Dateline: Passover wekend
He was born in an outhouse, with no proper clothes and no proper bed, to an unmarried mother almost abandoned by her boyfriend, because the baby wasn't his. He was visited by peasant shepherds high on something, and weirdoes from out of town who caused a massacre by their loose talk. He managed to escape by the skin of his teeth and became a refugee. Finally, they all settled in a hick town. Why they took in the family, nobody knows. Not much of a start!
A few years later, on a trip to town with his parent for the annual celebration, he got left behind because he wasn't paying attention. Caused all sorts of panic while they searched for him for hours. Later he was found annoying the priests and cheeking his elders and betters. Didn't seem to realise what he had done wrong.
He kept his head low for a while, probably working for his stepfather - a bit of good fortune there. Then he started wondering round listening to roving preachers and hanging round with some rough types. He had a bit of a religious experience at an outdoor rally and turned into a hermit for a while, living off the land.
But on the good side, he was very bright, cleverer than the academics at the temple, good at his job, brilliant speaker, understood ordinary people. He could have had it all - power, wealth, status - anything he wanted. But he turned it down, and for what?
He became a wandering preacher himself, gathering a band of odd followers with nothing much in common (except for the four fishermen), and started contradicting the teachings of the church. He didn't think much of the strict religious laws, telling the priests they had got it all backwards, and was always getting into trouble about it. He was known to be a bit of a partygoer. He certainly knew where to get the best booze - you would think it was only water the way he shared it about.
He spent far too much time with all the trash of society, collaborators, prostitutes, vagrants, degenerates and illegal immigrants. He even encouraged property damage. We know a roof was ripped off a house and some sheep driven over a cliff for starters.
Yet he didn't even satisfy the resistance people. Yes, he caused a bit of trouble for the occupying forces, but not that much. Although he had a popular following, he would not use it to start anything worth while.
Then he began to make ridiculous claims for himself, that he was equal with God, that he had come to save the world, that he knew better than all the religious leaders, and that he was going to change everything. That was too much for everyone - The occupying authorities did not want a new troublemaker, the religious and civil leaders did not like being challenged, and the resistance needed a fighter not a priest. So a plan was hatched.
The resistance made a deal to hand him over to the priests, the priests made a deal to hand him over to the occupying forces, and the occupying forces agreed to execute him to keep everything under control (it made them look good back home). He had just made too many enemies.
Finally, he had a mockery of a trial, the judge got cold feet and almost chickened out, but a rabble paid by the priests got their way. He was executed on Friday as a common criminal and put in someone else's grave. His friends were so frightened that they ran away and hid.
I suppose he was a nice enough bloke, but he just got it all wrong. He died penniless at 33, did not build anything, did not start anything, he just left a small band of bewildered people who felt they had let him down. One has even committed suicide. On Sunday it looks like there will only be the women left to see to the final burial arrangements.
How wrong can you be?
Author: Geoff Tomlinson