The Testimonium by Lewis Ben Smith

Author:Lewis Ben Smith [Smith, Lewis Ben]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Historical Fiction; Biblical Fiction
Publisher: eLectio Publishing
Published: 2014-09-25T04:00:00+00:00

Caesar, I write these last pages with my own hand, because I am not sure that I trust even my faithful scribe with the words that follow. As soon as Longinus made his report, I ordered him to arrest some of the Temple guards who had been at the tomb and bring them to me immediately. It took a couple of hours, as they were closeted with the priests in some secret meeting. My legionaries discreetly nabbed two of them as soon as they left, and dragged them to the Praetorium.

At first they tried to pass off the story that the disciples of Jesus had stolen the body as they slept near the tomb. This tale was obviously a concoction—a guard detachment of twenty all asleep at the same time? The band of frightened peasants that had been too afraid to rescue their beloved rabbi, suddenly risking life and limb to retrieve his ravaged corpse? Ridiculous! I ordered them scourged, and their story soon changed.

What they told us was that before dawn Sunday morning, about half the detachment was asleep as the other half stood in front of the tomb, bored, and talking among themselves. Suddenly there was a blinding flash of light and a great earthquake that knocked them all to their knees, and the stone in front of the tomb was flung about ten yards away, nearly crushing one of them. As they stared at the entrance of the tomb, two glowing balls of light descended from the sky and assumed human form at the entrance. These two beings turned and looked at the guards, and every one of them fell down as if dead. When they came to, the tomb was empty, and two Roman soldiers were there unconscious as well. They fled to the Temple to report what they had seen to the High Priest, leaving my men stretched out on the grass.

The story sounds unbelievable, but even after another dose of the cat-o-nine-tails, they refused to change it. I ordered them both put to death and buried outside the city walls, so that no one would know what they had told me. Then I summoned the High Priest and met him outside the Temple District.

“What has happened?” I demanded.

“Exactly what I warned you of!” he snapped. “The Galileans came at night and stole the body of the Nazarene!”

“You mean all of your Temple guards let themselves be overpowered by a dozen frightened fishermen?” I sneered.

“There were nearly a hundred of them!” he said, obviously shaken that I refused to believe him.

“So how many did your guards kill?” I asked.

“None!” he said. “The blackguards overwhelmed them as they slept!”

His lies were so preposterous I did not want to listen any more. I turned on my heel and called over my shoulder: “It sounds like your guards were derelict in their duty. Let me know if you want them crucified, too!”

By evening the city was abuzz with rumors that the crucified Galilean had been seen again, by several of his disciples and by a group of women as well.

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