BETANIA
FRIDAY, APRIL 7, A.D. 30
THE SERENITY OF ELAZAR'S HOUSE always brought immediate relief to Yeshua and his disciples. After a full day in the Temple and the 3.2-kilometer walk from Yerushaláyim to Bethany, the men were exhausted. Hospitality is a fundamental feature of Jewish society, dating back to the time when the patriarch Abraham treated all his guests as if they were angels in disguise, offering them lavish meals of veal, butter, bread and milk.
Thus, Elazar's spacious home, with its large yard and thick door to keep intruders out at night, was not only a haven for Yeshua and his disciples, it also represents a vibrant link to the roots of the Jewish faith.
Elazar's sisters Martha and Myriam have always treated Yeshua with adoration, albeit in different ways. Martha was the oldest, overprotective, and was constantly worried about the Nazarene. Myriam, in turn, was delighted with Yeshua. She would sit at his feet and sometimes show her respect by anointing them with fragrant oils. Each in her own way, the two women comforted him.
They also insisted that Yeshua and his disciples take off their sandals and wash their feet when they come back each night, so that they can get rid of any impurity or infection. A washbasin in the basement provided Yeshua a place to take off his robe and sleeveless robe, which came to his knees, so that Martha and Myriam could wash them too. He would then shower and put on his other change of clothes. And then, of course, Yeshua and the others washed their hands before sitting down to eat.
The two knew better than anyone what the Nazarene was capable of, his brother, Elazar had died a few days ago:
***
THE RESURRECTION OF ELAZAR
BETANIA, SUNDAY, APRIL 02, 30 AD
SHORTLY AFTER MIDNIGHT Martha went out to meet Yeshua as he was pointing at the top of the hill near Bethany. His brother Elazar had been dead for four days and had been taken to his private tomb at the far end of the garden late Sunday afternoon. The stone at the entrance to the tomb had been rolled into place on the morning of this day, a Thursday.
When they sent Yeshua the information about Elazar's illness, Martha and Myriam were confident that Rabbi Myriam would do something about it. They knew that their brother was desperately ill, and even though they dared not hope that Yeshua would leave his teaching and preaching work to bring in his help, they had such confidence in his power to heal diseases that they thought he was just would say the healing words and Elazar would immediately recover.
And when Elazar died that Thursday, a few hours after the messenger had left Bethany to go to Yeshua, they concluded that the Rabbi would not learn of their brother's illness until too late, after Elazar was dead. for several hours. However, along with all their friends, they were quite disconcerted by the message that the runner had brought back the next day, Friday, before noon, when he arrived in Bethany. The messenger insisted that he had heard Yeshua say:
— This illness won't really lead to death.
And they could not understand why he had not sent a word to them, or offered his help in any other way.
Many friends from neighboring villages, and some from Yerushaláyim, came to comfort the grief-stricken sisters. Elazar and her sisters were the sons of an honorable and well-to-do Jew who had been one of the most notable residents of the small village of Bethany, and while all three had long been faithful followers of Yeshua, they were highly respected by all who loved them knew. They had inherited extensive vineyards and large olive groves in the vicinity, and that they were wealthy was also attested by the fact that they could afford a private tomb within their estates. His parents, both, had already been placed in that same tomb.
Myriam had put aside the thought that Yeshua would come and abandoned herself to her grief, Martha, in turn, clung to the hope that Yeshua would still come and somehow restore her brother among them, even at that moment in time. morning of the day before they rolled the stone in front of the tomb and sealed its entrance. Even then she instructed a neighbor boy to keep watch on the Jericho road, from the hilltop east of Bethany; and it was this boy who brought Martha the news that Yeshua and his friends were approaching.
When she met Yeshua, Martha fell at her feet and exclaimed:
— Rabbi, if you had been here, my brother would not have died!
Many fears ran through Martha's mind, yet she did not give force to doubt, nor had she ventured to criticize or question the Rabbi's conduct regarding Elazar's death.
After she had spoken, Yeshua bent down to lift her to her feet and said:
— Just have faith, Martha, and your brother will rise.
Then Martha replied:
— I know he will rise, at the resurrection of the last day, but even now I believe that whatever you ask of God, our Father will give you.
Then Yeshua said, looking straight into Martha's eyes:
— I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, though he dies, he will still live. Truly, whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Martha, do you believe that?
And Martha answered the Rabbi:
— Yes, I have long believed that you are the Deliverer, the Son of the living God, the very one who was to come into this world.
When Yeshua had asked for Myriam, Martha immediately went to the house and said to her sister in a low voice:
— The Rabbi is here and he asked for you.
When Myriam heard this, she quickly got up and hurried to find Yeshua, who was still far from the house, in the same spot where Martha had initially found him. When the friends who were with Myriam, seeking to comfort her, saw that she got up quickly and left, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the grave to cry.
Many of those present were implacable enemies of Yeshua, which is why Martha had gone to find him alone. That was also the reason why she had secretly gone to inform Myriam that he had asked about her. Martha, although she had longed to see Yeshua, tried to avoid any unpleasant incident that might be caused by his sudden arrival in the midst of a large group of his enemies from Yerushaláyim. Martha's intention was to remain in the house with her friends while Myriam went to greet Yeshua, but she was unsuccessful, as they all followed Myriam and thus found themselves unexpectedly in the Rabbi's presence.
Martha led Myriam to Yeshua, and when she saw him, she also fell on her knees at his feet, exclaiming:
— If you'd only been here, my brother wouldn't have died!
And when Yeshua saw how everyone was grieving over Elazar's death, his soul was filled with compassion. When the grieving friends saw that Myriam had come to greet Yeshua, they stood at a distance, while Martha and Myriam both spoke with Yeshua and received new words of comfort and exhortation to keep a firm faith in the Father and a complete resignation to the divine will.
Yeshua's mind was heavily involved in a contention between his love for Elazar and the desolation of the sisters, and his disdain and contempt for the outward display of affection shown by some of those unbelieving and murderous Jews. Yeshua resented with indignation the forced outward display of mourning for Elazar on the part of some of those who claimed to be friends, as this false feeling was linked in their hearts to the rather bitter enmity they held towards Yeshua Himself. Some of these Jews, however, seemed sincere in their grief, for they were truly family friends.
After spending a few moments comforting Martha and Myriam, at a distance from those watching, Yeshua asked them:
— Where did they put him?
Then Martha said:
— Come and see.
And, while silently accompanying the two mourning sisters, Yeshua wept. When the friendly Jews who followed them saw their tears, one of them said:
— See how he loved you. Could he not, who opens the eyes of the blind, have prevented this man from dying?
At that moment they were standing in front of the family tomb, a small natural cave, on a slope and under an overhang of rock that rose up to thirty feet high at the far end of the garden.
Yeshua felt genuine and saddened compassion for Martha and Myriam and held a real and deep human affection for the two who had lost their brother. His mind was troubled by the presence of the crowd he mourned, some sincerely and others merely in pretense. And he had always resented these outward manifestations of grief. Yeshua knew that the sisters loved their brother and that they had faith in the survival of the believers. These conflicting feelings explain his emotions as he approached the grave.
Yeshua truly hesitated to bring Elazar back to mortal life. His sisters really needed him, but Yeshua regretted having to bring his friend back and lead him to experience the bitter persecution, which, he well knew, Elazar would have to endure as a result of his being the one who was subjected to the demonstration, the greatest of all, of the divine power of Yeshua.
— Where did they put him?
Many of Yeshua's enemies were inclined to scoff at his displays of affection, and they said among themselves:
— If he cared so much about this man, why did he take so long to come to Bethany? — If he is what they say, why didn't he save his dear friend? What good is he to cure foreigners in Galilee if he cannot save those he loves?
And in many other ways they mocked and mocked the teachings and works of Yeshua. And so, on that Sunday afternoon, around two-thirty, everything was ready, in that small village of Bethany, for the greatest of all works, the greatest manifestation of divine power during his incarnation in the flesh, already that his own resurrection took place after he had been released from the bonds of indwelling mortal flesh.
When Yeshua spoke these words of command:
— Remove the stone.
When they heard that command from Yeshua to have the stone in front of the tomb rolled away from the entrance, Martha and Myriam were filled with conflicting emotions. Myriam had hoped that Elazar would rise from the dead, but while to some degree she shared her sister's faith, Martha was more tormented by the fear that Elazar was not presentable in appearance to Yeshua, the apostles and your friends. Martha said:
— Should we remove the stone? My brother has been dead for four days, so the decomposition of the body must have already started.
Martha said this because she was also not sure why the Rabbi had asked for the stone to be removed, she assumed that maybe Yeshua just wanted to take one last look at Elazar. And she was being neither firm nor constant in his attitude. And because they hesitated to roll away the stone, Yeshua spoke:
— Did I not tell you initially that this illness would not lead to his death? — And have I not come to fulfill my promise? And when I came to you, did I not tell you that if you would only believe, you would see the glory of God? And why do you doubt? How much more is left for you to believe and obey?
When Yeshua had finished speaking, his apostles, with the assistance of willing neighbors, took the stone and rolled it away from the entrance to the tomb.
It was a common belief among the Jews that the drop of gall on the tip of the sword of the angel of death began to work at the end of the third day, in such a way as to have its full effect on the fourth day. They admitted that the soul of man could remain in the tomb until the end of the third day, trying to revive the dead body; but they firmly believed that at the dawn of the fourth day the soul would go to the abode of the departed spirits. These beliefs and opinions about the dead, and about the departing spirits of the dead, served to assure, in the minds of everyone present at Elazar's tomb and later on to everyone who could hear about what was going to happen, that this, real and truly, it was a case of a resurrection from the dead, caused by the personal work of him who had declared himself to be "the resurrection and the life."
As this group of about forty-five mortals stood before the tomb, they only dimly saw the shadow of Elazar, wrapped in linen bandages, resting in the lower niche to the right of the burial pit. During the time that the people remained there, they were in absolute silence and with their breath almost held, not knowing what awaited them.
Yeshua looked up and said:
— Father, I thank you that you heard me granting my request. I know that You always listen to me, but for the sake of those who are here with me, I speak this way with You, so that they can believe that You sent me into the world, and so that they can know that You are working with me in what we are going to do. .
And after he had thus prayed, he spoke in a louder voice:
— Elazar, come out!
Although the observers remained motionless, obeying the word of Yeshua. In just a few seconds, Elazar's hitherto lifeless form began to move and was soon settling down on the edge of the stone platform where he had been resting. His body was wrapped in shrouds, and his face was covered with a bandage. And while Elazar alive stood before them, Yeshua said:
— Untie him and let him rise.
All but the apostles, Martha and Myriam, fled from there to the house. They were pale with fear and filled with amazement. While some stayed there, many hurried to their homes.
Elazar greeted Yeshua and the apostles and asked about the meaning of the shrouds and why he had awakened in the garden. Yeshua and the apostles stood aside while Martha told Elazar about his death, burial, and resurrection. She had to explain to him that he had died on Thursday and had now been brought back to life on Sunday; for Elazar had been unaware of time, ever since he had fallen asleep in death.
Then Elazar approached Yeshua and, with her sisters, knelt at the Rabbi's feet to give thanks and offer their praise to God. Yeshua, taking Elazar by the hand, lifted him up, saying:
— My son, what has happened to you will also be experienced by all those who believe in the good news of the gospel, except that they will be resurrected in an even more glorious form. You will be a living witness to the truth of what I said, I am the resurrection and the life. But now let's go into the house and get some food for our physical bodies.
Elazar could barely understand what had happened. He knew he had been very ill, but he could only remember that he had fallen asleep and had been awakened. And he'd never been able to say anything about those four days in the grave, because he'd been totally unconscious. Time was non-existent for those who sleep the sleep of death.
Although many believed in Yeshua because of this mighty work, others only hardened their hearts, even more, to reject him. By noon the next day, this story had spread throughout Yerushaláyim. Dozens of men and women came to Bethany to behold Elazar and speak with him, and the alarmed and bewildered Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrim so that they could determine what should be done about these new developments.
***
THE MEETING OF SANHEDRIM
YERUSHALAYIM, MONDAY, APRIL 3, A.D. 30
WHILE THE TESTIMONY of a man raised from the dead did much to consolidate the faith of the mass of believers in the gospel of the Kingdom, it had no influence on the attitude of the religious leaders and rulers of Yerushaláyim, except to hasten the decision to destroy Yeshua at all costs and put an end to his work.
The next day, about one o'clock in the afternoon, the Sanhedrim met to deliberate again on the matter:
— What shall we do with Yeshua of Natsrat?
After more than two hours of discussion and heated debate, a certain Pharisee by the name of Shaul presented a resolution calling for the immediate death of Yeshua, proclaiming that he was a threat to all Israel and formally committing the Sanhedrim to decide on the death him, without judgment, thus defying all precedent.
Many times this august group of Jewish leaders had decreed that Yeshua be apprehended and brought to trial, on charges of blasphemy and numerous other charges of insulting sacred Jewish law. Once, before, they had gone so far as to declare that he must die, this, however, was the first time that the Sanhedrim had indicated a desire to decree his death, before a trial. This resolution, however, was not put to a vote, as fourteen members of the Sanhedrim resigned en masse when such an unprecedented action was proposed. Although such resignations had not been formalized for nearly two weeks, this group of fourteen withdrew from the Sanhedrim that day, never to sit on the council again, and that included Yousef of Armathajim.
When these resignations were later made official, five other members were fired because the remaining participants believed they harbored friendly feelings toward Yeshua. With the departure of these nineteen men, the Sanhedrim was in a position to try to condemn Yeshua, with a solidarity that bordered on unanimity.
That day, Elazar and her sisters were summoned to appear before the Sanhedrim. When his testimony was heard, no doubt could be maintained that Elazar had risen from the dead. Although the annals of the Sanhedrim admitted the resurrection of Elazar, the record contained a resolution attributing this and all other wonders wrought by Yeshua to the power of the prince of devils, with whom, it was declared, Yeshua would be in league.
No matter what the source of his wonder-working power, the Jewish leaders were persuaded that if he was not immediately stopped, all the common people would soon believe in Yeshua ben Yousef, and, furthermore, serious complications with the Roman authorities would ensue that so many of his believers viewed him as the Messiah, Israel's deliverer.
It was at that same Sanhedrim meeting that Kaiafa, the high priest, for the first time gave expression to that old Jewish adage, which he so often repeated:
— It is better for one man to die than for the whole community to perish.
Although he received a notice of the Sanhedrim's deeds, on that gloomy Monday afternoon, Yeshua was not at all disturbed and continued to rest at the home of friends in Bethphage, a village near Bethany.
Early on Tuesday morning, Yeshua and the apostles met, as they had arranged, at Elazar's house and, bidding farewell to the Bethany family, set out on a journey back to the camp at Pella.
On the journey from Bethany to Pella, the apostles asked Yeshua about many things, and to all questions the Galilean Rabbi answered freely, except for those involving the details of the resurrection of the dead. These matters were beyond the comprehension of his apostles, and therefore the Nazarene refrained from discussing such matters with them. And since they had secretly left Bethany, no one accompanied them. Therefore, Yeshua took the opportunity to tell the twelve disciples many things that, in his opinion, would prepare them for the trying days ahead.
***
PARTY INVITATION
SOME OF THEM, however, went to the Pharisees, and told them what Yeshua had done. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrim and said:
— What are we doing, since this man works many miracles? If we leave it that way, everyone will believe it; and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.
But Kaiafa, one of them, high priest that year, said to them:
— You know nothing, nor do you consider that it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation should not perish.
Now he did not say this himself; but being high priest of that year, he prophesied that Yeshua would die for the nation, and not only for the nation, but also to gather into one body the scattered children of God.
Since that day, they decided to take his life.
So Yeshua no longer walked openly among the Jews, but he withdrew from there to a region near the desert, to a city called Ephraim; and there he stayed with the disciples.
The Passover of the Jews was near; and many went up from that region to Yerushaláyim before Passover, to purify themselves. They were looking for Yeshua and asking one another, being in the temple:
— What do you think? Won't he come to the party?
Now the chief priests and Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where he was, to report him, to arrest him, and that would only be the beginning.
***
THIS WEEK, MARTHA AND MYRIAM were serving two meals a day. Dinner consisted of fresh bread, olive oil, soup, and sometimes meat or salted fish, with homemade wine to accompany when Cephas and Yohanan brought them to cook. Breakfast consisted of bread and fruit, although dried rather than fresh, as melons and pomegranates were out of season.
As Yeshua discovered on the road the previous morning, the fig and date palms in the area had only been bearing fruit for months, so the fig tree was not bearing fruit.
***
YESHUA AND THE FIGURE
YERUSHALAYIM, MONDAY, APRIL 3, A.D. 30
THE LOGO GROUP joins a line of pilgrims, it was the last day of preaching in the Temple courts, and Yeshua prepared a series of parables to explain complex theological issues in a way that even the most illiterate of listeners can understand.
— Rabbi, look — exclaims a disciple as they pass the fig tree that Yeshua confronted the day before — Its roots are dry.
— How did the fig tree wither so quickly? — Asks another disciple.
— I assure you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you can not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also say to this mountain, 'Get up and throw yourself into the sea,' and it will be done. And whatever you ask for in prayer, if you believe, you will receive it — answers Yeshua.
For years and years, the disciples continued to be amazed at what happened to that simple tree. They would write about the episode in amazement, even decades later, and quote Yeshua's response. Although the Nazarene performed miracles before their eyes, this one in particular seemed to impress them more than any other. But the fig tree was just the beginning.
The disciples would remember the events of that day for the rest of their lives. They would quote Yeshua several times, not in mere sentences, but in paragraphs and entire pages. The next 12 hours would be so grueling that Yeshua would reserve the next day for complete rest. But it would also bring greater challenges and triumphs than any the group has known so far.
The morning was beautiful. The sun shone in the sky. The crisp April air was filled with the fresh scents of spring in bloom in the crops and orchards that lined the road. Life was renewed everywhere, even as death approached.
***
THE KINDNESS OF A FRIEND
ELAZAR EARNED his livelihood as a farmer and landowner in Bethany, as this region was the main grain producer in Yerushaláyim. Elazar had a reputation for being charitable and able to offer comfort and hospitality to his guests. It was customary in the region to welcome travelers who needed a place to sleep at night, but this became a problem during Passover, when entire families needed to stay for a week. At such times, a man had to be a good judge of character, for while he was supposed to be hospitable, there was always the possibility that he might be inviting thieves and malicious people into his home.
As much as Elazar sincerely enjoyed being with Yeshua, the Nazarene's presence meant much more than that. This was a man who enjoyed the trust and reverence of the owner of the house, to whom he even claimed he owed his life. The fact that Yeshua traveled with 12 other grown men, each with a voracious appetite and in need of a place to sleep, was a paltry price to pay for his company. Furthermore, the energetic Martha had no trouble meeting the needs of all these men.
The day dawned and the countdown to Passover continued as the inhabitants of Bethany woke up to a new day. Some prepared for work in the fields, while others planned to go to Yerushaláyim. As was common everywhere, they began the morning with their daily ablutions. There were no indoor bathrooms, so men and women went to their designated spaces outside. A hole in the ground into which a shovel of earth was immediately thrown met his needs. The teeth were cleaned with a short, soft branch taken straight from a tree and chewed.
Inside Elazar's house, Yeshua and his disciples washed their hands and ate the morning bread before leaving for another day in the Temple courts, but that was their last meeting.
AS THE GROUP APPROACHED Yerushaláyim, Yeshua knew that a drama was about to unfold. He had noticed this the day before, as he watched the religious leaders stand at the edge of each crowd, watching him intently as he interacted with his followers.
This week, these priests and Pharisees were dressed even more lavishly than usual, choosing their most colorful and sumptuous robes to differentiate themselves from the ragged pilgrims. The priestly robes were a reminder that they were a fundamental part of the Temple, not mere visitors. Yeshua, on the other hand, was still dressed like an ordinary Galilean. He wore his one-piece robe and, over it, a simple robe. Sandals protect your feet from sharp stones and sticks in your path, but not from dust.
The walk from Bethany to Yerushaláyim often left him looking dirty compared to the Pharisees, many of whom had toilets and ritual bathing facilities in their nearby homes. And although his accent sounded provincial in cosmopolitan Yerushaláyim, Yeshua made no attempt to hide his speech. In a way, this was even an advantage, as it often led religious leaders to underestimate him as just another pilgrim from Galilee.
***
VIA CRUCIS
12:00 pm — YERUSHALAYIM, FRIDAY, APRIL 7, A.D. 30
THE ESCORT HAS BEEN augmented with other legionaries, all of whom were heavily armed. Eight were stationed on either side of the prisoners, and the rest, out of a total of twelve, were distributed between the vanguard of the party, immediately behind the centurion and his place-lieutenant and the rear.
Therefore, each convict was assigned a contingent of four soldiers, expressly in charge of his surveillance and subsequent crucifixion. One of these soldiers was still carrying a greasy leather bag hanging from a pole finished in the form of a gallows, which he then slung over his shoulder. The procession was closed by two Romans who carried a ladder of approximately five meters. Four of the soldiers posted to the right and left of the zealots unrolled their whips, recommencing the scourging of the unfortunates, as was their custom before execution.
Between groans and bloodied, the first two convicts began to walk, staggering under the weight of the trunks. In compliance with strict safety regulations, the three prisoners had been tied by the toes to the same rope. Thus, any possible escape attempt was extremely problematic.
As he set off, the condemned man in the middle stretched the rope, forcing the Nazarene, who was in third and last place, to accompany him. The oscillations of the wood that Yeshua carried and his vacillating, insecure steps, with the painful dragging of his left leg, made everyone fear a new and immediate fall confirming with significant nods that this particular prisoner was in no condition to reach Golgotha. But, nobody said anything.
The convicts walked the first twenty-five meters and the platoon entered the vaulted tunnel of the western door, the one through which Yohanan entered Antonia in the company of Yousef de Armathajim. There, unfortunately, a new problem arose... Some sentries had appeared out of curiosity at the door of the guard corps, watching with laughter as the condemned men passed.
When the guerrilla in the middle reached the level of the guards, taking advantage of the fact that the legionaries had stopped their whipping because of the dim light and the narrowness of the passage, Gesta turned to the left, spitting at the nearest Roman. And before his executioners could lay their hands on him, he lunged with the end of the patibulum at the legionnaire who was marching to his right, aiming his torso at his face. The soldier fell backwards, going against Yeshua. They both rolled on the dark, damp cobblestones of the tunnel.
At this point, the shock caused the Galilean, who was the third of the three accused, to fall on his back. The turmoil was indescribable. Several members of the guard corps and some of the Roman escort, enraged against the guerrilla, buried their spear shafts in the provocateur's belly, ribs and mouth, until he fell to his knees.
Longinus and Marcellus immediately ran to the center of the passage, trying to restore order. Other soldiers helped their comrade who had been wounded with the wood. One of the edges had torn his left cheekbone, causing heavy bleeding. The centurion examined the wound, ordering it to be surrendered immediately. His place was taken by one of the sentries. However, Yeshua remained motionless, face up and powerless to get up. The thorns had wounded the back of his neck again and Yeshua, with a contraction of pain, was trying to lift his head, thus avoiding contact with the wood.
Some of the legionaries who held the flagrum, blinded with fury, also launched themselves against Yeshua and began to hurt him, insulting him and demanding that he get up, demands as useless as they were absurd. In that position, no one could lift the torso by their own means.
In a desperate attempt to obey, the Nazarene tried to bend his legs, tensing his muscles. But seconds later, defeated and exhausted, he gave up. Before logic and common sense prevailed among the confused soldiery, one of the Romans bent over him and, grabbing him by the beard, began to pull him away, shouting a stream of curses and blasphemies. The executioner's anger was such that, in one of those savage tugs, the legionary's clenched fingers tore away from Yeshua's face, taking a lock of hair with it.
With that piece of beard, the soldier also tore off part of the epidermis and the corium, or inner layer of the skin, leaving the fibrous bands of the quadratus muscle on the right side uncovered amid spurts of blood. With a strong whimper, the Galilean dropped his head on the patibulum, invaded by the unbearable pain, which came from the tearing of countless nerve papillae.
The sentry's surprise and fright was such that he did not attack Yeshua again. The optio, more sensibly than his men, ordered him to be raised, and the party continued its march, with two revolutionaries slaughtered with whips and blows and with an unrecognizable Yeshua of Natsrat, consumed by fever and galloping weakness.
When stepping on the metallic cover of the drawbridge, the sun, almost at its zenith, fully illuminated the Rabbi's figure. The falls had opened some of his wounds, soaking his tunic again, which had lost its original color. Several threads of blood ran incessantly through the Achilles tendons, soaking the sandals. Dragging his feet, Yeshua approached the outer parapet of the Antonia Tower. His breathing was getting more and more labored and his head and torso were leaning inch by inch.
At the opening of the wall, when they had traveled more than forty-five meters from the center of the porticoed courtyard, the platoon stopped again. The very tight passage forced the legionaries to incline the torsos of the condemned so that they could cross the outer enclosure of the headquarters. From there, things could get complicated and the soldiers closed ranks, keeping a minimum distance between themselves and the condemned.
Cassius Longinus beckoned to the lieutenant, and he stood at the head of the party, holding up the pilum with both hands, on which the three tablets with the names and crimes of those carried on the scaffold had been fastened. As soon as they left the fortress, they were surprised by a gust of wind, much stronger than the one that had struck them during the debates of Pontius Pilatus on the terrace of the praetorium. The east wind was loaded with dust and sand.
This meant that the entourage had to reach the crucifixion site before the storm arrived in the Yerushaláyim area.
A short distance from the stone parapet that surrounded that area of the Torre Antonia, a group of Jews waited, among which were some Sadducees, the same ones who had witnessed the condemnation of Yeshua in the Praetorium and, naturally, Yousef de Armathajim, in the company of another young emissary of David Zebedee. He had just informed the elder that Myriam, Yeshua's mother, and other family members were on their way to Yerushaláyim and that they would probably meet Yohanan on the way to Bethany.
Kaiafa and the other members of the Sanhedrim had gone to the Temple, ready to report the events of that morning and the imminent death of Yeshua ben Yousef. But Yousef's concern was not his friend's fate, he knew that the prosecutor's sentence was unappealable and that only the divine powers of Yeshua could deliver him from certain death, just as it had happened to Elazar.
The old man's thoughts turned to another problem. Once the sentence against Yeshua was reached, the priests left the fortress, discussing and preparing their next action, the arrest and annihilation of his disciples.
Yousef had warned the post office of such a move and insisted that he go to Gethsemane and put David and as many adherents and friends on guard as he could locate. So he did.
Yousef, unable to contain his tears, watched in astonishment the bloodied face of the Nazarene and his body, increasingly exhausted and bent under the weight of the trunk.
Upon reading Yeshua's YRNJ, the Jewish leaders stepped out into the path of the optio and the platoon and furiously protested the inscription. Longinus tried to calm the excited spirits of the Hebrews, making them see that the tablets had been written in the hand and in the hand of the procurator himself. It was useless. The Sadducees demanded that the centurion change the text, removing the expression king of the Jews. Tensions peaked when some of them began throwing stones at the soldiers. Several legionaries advanced, defending Longinus and the optio with their shields.
Without losing his temper, the centurion pushed back the soldier who was protecting him and, raising his voice, ordered the group to disperse. Then, pointing to the third tablet, the one corresponding to Yeshua, he reminded the men of the Sanhedrim:
— If you so wish to alter the inscription, return to Antonia and discuss the matter with Pilatus.
Longinus' words appeased the anger of the Jews, and three judges hurriedly withdrew towards the Praetorium, ready to negotiate what they considered an insult to their nationalism.
***
PILATUS AND THE SADUCTS
12:25 pm — YERUSHALAYIM, FRIDAY, APRIL 7, A.D. 30
THE NEW MEETING with the despicable priests, congratulating themselves on the attitude of Pilatus. The procurator was adamant, reminding the Hebrews that Yeshua had proclaimed himself king of the Jews was one of the reasons for his conviction.
When the Sadducees were convinced of the Roman's hard and uncompromising position, they suggested that he at least exchange the couplet for another:
He said:
— I am the King of the Jews.
Pilatus' answer was identical to the previous ones:
— What I wrote, written is by me.
And the representation of the Sanhedrim had no other solution than to withdraw, but rather threatened the procurator with an infinity of curses and divine punishments.
***
THE PATH CONTINUES
12:20 pm — YERUSHALAYIM, FRIDAY, APRIL 7, A.D. 30
CLOSING THE INCIDENT, the centurion gave the order to continue. He unsheathed his sword and, without hesitation, made his way through the mob. The hundreds of fanatics, most of them unemployed people, bought by the Sanhedrim, immediately retreated, opening a corridor through which the platoon with the condemned paraded.
As much as he looked, Yousef could not discover a single one of Yeshua's friends or disciples. As for the crowd that had screamed for the release of Bar Abbas and the crucifixion of the Galilean, they were simply gone. Those Hebrews constituted a tiny part of the two or three thousand who had gathered minutes earlier in front of the steps of the procurator's residence. This sudden disinterest in the end of the hated king of the Jews confirmed Yousef's hypothesis.
The vast majority of Jews who had gone up to the Praetorium that morning had only one intention: to request the traditional release of a prisoner. Deep down, it didn't matter to them who the favor fell on. If the judges had called for Yeshua's freedom, those people would probably have joined in on the Nazarene's name.
Once their curiosity was satisfied, the thousands of pilgrims and inhabitants of Yerushaláyim withdrew, practically forgetting the condemned man. But to stumble upon those two hundred cowards had some effect, Longinus, a man of great experience, doubtless thought that the passage of the zealots and the king through the streets of the upper city of Yerushaláyim might create complications for himself and his men.
He sensibly altered the path that was traditionally followed by those types of parades. In general, the condemned were taken through the alleys of the city, in order to give an example to the people. On this occasion, the centurion decided on a much shorter path.
The procession was usually carried out through the narrow streets of the Upper Quarter of Yerushaláyim, but the centurion and soldiers veered northward, taking the dusty path that led to Caesarea and which ran almost parallel to the Tyropeon valley.
The first to be surprised by this change of itinerary were the Hebrews who had thrown stones at the Roman escort. Soon, led by the Sadducees, they began to follow Longinus and the legionaries. The unexpected change of the traditional way, ignited even more, their curiosity.
Yeshua had walked just over a hundred meters from the courtyard of the Torre Antonia, when the centurion suddenly left the sidewalk, turning left and starting the descent through the Tyropéon ravine, towards one of the corners of the city's northern wall. In that area outside of Yerushaláyim, the wind raised large masses of dust and earth, making it difficult for Yeshua and the two bandits to walk. They had been whipped again, although that slope and the unevenness of the ground made the executioners' blows more difficult.
It was precisely on the way down the short slope, full of thistles and thorny thistles, that the shattered body of the Nazarene lost its balance again, falling to the ground in a cloud of dust. This time, Yeshua managed to get on his knees, which hit rocks. The Prisoner's third fall forced the entourage to a halt.
Two of the executioners backed away and, with whips, tried to force the Rabbi to his feet. Mouth open, panting and in the midst of a new rise in heart rate, Yeshua, who had remained on his knees, finally managed to steady himself on his right leg. But the left, shattered by the flagrum, did not respond. The Galilean clenched his teeth with all his might. The neck muscles tensed again, giving a dangerous contraction of the sternum. The closed eyes reflected the firm desire to overcome the weight of the wood, but exhaustion, thirst and the increasingly worrying low blood volume, could more than his will and, despite the whipping, the condemned's body, far from recovering. , he bent more and more, until the beard touched the right knee.
At that critical moment the centurion's voice stopped the legionaries. And Longinus himself, aided by two more soldiers, took it upon himself to raise the patibulum, thus easing the Prisoner's recovery.
Once on their feet, the entourage continued their descent until they reached the bottom of the valley. From there and up to Golgotha, the path was much more dramatic, Calvary was on a constant slope... But, to my surprise, the Nazarene managed to descend the ramp with less difficulty than I imagined.
Staggering and breathing through his mouth, Yeshua managed to go another hundred meters. That added up to about two hundred and fifty meters from Antonia's departure. However, the sad reality did not take long to impose itself. Suddenly, Yeshua stopped. The wood swayed nervously this way and that and the Nazarene dropped to his knees, jolted by more intense convulsions. This time, fortunately for Him, the entourage only stopped for a few seconds.
Yeshua continued his advance, dragging his knees along the rough slope.
Longinus had chosen the outer perimeter of the northern wall, thus avoiding the crowded streets of Yerushaláyim and at the same time shortening the path. Despite this, Yeshua's physical and mental exhaustion was once again bordering on shock. His fingertips had begun to turn a violet tinge, a sign of poor circulation in his upper extremities as a result of prolonged grasping.
With his head and torso flexed, the Galileo gained every inch of ground, enveloped in a wave of dust and raising small columns of dust as he dragged his knees. The blood that soaked his tunic was filling with dirt, as well as his hair, beard and face. His breathing was faster and faster, and when he had gained another fifty yards, a cold sweat bathed his temples and neck. Yeshua advanced with very sudden movements, almost jerking in typical spastic gait, as a result of muscular rigidity.
Suddenly, he raised his face twice, trying to inhale and, without anyone being able to stop him, he fell, lying on the ground. The soldiers did not hesitate, and before the centurion had time to intervene, they kicked the Nazarene's defenseless body. The fourteen S-shaped cards of the soles were opening new wounds in the legs and, I suppose, almost everywhere they hit: kidneys, ribs and back.
The left foot had turned to the right and one of the furious executioners stepped on it twice. At the second kick, the nail on the big toe came off completely. With only a few meters to go up the slope, the forces had abandoned the condemned man for good.
The arrival of Longinus put an end to the useless beating because Yeshua had fainted. The officer, who was aware of the harsh intervention of the legionaries in the flogging, rebuked the soldiers for their absurd behavior.
He bent down and placing his fingers on the carotid artery took a pulse.
— Still alive — he exclaimed, relieved.
The four legionaries who had him in their guard then raised the patibulum. But Yeshua was materially suspended from the wood, with his head hanging towards his chest. One of the soldiers suggested to the centurion that they release the trunk.
Longinus glanced at the dusty horizon and, seeing that he was very close to the gate of Ephraim, refused the idea, ordering the condemned man and the patibulum to be carried to the wall. So it was done.
Without pausing in contemplation of any kind, the platoon resumed their march towards the northwest entrance to the city. Two of the executioners supported the ends of the log on their shoulders, thus carrying the Prisoner's fainted body.
During these new hundred meters Yeshua's feet were dragged mercilessly through the undergrowth and small rock formations, further ulcerating the tissues. Once near the wall, at the foot of the aforementioned gate and the path that led from the corner to Jaffa, the soldiers seated the Rabbi, leaning him against the blocks of the high wall. While two supported his trunk, another released the rope, untying Yeshua.
His arms, lifeless, slumped against his flanks, and so did his head, which was bent toward his chest. The executioners who had flogged the zealots took advantage of that rest to sit on the side of the road, while the guerrillas, exhausted, also let themselves fall. It didn't take long for a bunch of onlookers to appear. But, seeing that the platoon was stopped, he kept a prudent distance, suspended from each and every movement of the Romans.
The passage of walkers on the sidewalk was very frequent. They were very close to the traditional celebration of the paschal supper and the pilgrims quickened their step, touching the horses and the flocks of sheep. Many stopped under the arch of the Gate of Ephraim, surprised by the appearance of those bloodied men, half naked, crushed by the weight of the trunks. But the dust and sand storm continued to mount, and after taking a peek, most of the onlookers soon retreated. Very few of them even recognized the Nazarene Rabbi.
The centurion and his lieutenant returned to watch Yeshua. Both were seriously worried. In no way did they want the convict to lose his life on the way, which would only complicate matters. At the request of Longinus, the legionary who carried the leather bag took from it a clay pitcher wrapped in a plaited net made of ropes and, protecting it from the dust with his own body, filled a metal jug of a greenish hue, with a colorless liquid. The centurion brought the vessel close to Yeshua's lips, who, upon contact with what he initially identified as water, reacted favorably.
How her lips were chapped, with the characteristic yellow spots on the edges, typical of dehydration. Slowly, the Galilean swallowed the drink. When he finished, his mouth was slightly open, his body shivering with fever and the consequent feeling of cold. Then, noticing his mouth, Longinus found with amazement that the prisoner's dentures were all broken. Longinus touched his lower lip with his fingers, uncovering his dentures. One of the upper incisors was missing and the other was reduced to just a part of the crown, which could only have happened in one of the four falls.
In his opinion, the first or fourth and last. Noticing the gentle pressure of fingers, lowering her lip Yeshua opened his eyes as best he could. His left was practically closed by the bruises and the tear in his eyebrow. His gaze was so intense and compassionate that the uncomprehending Roman felt a flicker of gratitude in that pupil. The hypotonia or softness of the eyeball was so evident the severe dehydration from which he suffered.
Longinus rose and with a gesture of concern headed for the path, watching the passersby. At first Yousef was surprised by the attitude of the escort captain, but then he understood why he had left the platoon. As he watched the Galilean regain his strength, a group of twenty or thirty women appeared under the Arch of Ephraim. They were undoubtedly coming to meet Yeshua because, when they discovered him at the foot of the wall, they stopped. They advanced timidly, and when they were ten feet away, one of the legionaries cut them off with his spear.
Yousef anxiously looked for Yeshua's mother, the women began to cry, they were bitter and silent tears.
Then the Galilean turned his head and, looking at the group of Jews, took a deep breath. Then, to everyone's surprise, he exclaimed hoarsely:
— Daughters of Yerushaláyim!... Do not weep for me, weep rather for yourselves and yours.
The wind stirred the Hebrew women's robes, who did not stop sobbing. And Yeshua, after a short pause, added:
— My mission is almost accomplished. Very soon I will join my Father... but the time of terrible evils for Yerushaláyim has only begun...
The chills worsened and, making a last effort, he concluded:
— You will see days coming when you will say: Blessed are the barren and those whose breasts have not nursed their children... In those days you will ask the rocks to fall on you to free you from the terror of your tribulations.
Those women had been brave, much more so than his disciples and friends. With the exception of Yohanan Zebedeu, Yousef de Armathajim and the young Yohanan Marcos, who would meet a few minutes later, the others did not have the courage to accompany their Rabbi, even from afar.
In the midst of the disturbance, the Nazarene realized this and perhaps for that reason he addressed those warm words to the small group of sympathizers. Wielding the pilum with both hands, the soldier forced the Jewish women back. But one of them, instead of obeying, advanced towards the soldier, showing him a coin. Then she muttered something in the executioner's ear. He accepted the money and after seeing what the woman was holding in her hand, he let it pass.
The Hebrew woman, who had household chores from the Gethsemane camp, ran to Yeshua and, falling to her knees, stretched out her left hand, placing currants on the lips of the Nazarene, one of Yeshua's favorite fruits.
The good woman even managed to get three raisins into the Rabbi's mouth. She didn't have time for anything else. The same legionnaire who had let her pass, once the group had gone, turned back, forcing the Hebrew woman to leave.
Next to Longinus was a heavyset man, in his fifties, white-skinned, though slightly coppery, and clearly showing sympathy for the man. He wore a turban and his clothing distinguished him from the usual Hebrews by a pair of trousers of a bright greenish tone, very loose at the top, but tight at the middle of the leg, he spoke only Greek and with evident difficulty.
— Let yourself be helped.
Longinus looks at Yeshua and realizes that the man really couldn't do it alone, he indicates and the man runs to Yeshua who one day took him out of total darkness while he shouted:
— Son of David, have mercy on me...
It was Shim-on Bartimaeus, son of Timaeus of Perea.
***
THE BLIND OF JERICHO
RISING UP, YESHUA went from there to the ends of Judea and beyond Jordan. Again the multitudes came to him, and again he taught them according to his custom.
Some Pharisees came and, to test him, asked him whether it was lawful for a man to divorce his wife.
He replied:
— What did Moshe command you?
They replied:
— Moshe allowed him to give a letter of divorce and put away his wife.
But Yeshua said to them:
— Because of the hardness of your hearts, he wrote you this commandment.
But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female, for this reason a man will leave his father and mother, and with his wife will be one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man put asunder.
At home the disciples again questioned him about this.
He replied:
— Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against the first, and if she divorces her husband and marries another, he commits adultery.
Then some children were brought to him for him to touch; the disciples rebuked those who brought them.
But Yeshua, seeing this, was angry and said to them:
— Let the children come to me, do not prevent them; for of such is the kingdom of God. Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will by no means enter it.
Embracing the boys, he blessed them, laying his hands on them.
As he was leaving to set out, a man ran and knelt before him, and asked him:
— Good Rabbi, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
Yeshua replied:
— Why do you call me good? No one is good but only one, which is God. You know the commandments: You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, you shall not defraud, honor your father and your mother.
He replied to him:
— Rabbi, all this I've kept since my youth.
Yeshua, beholding him, loved him and said to him:
— One thing you lack; go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.
But the man, annoyed by these words, went away sad; because he had many possessions.
Yeshua, looking around him, said to his disciples:
— How hardly will those who have riches enter the kingdom of God!
The disciples were surprised at these words. But Yeshua said to them again:
— Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.
They were greatly astonished, saying among themselves:
— Who, then, can be saved?
Yeshua, looking at them, said:
— With men this is impossible, but with God, no; because with God all things are possible.
Cephas began to say to him:
— We left everything, and we followed you.
Yeshua became:
— Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the gospel, who does not now receive a hundredfold. houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last; and the last shall be first.
They were on their way, going up to Yerushaláyim. Yeshua went ahead of the disciples, and they were astonished; and those who followed him were afraid. Taking the twelve aside again, he began to tell them what would happen to him, saying:
— Behold, we are going up to Yerushaláyim, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and scribes. They will condemn him to death and hand him over to the Gentiles, and they will mock him, spit on him, scourge him, and take his life; and after three days it will rise again.
Then came to him James and Yohanan, the sons of Zebedee, saying to him,
— Rabbi, we want you to do what we ask of you.
He asked them:
— What do you want me to do for you?
They answered him:
— Grant us that in your glory we may sit, one on your right and the other on your left.
But Yeshua said to them:
— You don't know what you ask for. Can you drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?
They replied:
— We can.
Yeshua replied to them:
— You will indeed drink the cup that I drink, and you will be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized; but it will be granted to those for whom it is meant.
When the ten heard this, they began to be indignant against James and Yohanan, but Yeshua called them to himself, and said:
— You know that those who are recognized as proxies for the Gentiles rule over their vassals, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it is not so among you. But whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be the servant of all. For the Son of Man also did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.
They arrived at Jericho.
As Jesus was leaving the city with his disciples and a large crowd, a blind beggar named Bartimaeus, son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside. When he learned that it was Yeshua the Nazarene, he began to cry out:
— Yeshua, son of David, have mercy on me!
Many ordered him to be silent, but he cried even more:
— Son of David, have mercy on me!
Yeshua stopped and said:
— I called him.
They called the blind man, saying to him:
— Has spirit; get up, he calls you.
Throwing his cloak off him, he jumped up and went to Yeshua.
Yeshua asked him:
— What do you want me to do for you?
The blind man answered him:
— Rabbi, may I have a view.
Yeshua said to him:
Go, your faith has healed you.
At the same moment he received the sight, and followed him along the road.
***
SHIM-ON BARTIMEU HELP YESHUA
12:30 pm — YERUSHALAYIM, FRIDAY, APRIL 7, A.D. 30
AT AN ORDER FROM THE CENTURION he carried Yeshua's patibulum and the legionaries rose, resuming the whipping on the zealots' backs. The optio returned to the forefront of the platoon as Longinus told two of his men to take care of the third convict.
The soldiers put their shields in a sling and lifted the Galileo by the armpits. The entourage was then divided into two parts. First, the rebels, with Marcellus opening the procession. Behind, about five or ten meters, four more executioners, two of them supporting Yeshua. Immediately, closing the platoon, the so-called Bartimaeus, a native of Cerne, a country that was located in North Africa, between Egypt and Tripolitania, during a business trip he was affected by a serious illness that prevented him from seeing.
He fulfilled what was asked of the centurion as a way of paying a minimum for what Yeshua had done for him, after which he remained for some time near the crosses out of pure curiosity. Years later, however, both he and his sons Alexander and Rufus would become effective preachers of the Gospel in North Africa.
Enveloped in the hissing sandstorm, the soldiers crossed the path, willing to walk the last few meters that separated us from the execution site. The men helping the Nazarene had put their arms over his shoulders, grabbing him around the waist and wrists. And so, unable to walk, arching his right leg with difficulty and with the left unusable, that human wreck was rescued and transported to Golgotha.
***
THE RISE OF GOLGOTH
12:35 pm — YERUSHALAYIM, FRIDAY, APRIL 7, A.D. 30
HALF-BLINDED BY PARTICLES of dust and earth, Bartimaeus barely missed tripping over the limestone rocks that littered those parts northwest of the city. Without knowing it, they were at the foot of Ras or Cabeço, also known as Calvary and Golgotha.
While visibility was still acceptable, the sand eddies made it difficult to see at that location.
The centurion and his men were well acquainted with that rocky hill, for it was actually a place used almost daily for that kind of punishment, and they hurried to reach the summit. The first and largest of the cliffs had a maximum height of seven meters, taking as a reference the level of the path that almost touched the bases of both headlands.
As they climbed the corroded limestone crusts, one could see the very poor vegetation existing in the place and the roundness of the hill. It was very likely that the nakedness of the rock, observed from a distance, gave wings to the imagination of the inhabitants of Yerushaláyim, who had given the name of skull to that cliff. The place, naturally enough, had become ideal for these kinds of public executions. It rose a hundred meters from the western gate of Ephraim, right at the foot of the busy road to Jaffa. If you really wanted to impress the inhabitants and pilgrims of the Holy City, this was a point of notable interest.
As far as the dimensions of Golgotha are concerned, the most voluminous mound on which the crucifixions were to be carried out, has a diameter of thirty meters at the base, with a rounded top of twelve to fifteen meters, approximately. As for the cliff located just ahead, and to the north, its dimensions were significantly smaller. That would be, finally, the scene of a whole series of tragic and disconcerting events.
The ascent to the rounded platform that crowned the cliff was very brief. The soldiers entered a channel located on the eastern side, which was actually a natural crack, the result of some remote crack in the huge stone mass. Twenty steps were enough to reach the upper zone, which was not yet the summit.
As he set foot on the spot, his spirit was overwhelmed. The gusts of wind didn't whistle, but howled, between a half-dozen tall poles, buried firmly in the crevices of the rock. They were the stipes, palus or staticulum, as the vertical poles of crosses were called!
It was fear what he felt when he saw those rough trunks.
In front of them, almost in the center of the convex back of Golgotha, there were only six mutilated trees, bare, showing here and there the circular, whitish scars where, once, as many branches had blossomed. They still had the rough gray bark typical of conifers, still with resin that had run in threads between cracks in the bark and had solidified. Almost all of them had an infinity of marks on the underside that allowed the solid face of the wood to be seen.
At the ends, the six trees had several cracks, similar to forks. The post-to-post separation in the first row did not reach three meters. As for the other poles, they had been driven four or five meters further back and one of them, the one facing west, was bent over. Undoubtedly, the wooden wedges that served to prop up the tree had given way.
Two of them had been pierced, more or less three feet from the ground, by iron bars, which were exposed on either side of the cylindrical posts. The sediles in question had been arranged on the central log of the first row and on the one to the left of it.
For a few minutes that seemed interminable, both the bandits and Yeshua remained with their eyes fixed on those trunks. The silence, broken by the storm, was long meaningful. But that tense situation would be short-lived.
Seven of the soldiers took up positions, circling the first three trees, while the one carrying the leather bag hurried to get his hands inside it and extract a series of tools. A bunch of nails, two hammers with large square wooden heads, tongs with greasy leather handles, a meter-long chain and a short, broad-bladed machete.
The terrorists, as if hypnotized by the stems, soon came out of their silence. Two members of the patrol had begun to loosen the rope that tied the oldest of the zealots to the patibulum. It was that spark that ignited one of her last fits of hysteria and despair.
***
THE CRUCIFIXION OF GESTA
12:40 pm — YERUSHALAYIM, FRIDAY, APRIL 7, A.D. 30
UNDERSTANDING THAT HE HAD been chosen as the first victim, he began to scream desperately, shaking the wood with his arms and throwing kicks at the legionaries. Longinus, who seemed to expect that reaction, ordered something from a third soldier. The latter got behind the condemned man and, grabbing him by the hair, gave him a strong tug, immobilizing him. Without wasting a second, the centurion grabbed one of the spears and, after aiming the base of the shaft at the prisoner's head, vibrated a hard blow that made him faint.
Once free of the bandages, and while he was supported by two of the soldiers, the one who had immobilized him ended up ripping off his torn tunic, respecting, however, the loincloth.
With precision, the Romans stretched the unconscious guerrilla on his back, stretching his arms over the wood. As it was a perfectly cylindrical patibulum, each of the legionaries in charge of pulling the arms knelt in front of each of the ends of the wood, holding it with their knees and thighs. In this way acceptable stability was achieved during the jamming process.
When the executioners considered that the patibulum was perfectly safe, they nodded and the soldier in charge of the tools came to the head, kneeling also on the white rock. His muscular knees caught the defendant's head, practically crushing his ears at the same time, and while that last measure of security didn't seem necessary in the Gesta case, a fourth legionary joined his ankles, encircling them with his hand chain.
The sedilis excelsus, or elevated seat, was a piece of wood or iron, which at certain times was placed in the lower parts of the stipe. It was placed when you wanted to prolong the agony of the crucified. In this piece, which adopted different forms, from a simple bar to a wooden club, passing through a structure similar to a horn, the convict could support his feet and, consequently, his body weight.
The soldier who had placed them behind the condemned man, controlling his head, took out one of the long nails he had tucked into his belt. To his right, on the rock of Golgotha, was one of the voluminous bundles.
Yeshua, seeing himself without the guards who accompanied him, had dropped to his knees on Calvary, and continued in the same position, within the circle formed by the platoon and facing the stipes. His head and gaze were turned to the earth and so he continued until the men of Longinus came for him.
With the detail typical of a professional highly experienced in that disastrous task, the Roman executioner took the nail with his right hand and felt the different bones of the left wrist along the palmar face with the sharp point. Then he made a small tear in the right spot, passed the nail to the other hand and placed it vertically over the chosen spot. He then took the hammer and looked up, waiting for the officer to authorize him to strike.
Longinus nodded with a slight nod, and the legionnaire brought the pack closer until it lightly touched the copper head. Then he raised the hammer higher than his right ear, letting it fall hard on the nail.
The three-inch square section penetrated without difficulty, passing through the wrist and into the wood of the patibulum as well. The eight- or eight-centimeter-long nail had bent slightly as it sank into the carpus. The head now appeared turned towards the fingers. With a second hammer blow less violent than the first, the harpsichord went in a little more. The head was about four inches from the skin.
The blood took two or three seconds to come out. The Gesta guerrilla did not react. He was unconscious, and the executioner hastened to repeat the operation on his right wrist. At this point he didn't even look at the centurion. Two more hammer blows were enough to nail the condemned man to the tree.
As it passed through the zealot's wrists, two spurts of blood spurted slowly, running down the bark of the wood and dripping onto the rock, where it formed two small pools. Although the hemorrhages weren't a cause for concern, the sight of blood and his companion's jamming caused the collapse of the young terrorist Dimas' weakened nervous system.
With a pleading face he managed to drag himself on his knees to Longinus. Once at his feet, he lowered his head to the ground, crying out for pity on him. For tenths of a second, the centurion's eyes clouded over with a shadow of pity. He raised his hands in a sign of helplessness and, so that the condemned man would not notice him, asked the nearest legionnaire for the pilum. Longinus could not prevent the boy's crucifixion, but he could prevent him from suffering the painful punctures of the nails in his wrists.
Raising the spear with both hands, he prepared to slash the terrified prisoner's skull.
— High! What do you want from here?
The shout of one of the sentries interrupted the officer's purposes. As he turned, he saw a group of six or seven women striding purposefully up the cleft of the cliff. Longinus forgot the defendant and advanced to meet the Hebrews. The women exchanged a few sentences with the centurion, showing him a small red clay pitcher. The patrol chief reassured his men, allowing the Jews to reach the top of Calvary. Once at the top, the one with the bowl addressed the guerrilla who had just been nailed. He followed a second woman, and the rest stood silently at the edge of the scaffold, fending off the steely gusts of wind with their broad robes of black and green.
Seeing that man lay unconscious, the resolute women turned to Longinus. The centurion, anticipating his thoughts, indicated the second defendant, who was still under the weight of the patibulum, bleeding and crying desperately. But before the daughters of Yerushaláyim opened the pitcher, the officer signaled to the legionaries to haul up the first bandit, Gesta.
The ladder was supported by one of the stilts in the first row (the one in the west), while two soldiers with a little difficulty lifted the wood to which the condemned man was nailed. Without wasting time, the executioner responsible for the punctures tied a rope around the chest, then immediately tied two quick knots at each end of the patibulum. Finally, displaying great dexterity, he finished off the tie with a central loop. A fourth soldier stood at the top of the stairs and those holding the guerrilla carried him to the vertical tree.
The jammer extended the rope to his companion at the top of the stairs, and he slipped it into the upper groove of the tree. Immediately, the legionnaire began pulling on the thick rope, helped by the optio from below. With each tug, the rope, in contact with the stipe, emitted a sharp creak, which was to be confused with the desperate cries of the second zealot, Dimas. In a matter of minutes and a half, the patibulum was hoisted to the top. Longinus' lieutenant stretched the rope as far as it would go, and before the Roman perched on the ladder had let go of the rope, the three soldiers guarding the defendant's elevation rushed to Marcellus's aid, holding the prisoner and the patibulum in midair. When he got rid of the rope, the legionnaire on top hooked it to the two branches of the central loop, dragging the opening of the trunk towards the end of the stipe.
Once the patibulum was in place, the soldier gave a shout and the four Romans dropped the long haft. With a creak, it slid down until it was wedged into the vertical stake. The bandit's body also dropped in weight, giving maximum distension to the arms, which made an angle of sixty-five degrees with the stipe.
This terrifying descent opened the wounds on his wrists and further strained the ligaments in the joints of the shoulders and elbows. The pain was so unbearable that the unfortunate reacted, coming to his senses. His eyes wanted to pop out of their sockets. But the forced position he had been in had almost blocked his breathing apparatus and his disjointed mouth, he couldn't make a sound at that moment. However, the soldiers seemed not to be in too much of a hurry.
Before descending the stairs, the legionnaire took the pack and gave the patibulum a few hammers, steadying it. Then he accepted from the optio's hands the sign that read the name of Gesta and nailed it to the upper section of the cross, a hand's breadth above the crosspiece. The two hundred onlookers who had followed the patrol and who were now taking up positions around the rock broke out into shouts and exclaimed in protest as they saw the soldier preach the zealot's accusation.
Indeed, Longinus was right. If the party had ventured through the streets of Yerushaláyim with the two zealot guerrillas, who knows what the populace would have been capable of.
Little by little, the initial group of Jewish observers multiplied with other pilgrims who came and went along the Jaffa road. Very close, in the front row, about ten meters in a straight line, Yousef could make out some of the Sadducees. And, among these, Yehudhah Ish Qeryoth, with his head covered by his cloak for fear of possible reprisals from the Rabbi's friends and supporters or to protect himself, like many others, from the whirlpools of sand that swept the outskirts of the city.
The man in charge of the jamming took the hammer and, putting himself in front of the condemned man, planted his left knee in the earth. He took another nail from his belt and signaled to his companions. One of them grabbed the crucified man's right foot, stretching out his leg, and set the sole of his foot to the surface of the stipe. This movement left one of the tarsal bones close to the skin, which served as a reference to the skillful executioner. He placed the nail on said bone and with a single hammer nailed it to the wood. Pain surged through Gesta's body, turning instantly into a howl. And before the other Roman extended the zealot's left leg, touching the sole of his foot to the vertical pole, a spurt of blood sprang up from under the newly nailed foot, running up the tree to the wedges that propped it up. The howl was followed by a series of broken screams. The zealot's diaphragm had begun to resent, and his breathing had gone into an anguished slow.
A few minutes later, between scream and scream, the desperate Zealot began to gasp, multiplying the short, dramatic breaths of air. The mixed screams of astonishment, pain and anger, pulled the young terrorist from his isolation. He painfully raised his head, and at the sight of his companion, he paled and began to sweat.
The legionaries finished the wedge of the prisoner, whose left foot was six inches above his right. The blood, flowing in abundance through the stipe, ended up causing the second guerrilla to be very sick, who soon vomited.
***
THE CRUCIFIXION OF DIMAS
12:50 pm — YERUSHALAYIM, FRIDAY, APRIL 7, A.D. 30
LONGINUS URGED HIS MEN to untie Dimas. The wretch, stunned and trembling with fear, put up no resistance. Once naked, bathed in cold sweat, the women received a signal from the centurion to administer the potion to him. But before that, four legionaries surrounded the condemned man, almost impaling his spearheads in his kidneys, back and belly. The bandit's tremors increased and his knees began to wobble.
Infected by the prisoner's terror, the Jews filled with trembling hands a deep wooden dish with the greenish-yellow liquid from the pitcher. Among its ingredients, the special odor of bull bile, consisted essentially of a fortified wine to which the contents of one or more bile sacs from a recently sacrificed ox were added. Far from containing some kind of narcotic, the Hebrews used a much more common and natural process for these purposes. First they prepared a gall extract, putting the contents of the bags in a balta filter. Then they put it to evaporate in a bath—Myriam, without stopping to stir it. In this way, the desired extract was obtained that could be preserved indefinitely. When that pious association of women heard of an execution, they poured the extract of ox gall into wine or brandy with a high alcohol content. The fulminant metabolic action of the bile released the alcohol from the wine, thus causing the convict to experience a rapid and considerable intoxication that blunted his brain, relieving to a certain extent his sufferings and mainly weakening his conscience.
The Hebrew woman placed her right hand on the wooden dish, so that the dust and earth blown away by the wind would not contaminate the wine. She glanced at Longinus and he indicated the prisoner again, authorizing her to approach.
The woman went to Dimas and handed him the drink. Haunted by terror, the boy did not react. His eyes, reddened from crying, strayed to the centurion, his eyes questioning him.
— Baby! — Longinus ordered him.
The young zealot raised his arms, taking the bowl, but his convulsions were so strong that some of the liquid was lost. At last he managed to lift the bowl to his mouth, drinking what it contained. The Hebrews withdrew, joining the group, and the condemned man was pushed towards the stems which were free in the front row and towards which they had carried the patibulum.
Dimas was placed with his back to the posts, and as two of the legionaries pulled his arms back, a third knocked him onto his back. The centurion, posted behind the defendant, took up a spear, ready to strike the prisoner's skull if necessary. He lifted the pilum's handle and waited. However, the terrorist offered almost no resistance. Apparently, he seemed to have taken his luck. Fear, moreover, had gnawed at his muscles.
As they leaned him against the tree, he raised his head and with a faint voice began to call out to his mother. But the constant calls disappeared as the executioner vibrated the first hammer blow. A scream rose from the rock and the crowd greeted the new jam with loud whistles and protests.
The prisoner, eyes popping out of their sockets and the front and back muscles of his neck taut like violin strings, shuddered, dropping his head back onto his torso. At that moment, the wind spread a great stench. The legionnaire who held the condemned man's feet exploded into a thousand insults against the zealot. In uncontrollable panic, the boy's sphincters had opened, releasing the stool.
When his right wrist was nailed, the young man lost consciousness, and the executioners took advantage of the fact that he was unconscious to speed up his lifting on the stipe. When they were about to hoist the patibulum, a doubt arose. On which of the two free woods should they crucify him? The legionaries asked the officer and he shrugged.
It was the carnation manager who gave the solution, which was well-received by everyone.
— Let's leave the king in the center... — he commented, amused. So it was done.
This is why the so-called thieves stood to the right and left of the Rabbi of Galilee. When it was the turn of the guerrilla's left foot, the executioner crossed it in such a way that the toes were on one of the arms of the iron sedile that crossed the tree from one side to the other. This circumstance provided Dimas with some relief when he needed to breathe.
His right foot was nailed a little lower and on the front face of the stipe. The second arm of the sedile which was parallel to the patibulum as in the Cross of Yeshua was not used. This relative rest could decisively influence this crucified one, to the point of allowing him better oxygenation and, consequently, greater lucidity.
When the crucifixion of Dimas was completed, the soldiers, sweaty and stained with blood, retrieved the rope that had been used to lift the defendant and cast their eyes to Yeshua of Natsrat. Yousef's heart fluttered again as he noticed the sarcastic smiles on the faces of some of the Romans.