encounter sees
two
angels. Further, the Gospel of Luke points out that those men “did not see” Jesus, which correlates with the fact that the angels Mary sees are
inside
the tomb, while Mary meets Jesus
outside
the tomb. The author discloses these facts by including the seemingly irrelevant detail that Mary has to look into the tomb to see the angels.

Therefore, when the four versions of the visits to Jesus’ tomb are combined into one sequence, they create a version that is perfectly logical. As I interpret this combined story, Mary Magdalene, in the “dark” (the actual word in the Gospel of John can also mean “religious ignorance”), does not find Jesus’ tomb but Lazarus’. The “angels” who meet the visitors to the tomb are actually Simon Peter and John in the first three encounters, and are the men described as visitors to the tomb in the Gospel of Luke. Jesus does not rise from the dead; his disciples simply delude themselves into believing that he does.

Notice that this interpretation makes coherent
all
the strange details of the “race” between “Simon Peter” and the other disciple, as well as their odd behavior while at the tomb. For example, it explains not only why the other disciple does not go into the tomb when he first arrives but also why he looks into the tomb from the outside. These details enable him to be alone outside the tomb when the first group arrives and also to be “aware” that Jesus has risen, so he is then able to pass this news along to the group who encounters him. It also explains why the Mary in the Gospel of John sees the angels on the inside of the tomb and encounters Jesus on the outside. All the seemingly irrelevant details included in the four versions of the visits to the tomb are necessary to construct the perfectly logical sequence of events in the combined story.

This fact—that, of the five versions, only the combined version is logical—is another example of what I see as the “truth” of the New Testament. That is, its authors did not intend the alert reader to take it seriously. Individuals who think logically and have a sense of humor were intended, at least eventually, to understand its comic level.