THIS EASTER IS MARRED
BY ANCIENT ANIMOSITY

A point which I try to make clear in my historical novel, “My Brother’s Keeper,” is that Jesus was not killed by the Jews, as a people. Rather, he was condemned by a circle of corrupt religious leaders who turned him over for execution by the colluding Roman occupiers.

That leadership group, which controlled the Temple, saw Jesus’ teaching as a destabilizing challenge to Jewish law and a threat to the practice of sacrificial offerings. Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor, worried that Jesus’ movement contained the seeds of rebellion against imperial authority.

These are the conditions that led to Jesus’ crucifixion, as indicated by the Gospels. But throughout history this background has been either (1) ignored, (2) not fully grasped, or (3) willfully distorted. The result is ongoing animosity toward the Jewish people who did not then, and do not now, recognize Jesus as the Messiah.

It’s often been observed that history is never past. The split that occurred between Christianity and Judaism persists. It’s particularly evident during this current Easter season.

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