Can We Trust the Gospels? by Peter J. Williams

Author:Peter J. Williams
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2019-02-08T16:00:00+00:00

Unusual Customs

The Gospels bear witness to a variety of unusual or local customs. While any one of these might have become known more widely, their combination suggests deep local awareness. I will merely provide a few examples from the days leading up to Jesus’s crucifixion.

Matthew and Mark present Jesus as lodging in the village of Bethany, less than two miles from Jerusalem, in the days preceding the Passover (Matthew 26:6; Mark 11:11, 19), but making arrangements to celebrate the Passover in Jerusalem itself (Matthew 26:17–18; Mark 14:12–14) and then going out to the Mount of Olives (Matthew 26:30; Mark 14:26). Luke has him lodging overnight on the Mount of Olives (Bethany was on its eastern slope), but coming into Jerusalem on the day of the Passover meal and then going out to the Mount of Olives, though seemingly not to the usual place of his overnight lodging (Luke 21:37; 22:7–8, 39). John mentions his arrival at Bethany six days before the Passover but does not record that he came into Jerusalem for his final evening meal. However, this is implied by the fact that he and his disciples afterward crossed the Kidron valley toward a garden, which fits with the depiction in the other Gospels of Jesus leaving Jerusalem for the Mount of Olives (John 12:1; 18:1).

The Gospels thus present a common picture, though in different ways, presupposing the custom that it was necessary for the Passover to be celebrated within the walls of Jerusalem. 58 Then Matthew 26:30 and Mark 14:26 make particular mention that Jesus and the disciples sang a hymn before going to the Mount of Olives. According to rabbinic tradition, the Hallel (Psalms 113–118) had to be sung at the Passover feast. 59 Interestingly, neither Matthew nor Mark points out any connection between the disciples’ hymn and the crowd’s cry of hosanna,from Psalm 118:25, which both had mentioned a few verses earlier. It is only our knowledge of Jewish traditions outside the Gospels that allows us to see the link.

While in the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus is approached by a band of people from the chief priests coming to arrest him. They are described in the Synoptic Gospels as carrying clubs (Matthew 26:47, 55; Mark 14:43, 48; Luke 22:52). A rabbinic source likewise describes the priests’ servants as carrying clubs. 60

Once arrested, Jesus appears before the high priest, who judges him to have blasphemed, and who therefore tears his clothes (Matthew 26:65; Mark 14:63–64), which is, again, something associated in rabbinic writing with a response to blasphemy. 61

1 . I include in these tables Egypt, Tyre, and Sidon as places in which the story of Jesus is sometimes set, but not Babylon. I have also excluded places distant in time, i.e., Sodom and Gomorrah, and towns that are included within adjectives, e.g., Gerasene (implying Gerasa ) and Magdalene (implying Magdala ). My use of the word Palestine is not connected with its use in modern geography.

2 . Of these towns, Rama and Zarephath come within allusions to the Old Testament and therefore do not necessarily indicate specific geographical familiarity.

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