1 00:00:08,842 --> 00:00:13,245 When Jesus was in his early 30s he was baptized by John. 2 00:00:13,780 --> 00:00:19,343 This simple act seems to have convinced him that he was the long-awaited Messiah, 3 00:00:19,953 --> 00:00:22,888 he was now a man with a mission; 4 00:00:23,289 --> 00:00:27,385 a mission that proved to be hugely popular with ordinary people. 5 00:00:27,761 --> 00:00:29,626 Though they said he consorted with thieves, 6 00:00:29,796 --> 00:00:36,964 prostitutes and tax collectors he also claimed to heal the sick and the infirm. 7 00:00:37,404 --> 00:00:42,341 Now archeology and history are giving us a truer than ever picture of how and... 8 00:00:42,509 --> 00:00:49,176 where he lived and why he was seen as a threat to the establishment. 9 00:01:08,835 --> 00:01:13,431 Jerusalem, today home to Jews and Palestinians, 10 00:01:15,642 --> 00:01:19,840 the religious and political tensions are never far from the surface. 11 00:01:21,281 --> 00:01:23,511 This is the Wailing Wall, 12 00:01:23,683 --> 00:01:28,052 it is where Jews come to pray, many come to pray for freedom, 13 00:01:28,221 --> 00:01:31,713 the freedom to live in a land they can call their own. 14 00:01:36,196 --> 00:01:39,563 Historians now realize that 2000 years ago that... 15 00:01:39,732 --> 00:01:42,530 the Jews here also dreamt of freedom 16 00:01:42,702 --> 00:01:44,727 In the time of Jesus they are losing the land, 17 00:01:44,904 --> 00:01:47,304 they are losing it not only to the might of Rome but... 18 00:01:47,474 --> 00:01:51,808 they are losing it by taxation from the Caesars who are demanding more and more, 19 00:01:51,978 --> 00:01:55,436 so you have an oppressed people you have a people who are losing hope, 20 00:01:55,615 --> 00:01:57,947 you have people who are turning more and more... 21 00:01:58,118 --> 00:02:02,077 to believing that god must soon do something. 22 00:02:05,225 --> 00:02:06,749 The Dead Sea scrolls, 23 00:02:06,926 --> 00:02:11,795 written in the second century BC reveal exactly what the Jews believed, 24 00:02:11,965 --> 00:02:17,460 that sooner or later God would send a messiah, a savior. 25 00:02:19,672 --> 00:02:20,934 By the time of Jesus, 26 00:02:21,107 --> 00:02:24,201 Jewish hopes had reached fever pitch 27 00:02:24,611 --> 00:02:26,704 Religion is in the air like at a big football game, 28 00:02:26,880 --> 00:02:29,246 you know like in London or in Manchester, 29 00:02:29,415 --> 00:02:32,316 the frenzy that is going on, that is Jerusalem, 30 00:02:32,485 --> 00:02:36,148 but frenzy is not about football, it is about God, 31 00:02:36,322 --> 00:02:37,983 and God maybe coming soon, 32 00:02:38,158 --> 00:02:41,286 maybe this Messiah is here in our midst, how would we know? 33 00:02:43,396 --> 00:02:45,956 Jesus wasn't the first would-be messiah, 34 00:02:46,132 --> 00:02:50,068 over the centuries the Jews had seen several come and go, 35 00:02:51,571 --> 00:02:54,802 but earlier messiahs had led armed uprisings, 36 00:02:54,974 --> 00:02:59,775 Jesus wasn't a military leader and he didn't have any troops, 37 00:03:00,480 --> 00:03:02,914 the facts show that after spending 40 days and... 38 00:03:03,082 --> 00:03:06,415 nights alone in the wilderness Jesus returned to Galilee with... 39 00:03:06,586 --> 00:03:12,047 a very different plan, which in it's own way was much more revolutionary. 40 00:03:17,997 --> 00:03:21,398 Just 20 miles east of Nazareth in the great lake known as... 41 00:03:21,568 --> 00:03:27,165 the sea of Galilee Jesus picked his team, the disciples. 42 00:03:30,510 --> 00:03:32,808 Instead of recruiting the obvious candidates, 43 00:03:32,979 --> 00:03:38,144 such as hardened revolutionaries Jesus picked an unlikely bunch of characters. 44 00:03:38,685 --> 00:03:42,781 His first recruit and right hand man was a fisherman, 45 00:03:43,423 --> 00:03:45,857 his name was Simon Peter. 46 00:03:52,632 --> 00:03:55,760 Thanks to a startling discovery here on the shores of the lake... 47 00:03:55,935 --> 00:04:00,531 we can now tell what kind of people fishermen like Peter were. 48 00:04:02,275 --> 00:04:07,338 In 1985 a severe drought caused the lake to drop to unprecedented levels, 49 00:04:07,513 --> 00:04:10,710 revealing an ancient and extraordinary find. 50 00:04:18,992 --> 00:04:21,517 Buried next to some 2000 year old pottery, 51 00:04:21,694 --> 00:04:25,994 archeologists made one of the great discoveries of modern times, 52 00:04:29,502 --> 00:04:31,561 an ancient fishing boat. 53 00:04:34,807 --> 00:04:36,934 It was a delicate salvage operation, 54 00:04:37,977 --> 00:04:41,469 each piece of timber was identified with red tape, 55 00:04:43,483 --> 00:04:45,713 then a special foam kept the boat intact and... 56 00:04:45,885 --> 00:04:49,321 allowed archeologists to prise it away from the mud. 57 00:04:51,824 --> 00:04:53,951 Orna Cohen, the leader of the excavation, 58 00:04:54,127 --> 00:04:56,925 was astonished that it was so well preserved 59 00:04:57,930 --> 00:05:00,831 Well that is one of the miracles we've got with this boat, 60 00:05:01,000 --> 00:05:05,903 this boat was only preserved because very soon at the time... 61 00:05:06,072 --> 00:05:11,806 it sank it filled up with silt clay like from a river... 62 00:05:11,978 --> 00:05:16,745 near by this locked it in very limited oxygen condition and... 63 00:05:16,916 --> 00:05:19,612 slowed down all the bacterial activity, 64 00:05:19,786 --> 00:05:22,277 that's why it has been preserved so well. 65 00:05:23,790 --> 00:05:28,250 While the boat was slowly drying out in a chemical solution radio carbon tests... 66 00:05:28,428 --> 00:05:30,919 were carried out to determine to age of the wood, 67 00:05:31,998 --> 00:05:36,332 it was dated between 40 BC and 40 AD. 68 00:05:36,636 --> 00:05:40,766 These dates covered the years when Jesus lived. 69 00:05:44,210 --> 00:05:48,340 The boat was made of assorted second hand timber and iron nails, 70 00:05:49,315 --> 00:05:51,476 nicknamed 'the Jesus boat', 71 00:05:51,651 --> 00:05:56,020 the relic is now proudly displayed in a museum in Galilee, 72 00:05:56,255 --> 00:05:59,622 but could it really have belonged to one of the disciples? 73 00:06:00,760 --> 00:06:05,288 lts size certainly seems to match the kind of boat Peter is thought to have used, 74 00:06:05,765 --> 00:06:10,327 John's gospel mentions that Peter's boat could carry at least 7 disciples, 75 00:06:10,503 --> 00:06:15,634 this boat is 26 feet long, big enough to carry that number. 76 00:06:27,687 --> 00:06:31,589 This is a replica of that 1 st century boat. 77 00:06:33,025 --> 00:06:37,086 It looks like the kind of boat a humble fisherman could afford but... 78 00:06:37,263 --> 00:06:42,929 in ancient Galilee wood was rare and a boat like this was a luxury. 79 00:06:43,102 --> 00:06:46,902 Orna Cohen believes Peter wasn't a man of humble means. 80 00:06:49,275 --> 00:06:54,269 I can only assume knowing the conditions of that period was considered quite... 81 00:06:54,447 --> 00:07:00,545 an investment whoever owned such a boat was very relatively a well-to-do person, 82 00:07:00,720 --> 00:07:02,711 considered rich. 83 00:07:08,961 --> 00:07:11,794 Jesus also enlisted Peter's brother Andrew 84 00:07:11,964 --> 00:07:15,297 and 2 more fishermen, James and John. 85 00:07:23,276 --> 00:07:27,542 But Jesus' bizarre recruitment drive didn't stop there, 86 00:07:27,814 --> 00:07:29,281 he also approached Matthew, 87 00:07:29,449 --> 00:07:33,249 a Jewish man employed to collect taxes from the Jews. 88 00:07:34,320 --> 00:07:37,187 And then there was Judas, the group's treasurer and... 89 00:07:37,356 --> 00:07:42,487 the disciple who was to play a key role in the final week of Jesus' life. 90 00:07:46,866 --> 00:07:50,427 Jesus underlined his unusual approach by breaking with the tactics... 91 00:07:50,603 --> 00:07:53,265 used by previous would-be messiahs. 92 00:07:54,240 --> 00:07:58,040 Earlier revolutionaries hid in caves or lived on the run... 93 00:08:00,446 --> 00:08:02,846 instead the gospels say Jesus and... 94 00:08:03,015 --> 00:08:06,712 the disciples lived openly in a fishing town called Capernaum. 95 00:08:08,054 --> 00:08:11,353 Just 5 miles from where the 1 st century boat was found on the northern shores... 96 00:08:11,524 --> 00:08:13,151 of the Sea of Galilee, 97 00:08:13,326 --> 00:08:17,057 archeologists have identified the remains of ancient Capernaum, 98 00:08:17,663 --> 00:08:19,688 it has become a shire for Pilgrims, 99 00:08:19,866 --> 00:08:24,667 a chance for them to recall many of the gospel stories set in Capernaum. 100 00:08:52,765 --> 00:08:55,825 Archeologists also believe they may have identified... 101 00:08:56,002 --> 00:08:58,368 the house of one of the disciples. 102 00:08:59,372 --> 00:09:02,432 The tradition in the Middle East has always been to preserve holy sites... 103 00:09:02,608 --> 00:09:05,839 linked to Jesus by building churches on top of them. 104 00:09:06,579 --> 00:09:08,979 When they started digging here 100 years ago... 105 00:09:09,148 --> 00:09:13,778 they unearthed a series of old churches build around a first century house, 106 00:09:14,654 --> 00:09:18,181 in keeping with this tradition a modern church has recently been build... 107 00:09:18,357 --> 00:09:20,723 over the ruins of the house, 108 00:09:21,861 --> 00:09:28,027 but the new church has proved highly controversial - it obscures the ruins and... 109 00:09:28,200 --> 00:09:31,897 critics have likened its design to a flying saucer. 110 00:09:36,709 --> 00:09:41,942 But its supporters argue that at least this time the ruins have been kept intact, 111 00:09:43,215 --> 00:09:46,582 they can just be glimpsed through a glass floor, 112 00:09:49,822 --> 00:09:53,087 the church has also been suspended on pillars allowing visitors... 113 00:09:53,259 --> 00:09:55,750 another partial sight of the ruins. 114 00:09:58,731 --> 00:10:02,223 Mordechai Aviam is one of the leading archeologists in Galilee; 115 00:10:02,902 --> 00:10:05,393 he and many of his colleagues are convinced they know... 116 00:10:05,571 --> 00:10:08,631 which disciple that house belonged to, 117 00:10:08,841 --> 00:10:12,242 on one of the plastered walls of the house they found graffiti, 118 00:10:12,411 --> 00:10:15,778 some as early as the 3rd century AD 119 00:10:16,983 --> 00:10:18,848 Some of the graffiti, although they are not complete ones, 120 00:10:19,018 --> 00:10:23,785 carry the name of Simon or the Hebrew name 'Shimon' and... 121 00:10:23,956 --> 00:10:29,519 this is Saint Peter's Hebrew name and so we can assume... 122 00:10:29,695 --> 00:10:33,028 that people who came here knew that this is the house of Saint Peter, 123 00:10:33,199 --> 00:10:34,393 in a rural area, 124 00:10:34,567 --> 00:10:38,594 in a village like this one families are living for hundreds of years... 125 00:10:38,771 --> 00:10:41,331 in the same house so when pilgrims came here probably... 126 00:10:41,507 --> 00:10:43,941 in the end of the 2nd or beginning of the 3rd century and... 127 00:10:44,110 --> 00:10:47,170 asked natives 'do you know where guy named... 128 00:10:47,346 --> 00:10:51,749 Shimon, Simon, Saint Peter lived? ' they say 'oh yes of course this building, 129 00:10:51,917 --> 00:10:52,508 you see this building? 130 00:10:52,685 --> 00:10:54,414 His grand, grand, grand children are living there' 131 00:10:55,888 --> 00:10:58,789 It is hard for us now to visualize Peter's house, 132 00:10:58,958 --> 00:11:00,391 or indeed Capernaum, 133 00:11:01,661 --> 00:11:05,188 but archeologists believe they now have enough information to... 134 00:11:05,364 --> 00:11:07,889 recreate what the town was like. 135 00:11:11,137 --> 00:11:14,834 The size of the excavated area suggests that Capernaum was a town... 136 00:11:15,007 --> 00:11:16,975 of 15,000 people. 137 00:11:22,114 --> 00:11:26,551 No evidence has yet come to light of where Jesus lived, 138 00:11:27,119 --> 00:11:30,953 but what archeologists can tell from the foundations is that Peter's house would... 139 00:11:31,123 --> 00:11:34,854 have been one of several overlooking a common courtyard, 140 00:11:35,261 --> 00:11:38,424 so perhaps Jesus and Peter were neighbors. 141 00:11:45,971 --> 00:11:48,769 Around the courtyard people would have continued with... 142 00:11:48,941 --> 00:11:55,176 their daily tasks such as baking bread, or carpentry. 143 00:12:03,556 --> 00:12:05,080 Houses were simple, 144 00:12:05,257 --> 00:12:09,717 they were large because those are families that lived together, 145 00:12:09,895 --> 00:12:15,356 the elders and their sons and daughters and their wives and husbands and... 146 00:12:15,534 --> 00:12:19,994 their children all lived in one large building as it is nowadays in villages, 147 00:12:20,172 --> 00:12:24,506 in Arab villages or in other villages in other places in the world. 148 00:12:25,111 --> 00:12:28,239 Women were thought inferior to men at the time, 149 00:12:28,414 --> 00:12:31,713 yet the gospels say that Jesus included Mary Magdalene and... 150 00:12:31,884 --> 00:12:35,547 at least 5 other women among his close followers 151 00:12:35,721 --> 00:12:38,849 He is the only teacher we know of from antiquity who... 152 00:12:39,024 --> 00:12:41,492 includes women into his group. 153 00:12:41,660 --> 00:12:45,494 John talks about him talking with a Samaritan woman and... 154 00:12:45,664 --> 00:12:49,191 good gracious alive are the disciples depressed by this, 155 00:12:49,368 --> 00:12:51,302 what is the matter with this man? 156 00:12:51,470 --> 00:12:53,938 So he is even different than his followers 157 00:12:55,841 --> 00:13:02,713 Jesus never married nor had any children, his disciples were his immediate family, 158 00:13:02,882 --> 00:13:06,750 they weren't exactly going to bring the Roman army to its knees, 159 00:13:07,019 --> 00:13:09,510 but the number of disciples he picked is a clue that... 160 00:13:09,688 --> 00:13:12,088 Jesus wasn't targeting the Romans. 161 00:13:12,525 --> 00:13:15,619 The number 12 was no accident it harked back... 162 00:13:15,795 --> 00:13:19,356 to the 12 tribes who originally founded Israel. 163 00:13:19,732 --> 00:13:22,599 People at the time would have understood the symbolism, 164 00:13:23,502 --> 00:13:26,437 scholars believe Jesus was calling for a fresh start, 165 00:13:26,605 --> 00:13:30,939 he wanted Israel to go back to the ideals of its founding fathers 166 00:13:31,110 --> 00:13:32,372 In that world, 167 00:13:32,545 --> 00:13:35,241 the Jews of the first century - who are just as hungry for justice... 168 00:13:35,414 --> 00:13:38,747 as people today are - believed passionately that the god of... 169 00:13:38,918 --> 00:13:41,250 the all world was the god of justice, 170 00:13:41,420 --> 00:13:46,119 therefore if this god finally did what he promised they would get justice... 171 00:13:46,292 --> 00:13:51,025 and peace and mercy, that was what Jesus was basically offering them 172 00:13:51,197 --> 00:13:55,531 That put Jesus on a collision course, not with the Romans, 173 00:13:55,701 --> 00:13:58,329 but with the Jewish authorities in Jerusalem. 174 00:14:15,955 --> 00:14:18,287 The power base of Jewish society and... 175 00:14:18,457 --> 00:14:21,654 headquarters of the Jewish faith was the temple, 176 00:14:23,662 --> 00:14:26,995 Jesus had first seen the fabulous gold and marble building... 177 00:14:27,166 --> 00:14:30,294 when he came to Jerusalem at the age of 12. 178 00:14:38,043 --> 00:14:41,137 The temple was run by a caste of Jewish priests, 179 00:14:42,381 --> 00:14:45,817 these are the people with whom Jesus takes issue with. 180 00:14:47,386 --> 00:14:50,981 Several ancient texts vividly describe their duties, 181 00:14:52,558 --> 00:14:57,621 every day at dawn and at dusk they drew lots to make their sacrifice of... 182 00:14:57,796 --> 00:15:00,162 pure white lambs to god. 183 00:15:02,768 --> 00:15:06,033 The sacrificial blood was then taken into the sanctuary and... 184 00:15:06,205 --> 00:15:09,333 sprinkled in front of a large curtain, 185 00:15:10,075 --> 00:15:13,772 the Jews believed the invisible presence of god lived behind it. 186 00:15:15,481 --> 00:15:19,815 Every rite from the sacrifice to the burning of incenses was designed to... 187 00:15:19,985 --> 00:15:21,885 keep the sanctuary pure, 188 00:15:22,755 --> 00:15:26,748 but according to the gospels Jesus believed the temple no longer... 189 00:15:26,926 --> 00:15:31,522 was a holy place, but a den of iniquity and corruption. 190 00:15:31,997 --> 00:15:34,192 The temple is not only the place of worship, 191 00:15:34,366 --> 00:15:37,597 it is the Jewish treasury, the Jewish bank, 192 00:15:37,770 --> 00:15:41,900 it is the Jewish base for authority and of course when... 193 00:15:42,074 --> 00:15:47,239 you have authority you have the problem of abuse of authority 194 00:15:51,450 --> 00:15:57,685 Jesus was to become a fierce critic of the temple system but he wasn't alone. 195 00:16:00,960 --> 00:16:03,895 Hanan Eshel a Hebrew archeologist has found... 196 00:16:04,063 --> 00:16:08,523 in the Dead Sea scrolls evidence of wide spread discontent, 197 00:16:09,601 --> 00:16:13,093 the scrolls were the work of a Jewish sect called the Ascenes, 198 00:16:14,506 --> 00:16:17,168 they had walked out of Jerusalem in protest of the power... 199 00:16:17,343 --> 00:16:20,244 of the temple priests and set up a rival community in... 200 00:16:20,412 --> 00:16:24,371 Qumran 20 miles away on the shores of the Dead Sea. 201 00:16:26,752 --> 00:16:28,777 If you needed incense for the altar, 202 00:16:28,954 --> 00:16:34,790 they wouldn't tell it to anyone else that would be bought from their family and... 203 00:16:34,960 --> 00:16:40,557 the people from Qumran would criticize the priests for keeps those secrets and... 204 00:16:40,733 --> 00:16:44,464 taking as much money from the temple budget as possible 205 00:16:49,074 --> 00:16:52,475 It wasn't until archeologists dug up the streets of Jerusalem that... 206 00:16:52,644 --> 00:16:55,636 they found out how the priests spent their money. 207 00:16:56,148 --> 00:17:00,847 In 1967 archeologist excavated incriminating evidence it... 208 00:17:01,020 --> 00:17:03,113 what is now the Jewish quarter of the city. 209 00:17:04,156 --> 00:17:09,253 It revealed the lavish lifestyle enjoyed by the high priests. 210 00:17:11,597 --> 00:17:14,862 The area has now been redeveloped with blocks of apartments, 211 00:17:15,034 --> 00:17:19,767 but archeologists had 14 years in which to excavate the area what... 212 00:17:19,938 --> 00:17:23,271 they found has been preserved under these buildings. 213 00:17:33,519 --> 00:17:38,821 The remains of a large first century house it had been decorated and... 214 00:17:38,991 --> 00:17:42,085 furnished in the finest styles of the period, 215 00:17:42,327 --> 00:17:46,320 without doubt one of the wealthiest households in Jerusalem. 216 00:17:48,133 --> 00:17:52,467 It was close by to the temple so it could have belonged to one of the high priests... 217 00:17:52,638 --> 00:17:55,004 but there was no direct proof. 218 00:18:02,214 --> 00:18:08,312 Then archeologists found this, a ritual bath, 219 00:18:08,687 --> 00:18:11,053 it was used for daily purification. 220 00:18:11,924 --> 00:18:14,950 The Jews believed that contact with a corpse, 221 00:18:15,127 --> 00:18:20,224 a dead animal or with bodily fluids such as blood made them ritually unclean. 222 00:18:22,267 --> 00:18:26,226 Jesus himself would have had regular ritual bathes, 223 00:18:26,405 --> 00:18:29,966 like most Jews he would have used public facilities, 224 00:18:30,142 --> 00:18:31,632 every town had one. 225 00:18:32,511 --> 00:18:36,709 A few could afford their own private ritual bathroom, 226 00:18:37,816 --> 00:18:40,717 but this palatial house had several, 227 00:18:41,386 --> 00:18:45,049 that could only mean that it must have belonged to one of the top priests, 228 00:18:47,659 --> 00:18:50,287 to make sure that they never mingled with common people... 229 00:18:50,462 --> 00:18:54,728 the priests even had a private bridge linking their mansions to the temple, 230 00:18:55,901 --> 00:18:59,803 the rest of the people, including Jesus, walked beneath them, 231 00:19:01,140 --> 00:19:03,631 but that was only half of the story, 232 00:19:03,809 --> 00:19:08,371 there is also evidence that the priests were manipulating Jewish purity laws... 233 00:19:08,547 --> 00:19:11,607 in order to keep undesirables down. 234 00:19:12,918 --> 00:19:17,184 Before Jews could enter the temple they had to purify themselves. 235 00:19:18,590 --> 00:19:21,889 Ronny Reich is one of the leading archeologists excavating around... 236 00:19:22,060 --> 00:19:25,621 the Temple Mount, he had come to the conclusion that in the time... 237 00:19:25,797 --> 00:19:29,824 of Jesus the concern with purity had become an obsession. 238 00:19:41,914 --> 00:19:46,112 He found that the walls of the original baths would have been carefully plastered, 239 00:19:46,285 --> 00:19:50,381 today only the bare rock and stone walls remain, 240 00:19:51,890 --> 00:19:55,155 this ritual bath is just one of more than 100 Ronny Reich... 241 00:19:55,327 --> 00:19:57,795 has found around the Temple Mount perimeter, 242 00:19:57,963 --> 00:20:01,364 and it wasn't just body and soul that needed purifying. 243 00:20:01,533 --> 00:20:05,560 If Jesus or a pilgrim was down in Jerusalem they may well have had to... 244 00:20:05,737 --> 00:20:09,503 use this large bath for their household vessels and utensils and... 245 00:20:09,675 --> 00:20:11,939 even for their beds and mattresses. 246 00:20:12,477 --> 00:20:15,708 It was considered in those days like almost mania, 247 00:20:15,881 --> 00:20:17,906 lets imagine that the people who gathered here... 248 00:20:18,083 --> 00:20:20,381 during the festivals came on a pilgrimage, 249 00:20:20,552 --> 00:20:27,321 lived here in tents, what would have happened if one bed became impure? 250 00:20:27,492 --> 00:20:31,485 Lets say a menstrual woman touched it, it is impure. 251 00:20:31,663 --> 00:20:34,530 Somebody coming back from the cemetery and touched it, 252 00:20:34,700 --> 00:20:38,192 then they had to purify that particular mattress, 253 00:20:38,370 --> 00:20:39,632 this could have been done here. 254 00:20:42,441 --> 00:20:46,343 But no matter how many ritual baths they took Jewish law... 255 00:20:46,511 --> 00:20:52,472 stopped some people from going into the temple, the Mishnah, 256 00:20:52,651 --> 00:20:55,176 a book listing rules and regulations at the time says... 257 00:20:55,354 --> 00:20:58,687 that among others the lame, the blind, the sick, 258 00:20:58,857 --> 00:21:02,349 the deformed were all excluded. 259 00:21:02,594 --> 00:21:06,257 Above all they were the people whom Jesus wanted to reach, 260 00:21:06,431 --> 00:21:10,026 that made him popular and dangerous. 261 00:21:13,972 --> 00:21:19,000 The mystery was how Jesus was going to break down those barriers, 262 00:21:23,782 --> 00:21:27,274 the gospels claim that Jesus went traveling around Galilee and... 263 00:21:27,452 --> 00:21:30,114 Judea curing the incurable. 264 00:21:43,235 --> 00:21:47,001 Not the call to arms many expected from a messiah, 265 00:21:47,172 --> 00:21:49,902 but it was just as radical, 266 00:21:50,075 --> 00:21:53,408 for Jesus was going to reach out to the very people... 267 00:21:53,578 --> 00:21:56,069 who were shunned by the temple priests and... 268 00:21:56,248 --> 00:21:59,513 the first on his list were the sick and the infirmed. 269 00:22:00,018 --> 00:22:02,578 The Gospel of John tells the story of a pool of... 270 00:22:02,754 --> 00:22:05,882 spring water in a place called Bethesda in Jerusalem. 271 00:22:08,593 --> 00:22:13,223 The sick would gather here in the hope of a cure occasional the waters... 272 00:22:13,398 --> 00:22:17,061 would stir the sick believed that it was a sign that... 273 00:22:17,235 --> 00:22:21,331 the pool had miraculous powers and they all rushed to bathe in it, 274 00:22:24,576 --> 00:22:28,740 but a paralyzed man could never get to the water in time, 275 00:22:30,849 --> 00:22:35,718 when Jesus saw him he said get up, pick up your mat and walk. 276 00:22:42,527 --> 00:22:48,762 When the paralyzed man was asked who had healed him he replied he had no idea. 277 00:22:53,004 --> 00:22:55,871 Amazing though the stories of Jesus' healings are... 278 00:22:56,041 --> 00:22:59,909 they have mystified those trying to make sense Jesus' mission. 279 00:23:00,445 --> 00:23:02,970 Did Jesus really have a gift for healing? 280 00:23:03,548 --> 00:23:06,244 And how could this possibly help his cause? 281 00:23:21,633 --> 00:23:26,627 There is a clue here in Hamat Gadeer, an ancient spa in Galilee. 282 00:23:26,972 --> 00:23:30,464 Archeologist Joe Zias says that baths are prove... 283 00:23:30,642 --> 00:23:33,475 for the huge demand for healing in antiquity 284 00:23:33,979 --> 00:23:37,142 You have to realize that health and sickness is something... 285 00:23:37,315 --> 00:23:38,748 which everyone was concerned about. 286 00:23:38,917 --> 00:23:41,750 I think even more so back then life was difficult, 287 00:23:41,920 --> 00:23:44,616 50% of the people died before the age of 18, 288 00:23:44,790 --> 00:23:46,951 most people died by the time they were in their 30s, 289 00:23:48,126 --> 00:23:51,960 people would come here to bathe in the springs for many different reasons, 290 00:23:52,130 --> 00:23:54,189 everything from leprosy to arthritis. 291 00:23:57,702 --> 00:24:01,138 The sick and the infirm were a sizable group of outcasts... 292 00:24:01,306 --> 00:24:04,070 that's why Jesus was targeting them 293 00:24:08,747 --> 00:24:11,181 and it is now known that the setting for the story... 294 00:24:11,349 --> 00:24:14,079 of the paralyzed man really existed. 295 00:24:26,531 --> 00:24:30,126 Although there are no pools in Jerusalem called Bethesda today, 296 00:24:30,836 --> 00:24:35,170 archeologists knew where to look thanks to John's gospel which says that... 297 00:24:35,340 --> 00:24:38,969 Bethesda was right outside that Sheep gate. 298 00:24:42,047 --> 00:24:45,915 The Sheep gate was to the north of the city and north of the old city... 299 00:24:46,084 --> 00:24:52,421 today is a major archeological site with ruins dating back to the time of Jesus, 300 00:24:52,924 --> 00:24:57,827 In the 1960s archeologists discovered a 1 st century temple, Asclepius, 301 00:24:57,996 --> 00:25:03,957 the Roman god of healing, they also found a series of small rock pools. 302 00:25:04,703 --> 00:25:08,161 Jerry Murphy O'Connor took part in those early excavations and... 303 00:25:08,340 --> 00:25:12,504 he is in no doubt that this is the setting for the story of... 304 00:25:12,677 --> 00:25:14,406 the paralyzed man. 305 00:25:14,980 --> 00:25:19,349 Well the location that Saint John gives in chapter 5 of the gospel is that... 306 00:25:19,518 --> 00:25:23,249 it was outside the Sheep gate and the sheep gate in the north wall... 307 00:25:23,421 --> 00:25:27,619 of the temple was just about 50 meters south of here. 308 00:25:30,795 --> 00:25:35,255 In front of the sheep gate the Romans had built 2 large pools, 309 00:25:35,834 --> 00:25:40,328 these were typical Roman baths where ordinary citizens could come and bathe, 310 00:25:40,505 --> 00:25:45,465 that was in the daytime, the sick would come out at night, 311 00:25:45,644 --> 00:25:49,774 but they headed for a place behind the twin pools to where the Romans... 312 00:25:49,948 --> 00:25:54,647 had also built a small temple to the healing god Asclepius. 313 00:25:55,120 --> 00:25:59,056 And beneath it would have been a whole series of little baths like this, 314 00:26:00,025 --> 00:26:02,994 that is essential to the Asclepius cult. 315 00:26:03,328 --> 00:26:07,025 And that is exactly where you'd expect sick people to congregate. 316 00:26:08,667 --> 00:26:11,067 That is the context of the miracle story. 317 00:26:11,870 --> 00:26:14,395 While archeology can authenticate the setting of... 318 00:26:14,573 --> 00:26:18,805 the healings it can't prove whether Jesus could actually heal. 319 00:26:21,680 --> 00:26:25,343 But it is certain that many people believed that he could. 320 00:26:28,653 --> 00:26:32,145 Wandering healers were a common site in ancient Israel. 321 00:26:35,927 --> 00:26:38,521 12 miles north of Nazareth in the Palestinian town of... 322 00:26:38,697 --> 00:26:42,030 Aruba is the tomb of another Galilean healer. 323 00:26:44,035 --> 00:26:47,493 Hanina Ben Dosa was a near contemporary of Jesus, 324 00:26:49,641 --> 00:26:52,610 his tomb is still revered for like Jesus 325 00:26:52,777 --> 00:26:55,007 people believed that he could heal the sick. 326 00:26:59,217 --> 00:27:03,483 Rabbis wrote that families with sick children sought his help... 327 00:27:03,655 --> 00:27:06,215 Hanina's story shows that there where exceptional men around... 328 00:27:06,391 --> 00:27:10,191 who were believed to have to gift of healing, 329 00:27:10,762 --> 00:27:14,459 but in one key respect Jesus was different. 330 00:27:17,569 --> 00:27:19,867 Jesus was executed. 331 00:27:20,839 --> 00:27:25,333 The only explanation is that he was seen as a threat, 332 00:27:25,944 --> 00:27:29,345 historians now believe that unlike Hanina Ben Dosa, 333 00:27:29,514 --> 00:27:33,848 Jesus used his gift of healing to defy the temple system. 334 00:27:34,419 --> 00:27:37,252 On one occasion, after curing a leper, 335 00:27:37,422 --> 00:27:40,653 Jesus says to him to 'go to the temple priests and... 336 00:27:40,825 --> 00:27:43,293 make the offerings set by the law'. 337 00:27:44,362 --> 00:27:46,353 Jesus brought these people back into society, 338 00:27:46,531 --> 00:27:48,522 and not only did he bring them back into society but... 339 00:27:48,700 --> 00:27:51,897 he challenged the religious notions at that time, 340 00:27:52,070 --> 00:27:53,697 people who had the disease who were cured of... 341 00:27:53,872 --> 00:27:56,397 leprosy Jesus told them to go up to the Temple Mount, 342 00:27:56,574 --> 00:27:58,769 something which these people were totally excluded from, 343 00:27:58,943 --> 00:28:02,071 it is this unfortunate attitude in antiquity toward people... 344 00:28:02,247 --> 00:28:04,715 that had any type of illnesses, was that you deserved it, 345 00:28:04,883 --> 00:28:07,374 the wages of sin is death, if you got sick you deserved it 346 00:28:10,455 --> 00:28:13,856 Anybody who can heal in a world without modern medicine is... 347 00:28:14,025 --> 00:28:20,123 bound to draw large crowds and this many account for Jesus' popularity in Galilee. 348 00:28:20,765 --> 00:28:25,600 But however subversive the healings were hardily grounds to have him killed, 349 00:28:25,770 --> 00:28:28,898 something more must have upset the Jewish establishment. 350 00:28:41,853 --> 00:28:47,917 These are the ruins of Jerash in Jordan a roman city built in the 1 st century AD... 351 00:28:48,093 --> 00:28:52,553 it was built with taxes collected in occupied provinces such as Judea, 352 00:28:52,731 --> 00:28:57,566 the tax burden under Roman administration was in fact crippling, 353 00:28:57,736 --> 00:29:00,500 the money was brought in by Jewish tax collectors, 354 00:29:00,672 --> 00:29:05,666 according to historians in the time of Jesus the tax man was especially despised. 355 00:29:06,244 --> 00:29:09,145 In any society and it is so today, 356 00:29:09,314 --> 00:29:12,841 people who go around collecting taxes get a bad press, 357 00:29:13,017 --> 00:29:15,508 and we all know that we've got to pay tax and we don't like the people... 358 00:29:15,687 --> 00:29:16,346 who come and do it, 359 00:29:16,521 --> 00:29:18,785 just pick we don't like parking attendants and that sort of thing... 360 00:29:18,957 --> 00:29:21,425 because we feel that they are an intrusion on our liberty, 361 00:29:21,593 --> 00:29:24,084 however that was compounded by the fact that the taxes... 362 00:29:24,262 --> 00:29:28,631 were being collected for Rome and the ordinary Jewish people resented that... 363 00:29:28,800 --> 00:29:30,927 because they were rich and powerful and they thought... 364 00:29:31,102 --> 00:29:34,902 why should we pay more money to them, they've already got a lot. 365 00:29:36,841 --> 00:29:39,833 But tax collectors not only did the Roman's dirty work, 366 00:29:40,011 --> 00:29:43,970 they made matters worse by keeping a cut for themselves, 367 00:29:44,282 --> 00:29:45,647 in the eyes of many people, 368 00:29:45,817 --> 00:29:50,379 not least the religious authorities this made them sinners and outcasts. 369 00:29:53,758 --> 00:29:57,922 But Jesus welcomed these sinners, Matthew for example, 370 00:29:58,096 --> 00:30:00,963 one of his disciples was a tax collector, 371 00:30:01,132 --> 00:30:04,192 in fact the gospels say that Jesus shared meals and... 372 00:30:04,369 --> 00:30:10,035 feasts with all manners of sinners some times these included prostitutes, 373 00:30:10,441 --> 00:30:12,841 they too were despised as sinners by the priests... 374 00:30:13,011 --> 00:30:15,445 because like tax collectors they many have been... 375 00:30:15,613 --> 00:30:19,140 in contact with an impure race, the Romans. 376 00:30:19,951 --> 00:30:24,445 The Romans were gentiles they hadn't been circumcised like Jews 377 00:30:24,656 --> 00:30:27,750 A good Jew is not to be seen with a harlot, he is accompanying her, 378 00:30:27,926 --> 00:30:31,384 she is with him and of course you can imagine the rumors, 379 00:30:31,563 --> 00:30:34,657 he goes to the people that are marginalized, 380 00:30:34,833 --> 00:30:40,430 not only the tax collectors but also the people who aren't considered important. 381 00:30:42,974 --> 00:30:50,642 Only the temple priests acting on behalf of god could forgive sinners but... 382 00:30:50,815 --> 00:30:55,309 Jesus shocked everyone by taking matters into his own hands. 383 00:30:55,820 --> 00:30:57,344 On one occasion when Jesus is... 384 00:30:57,522 --> 00:31:01,458 invited to dinner a distraught prostitute comes into the house. 385 00:31:03,461 --> 00:31:07,158 As the woman wept her tears fell on Jesus' feet, 386 00:31:07,932 --> 00:31:10,093 she then wiped the tears away with her hair, 387 00:31:10,301 --> 00:31:13,828 covered his feet with kisses and rubbed them with ointment, 388 00:31:16,007 --> 00:31:21,035 when she was finished Jesus said to her your sins are forgiven 389 00:31:23,381 --> 00:31:25,246 Jesus is upstaging the temple, 390 00:31:25,416 --> 00:31:28,647 we can get a handle on what this means if you imagine the sort official things... 391 00:31:28,820 --> 00:31:31,345 that go on in our society, if you want to get a new passport... 392 00:31:31,522 --> 00:31:36,516 or a driving license you have to go to the issuing authority to get that, 393 00:31:36,694 --> 00:31:40,528 what we find Jesus doing is out there on the street offering to... 394 00:31:40,698 --> 00:31:45,135 issue somebody a new passport and this is offensive because... 395 00:31:45,303 --> 00:31:50,297 he is bypassing the system and thereby presuming to speak for god. 396 00:31:51,476 --> 00:31:54,968 The gospels say that the priests were outraged, 397 00:31:55,647 --> 00:31:59,139 by Jesus replied that he was simply following the Jewish law, 398 00:31:59,417 --> 00:32:03,478 which said that you should love your neighbor as you love yourself. 399 00:32:05,056 --> 00:32:08,822 Jesus' actions must have rattled the temple priesthood 400 00:32:09,294 --> 00:32:12,855 Anyone in that world, which is so volatile and politically unstable, 401 00:32:13,031 --> 00:32:17,434 anyone who calls together large crowds is bound to be regarded as a threat, 402 00:32:17,602 --> 00:32:20,662 when they then on top of that see what he is doing and... 403 00:32:20,838 --> 00:32:23,830 how this is somehow functioning as an overturning of... 404 00:32:24,008 --> 00:32:27,068 the social world and the normal structures that they are used to and... 405 00:32:27,245 --> 00:32:30,408 Jesus must have been regarded as a dangerous character. 406 00:32:35,386 --> 00:32:39,652 But Jesus didn't stop there he also told stories... 407 00:32:39,824 --> 00:32:44,488 with a deeply unsettling message and not just for the priests. 408 00:32:46,130 --> 00:32:51,534 One of the best-known stories told by Jesus is the parable of the Good Samaritan, 409 00:32:52,804 --> 00:32:55,272 there was once a Jewish man, he began, 410 00:32:55,540 --> 00:32:59,772 a traveler who was attacked by a thief and left for dead on the road, 411 00:33:01,312 --> 00:33:04,406 one priest saw him and passed him by, 412 00:33:06,284 --> 00:33:09,947 then a Levite came his way and also left him, 413 00:33:11,923 --> 00:33:15,518 but a passing Samaritan had compassion, 414 00:33:15,693 --> 00:33:19,129 he bound up his wounds and took him to an inn, 415 00:33:21,032 --> 00:33:25,264 he even left some money with the innkeeper to look after the injured man, 416 00:33:25,670 --> 00:33:29,766 most people think the parable was all about helping strangers in need, 417 00:33:30,041 --> 00:33:34,774 but in the 1 st century it would have carried a deeply unsettling message... 418 00:33:34,946 --> 00:33:41,442 for the Samaritans weren't strangers but neighbors, they still are. 419 00:33:46,657 --> 00:33:52,118 The descendants of the Samaritans live in Samaria between Jerusalem and Galilee. 420 00:33:52,530 --> 00:33:56,193 This is their annual Passover festival where they sacrifice lambs, 421 00:33:56,367 --> 00:33:58,562 which are then cooked in special pits. 422 00:34:14,318 --> 00:34:20,188 The Samaritans and the Jews worship the same god and celebrate the same rituals, 423 00:34:21,626 --> 00:34:25,585 but long before the time of Jesus there was a major split... 424 00:34:25,763 --> 00:34:28,891 and Jews and Samaritans became enemies, 425 00:34:30,535 --> 00:34:33,527 this was the real meaning of the parable, 426 00:34:33,704 --> 00:34:38,300 loving your neighbor also meant loving your enemy 427 00:34:38,676 --> 00:34:43,113 Jesus was trying to break down barriers that separated people, 428 00:34:43,281 --> 00:34:47,843 all these tremendous barriers, Jesus is a barrier breaker now... 429 00:34:48,019 --> 00:34:53,423 when you attack a barrier you run it to the problem... 430 00:34:53,591 --> 00:34:56,492 of being destroyed by it's collapse 431 00:35:06,604 --> 00:35:10,267 It was one thing to tell subversive stories from Galilee, 432 00:35:11,509 --> 00:35:14,205 but sooner or later Jesus would have to decide whether to... 433 00:35:14,378 --> 00:35:17,040 confront the priests in person. 434 00:35:18,316 --> 00:35:22,412 This is the mount of the Beatitudes over looking the Sea of Galilee, 435 00:35:23,454 --> 00:35:27,447 it is the spot where the church says Jesus delivered the sermon on the mount, 436 00:35:27,625 --> 00:35:32,028 his most detailed vision on how he would usher in the new age. 437 00:35:32,964 --> 00:35:38,266 Although it is right next to Capernaum archeologists can't be sure that... 438 00:35:38,436 --> 00:35:40,199 this was the right mount 439 00:35:40,371 --> 00:35:42,464 Well if there was a sermon on the mount it might well... 440 00:35:42,640 --> 00:35:45,131 have been somewhere in this area but actually we don't know either of... 441 00:35:45,309 --> 00:35:49,370 those things, because for a start Jesus could have come up not just this hill... 442 00:35:49,547 --> 00:35:50,775 which is quite a small one, 443 00:35:50,948 --> 00:35:53,781 but any of the hills behind where we are or over the other side of the lake... 444 00:35:53,951 --> 00:35:58,217 and the chances are he said the same sorts of things again and again and again, 445 00:35:58,389 --> 00:36:00,016 they didn't have mass media, radio, TV, 446 00:36:00,191 --> 00:36:03,319 didn't have any of that so what Jesus had to do was to say... 447 00:36:03,494 --> 00:36:07,362 the same things repeatedly so that different people would get the message, 448 00:36:07,532 --> 00:36:10,228 now it is quite likely that was we have in Matthew's gospel... 449 00:36:10,401 --> 00:36:12,835 which we call the sermon on the mount is an undoubtedly edited... 450 00:36:13,004 --> 00:36:15,734 and shaped version of some of the sayings that... 451 00:36:15,907 --> 00:36:18,068 Jesus would have said on that sort of occasion 452 00:36:20,778 --> 00:36:25,010 One of the most memorable things that Jesus said was the Lord's Prayer, 453 00:36:27,318 --> 00:36:32,153 some of it's lines, forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us, 454 00:36:32,323 --> 00:36:35,190 summed up the themes that Jesus was pursuing. 455 00:36:37,762 --> 00:36:40,026 The Lord's Prayer is still recited by... 456 00:36:40,198 --> 00:36:44,100 millions all over the world in dozens of languages, 457 00:36:44,535 --> 00:36:49,336 remarkably it can still be heard in the language which Jesus spoke. 458 00:36:52,910 --> 00:36:56,505 This little church is in the old city of Jerusalem, 459 00:36:57,048 --> 00:37:02,680 when Jesus spoke to his friends or to his disciples he would have used Aramaic, 460 00:37:02,987 --> 00:37:04,921 they don't speak it in Galilee anymore, 461 00:37:05,089 --> 00:37:11,494 in fact like so many ancient languages it has disappeared, well almost. 462 00:37:12,063 --> 00:37:14,429 Aramaic is still spoken in remote parts of... 463 00:37:14,599 --> 00:37:19,002 Syria and this is a Syrian orthodox church. 464 00:37:30,047 --> 00:37:33,949 This is the closed we are ever likely to get to hearing the sound of Jesus, 465 00:37:34,118 --> 00:37:37,986 the sound of the Lord's Prayer in Aramaic. 466 00:37:49,567 --> 00:37:51,660 It may have been a memorable prayer but... 467 00:37:51,836 --> 00:37:55,465 prayer alone wasn't going to get Jesus very far, 468 00:37:56,674 --> 00:37:59,507 so he tackled the question that was on everyone's mind, 469 00:37:59,677 --> 00:38:01,542 the use of violence. 470 00:38:04,415 --> 00:38:06,849 Jesus was uncompromising, 471 00:38:07,018 --> 00:38:11,853 if anyone hits you on the right cheek he said offer him the other as well. 472 00:38:12,323 --> 00:38:14,757 Often in the Sermon on the Mount we come upon saying that... 473 00:38:14,925 --> 00:38:18,861 puzzle us initially because it sounds as if Jesus is saying just be a doormat and... 474 00:38:19,030 --> 00:38:22,329 let people walk all over you, turning the other cheek is one example, 475 00:38:22,500 --> 00:38:23,990 but that is not what is it all about 476 00:38:25,336 --> 00:38:28,464 According to Tom Wright Jesus was using the expression... 477 00:38:28,639 --> 00:38:32,234 as a metaphor for pacifist or non-violent resistance 478 00:38:33,277 --> 00:38:36,212 If I give someone a blow on the right cheek it will be with the back... 479 00:38:36,380 --> 00:38:40,942 of my right hand and may scholars have suggested that that is a demeaning, 480 00:38:41,118 --> 00:38:45,885 dismissive sort of thing to do which is what you'd do to a slave or child or, 481 00:38:46,057 --> 00:38:47,547 alas in that culture, a woman. 482 00:38:47,725 --> 00:38:51,092 So that to say okay now hit the other cheek is a way of saying hit me again... 483 00:38:51,262 --> 00:38:54,026 if you want but this time do it so that we are equals... 484 00:38:54,198 --> 00:38:57,599 it is a way of reaffirming ones own dignity often... 485 00:38:57,768 --> 00:39:02,637 with a kind of rye humor at the expense of the bully who is putting you down 486 00:39:09,880 --> 00:39:15,614 His disciples and close followers would have been in no doubt what that meant, 487 00:39:15,953 --> 00:39:20,481 Jesus was ruling out the path of violence taken by previous messiahs 488 00:39:23,160 --> 00:39:27,153 Jesus is saying if you fight evil with evil it is always evil that wins, 489 00:39:27,331 --> 00:39:31,597 and somehow a different way of conquering evil has to be found 490 00:39:33,170 --> 00:39:38,164 No leader, no prophet in Jewish history had spoken in such terms. 491 00:39:42,747 --> 00:39:43,509 For a year, 492 00:39:43,681 --> 00:39:48,983 maybe 3 Jesus traveled around the country preaching his radical message. 493 00:39:50,988 --> 00:39:55,789 He caused further outrage by taking his message to gentiles. 494 00:39:58,462 --> 00:40:00,896 On one occasion in his adopted town of... 495 00:40:01,065 --> 00:40:05,729 Capernaum a centurion asked him to heal his servant who was severely ill, 496 00:40:08,072 --> 00:40:15,569 this was a big test, the messiah was only supposed to come and save the Jews, 497 00:40:17,281 --> 00:40:22,514 but once again Jesus overturned the expectations and healed the servant 498 00:40:23,988 --> 00:40:27,549 For Jesus to go to the house of a gentile or to do something in relation to... 499 00:40:27,725 --> 00:40:32,389 a gentile would have been like Jesus going to eat with a sinner or whoever, 500 00:40:32,563 --> 00:40:36,863 it would be a sign that he was breaking through normal barriers. 501 00:40:45,976 --> 00:40:50,413 But if that was all it took to right the wrongs he saw in Jewish society then... 502 00:40:50,581 --> 00:40:55,518 Jesus could have stayed here in Galilee healing the sick and telling parables. 503 00:41:05,729 --> 00:41:11,964 Instead the gospels say that Jesus decides to make a stand once for all, 504 00:41:12,603 --> 00:41:15,538 he told his disciples that there was no time to lose, 505 00:41:15,706 --> 00:41:18,072 they had to leave there possessions, their boats, 506 00:41:18,242 --> 00:41:21,234 even their families and follow him. 507 00:41:30,821 --> 00:41:35,690 They made their way from Galilee to Jerusalem to confront the temple priests, 508 00:41:36,694 --> 00:41:39,094 as they journeyed down the disciples may... 509 00:41:39,263 --> 00:41:42,664 well have wondered how on earth Jesus was going to do it. 510 00:41:43,667 --> 00:41:47,125 So far Jesus had used the symbolic power of healings and... 511 00:41:47,304 --> 00:41:50,364 parables to undermine their authority, 512 00:41:52,376 --> 00:41:55,641 but that was in the relative safety of Galilee. 513 00:42:01,752 --> 00:42:03,845 The evidence shows that Jesus was going to press on... 514 00:42:04,021 --> 00:42:07,422 with his symbolic protests only this time under... 515 00:42:07,591 --> 00:42:10,389 the very noses of the temple priests. 516 00:42:16,667 --> 00:42:20,660 Much like religious Jews today 1 st century Jews were steeped in the... 517 00:42:20,838 --> 00:42:23,398 sayings and prophesies of their ancient scriptures... 518 00:42:25,843 --> 00:42:28,038 and every one knew that some of them foretold 519 00:42:28,212 --> 00:42:30,544 the coming of god and the messiah 520 00:42:31,215 --> 00:42:35,117 They even spelt out how the arrival of god could be recognized. 521 00:42:37,488 --> 00:42:43,449 His arrival would be heralded by a messiah riding into the city on a donkey. 522 00:42:46,063 --> 00:42:48,691 Riding on a donkey comes from the Prophet Zacharia, 523 00:42:48,866 --> 00:42:51,630 which speaks of a king who will come as a man of peace rather than... 524 00:42:51,802 --> 00:42:53,929 as a man of war and there are other prophecies... 525 00:42:54,104 --> 00:42:57,369 which speak about him coming through this east gate. 526 00:43:01,178 --> 00:43:06,013 The evidence from the gospels is that Jesus decided to throw down the gauntlet... 527 00:43:06,183 --> 00:43:09,482 and challenge the priests by entering the holy city... 528 00:43:09,653 --> 00:43:12,622 in the way spoken of by the prophecies, 529 00:43:13,857 --> 00:43:18,453 if Jesus had walked into Jerusalem no one would have batted an eyelid, 530 00:43:19,463 --> 00:43:24,491 but Jesus makes a point of riding in through the fabled east gate. 531 00:43:25,803 --> 00:43:30,206 There are several prophecies that Jesus seems to be deliberately picking up and... 532 00:43:30,374 --> 00:43:36,006 echoing and it appears that Jesus was consciously acting out God's judgment... 533 00:43:36,180 --> 00:43:42,085 on the city and the temple system that was refusing his message 534 00:43:43,053 --> 00:43:48,457 The priests would have been outraged who did Jesus think he was? 535 00:43:48,626 --> 00:43:50,958 The messiah? God himself? 536 00:43:55,265 --> 00:43:56,960 They would soon find out 537 00:43:57,134 --> 00:44:01,571 Jesus couldn't have picked a more dangerous week to enter Jerusalem. 538 00:44:02,873 --> 00:44:07,537 The gospels say that he arrived in time for Passover the festival... 539 00:44:07,711 --> 00:44:11,670 when Jews to this day remember the flight of the Hebrews from Egypt. 540 00:44:14,652 --> 00:44:15,619 Helen Bond, 541 00:44:15,786 --> 00:44:21,053 as expert on the politics of the period believes Jesus' timing was deliberate. 542 00:44:21,291 --> 00:44:24,351 Thousands of people were converging on Jerusalem and... 543 00:44:24,528 --> 00:44:26,723 flocking into this tiny, tiny city, 544 00:44:26,897 --> 00:44:31,630 all of them heaving together inside the walls, it was a very, very tense time. 545 00:44:31,802 --> 00:44:35,829 And the whole city I think would have been like an immense tinderbox, 546 00:44:36,006 --> 00:44:38,566 that it just needed one spark and that was it 547 00:44:40,210 --> 00:44:42,337 The Roman Governor in charge of Judea, 548 00:44:42,513 --> 00:44:49,476 at the time was based 60 miles away in Caesarea his name was Pontius Pilate, 549 00:44:49,653 --> 00:44:54,681 he would also have had to make the trip to Jerusalem all be it reluctantly. 550 00:44:55,592 --> 00:45:00,188 He would have had to leave his nice pleasant cool villa at... 551 00:45:00,364 --> 00:45:04,425 Caesarea full of all the pagan gentile things that he was used to and... 552 00:45:04,601 --> 00:45:07,729 he would have to make the journey with a fairly sizable amount of... 553 00:45:07,905 --> 00:45:10,169 troops down to Jerusalem, 554 00:45:10,574 --> 00:45:13,543 the feast attracted so many different people from all over the empire... 555 00:45:13,711 --> 00:45:16,703 that there was a worry from the Roman point of view that... 556 00:45:16,880 --> 00:45:19,542 there could be riots and insurrections. 557 00:45:30,928 --> 00:45:36,161 It wasn't a good time to have rebels and would be saviors kicking up a fuss, 558 00:45:36,333 --> 00:45:39,860 yet that is precisely what Jesus sets about doing. 559 00:45:42,339 --> 00:45:46,070 In the afternoon of his first day in Jerusalem the gospels say that... 560 00:45:46,243 --> 00:45:50,043 Jesus went around looking at everything in the temple area, 561 00:45:54,585 --> 00:45:58,021 he would have gone up these steps and in through a double door, 562 00:45:58,188 --> 00:46:00,656 just here on the southern wall, 563 00:46:01,959 --> 00:46:06,623 a long tunnel lead from the southern gate towards the money changers courtyard. 564 00:46:12,369 --> 00:46:15,133 That day Jesus would have seen the evils that... 565 00:46:15,305 --> 00:46:19,537 he had denounced time and time again going on in the heart of the temple. 566 00:46:20,577 --> 00:46:25,139 Pilgrims had to change their impure currency for pure temple coins, 567 00:46:26,216 --> 00:46:31,051 the coins were used to buy blemish free white doves to sacrifice to god, 568 00:46:32,256 --> 00:46:36,659 the permanently impure such as the sick were kept out by guards, 569 00:46:38,061 --> 00:46:41,394 the next day Jesus went back 570 00:46:52,943 --> 00:46:54,808 And think a lot of people when they read the story about... 571 00:46:54,978 --> 00:46:57,913 Jesus and the moneychangers think that it is just like having a shop... 572 00:46:58,081 --> 00:46:59,844 in a cathedral or something like that and they think... 573 00:47:00,017 --> 00:47:03,043 oh this is terrible having commerce on this sacred turf, 574 00:47:05,222 --> 00:47:07,782 but actually this is a calculated act, 575 00:47:07,958 --> 00:47:11,826 it is like someone deliberately going into the main square of the capital city... 576 00:47:11,995 --> 00:47:15,988 in Washington or London or wherever and burning the flag, 577 00:47:16,166 --> 00:47:19,294 it is a way of saying this system is under god's judgment and... 578 00:47:19,469 --> 00:47:21,801 people I'm sure would have heard it like that. 579 00:47:25,943 --> 00:47:28,912 Everyone including Jesus knew that... 580 00:47:29,079 --> 00:47:32,606 the temple priests wouldn't tolerate any more insults, 581 00:47:32,783 --> 00:47:36,719 Paunches Pilot too would have been alerted to the disturbance, 582 00:47:36,887 --> 00:47:39,253 had Jesus lost his mind? 583 00:47:39,423 --> 00:47:41,152 It couldn't be ignored for pilgrims... 584 00:47:41,325 --> 00:47:43,259 how come for the first time in their lifetime to Jerusalem and... 585 00:47:43,427 --> 00:47:48,660 they come with some kind of leader from Galilee and that's what the leader does, 586 00:47:48,832 --> 00:47:51,562 they will talk about this and that is exactly what... 587 00:47:51,735 --> 00:47:53,760 the priests didn't want to happen. 588 00:47:54,705 --> 00:47:58,766 Everything Jesus had done so far, the healings, the parables, 589 00:47:58,942 --> 00:48:03,072 the provocative entry into Jerusalem would have won him more support, 590 00:48:03,247 --> 00:48:06,375 but equally it would have got him deeper into trouble, 591 00:48:06,850 --> 00:48:09,614 a confrontation with the temple priests was looming, 592 00:48:09,786 --> 00:48:14,746 the out come of that encounter would decide the fate of his mission.