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The question is ‘Who was Jesus?’
This is just a thought, but could he have been the rightful heir to the throne of Israel?
The evidence (if we can call it that) strongly suggests that he wasn’t supernatural (his own family questioned his sanity – and if anyone should have known he was the Son of God, and therefore possibly a bit ‘odd’, they surely would). Furthermore, as a Jew, he told his followers to ‘keep the law’, which would strongly suggest he had no intention of founding a new religion (Christianity).
Of course, the biblical accounts of specific events in the life of Jesus differ, and dates cannot be relied upon to coincide with recorded history (if they could, Mary would have been pregnant for about 10 years) but I think it would be incredible if we could actually discover who this man really was - and this is just something to think about. Have a look at some of the ‘evidence’ – and at some of the ensuing unanswered questions.
1 The people awaited a ‘Messiah’ (meaning ‘anointed one’), born of the House of David, to lead them in ridding their land of Roman occupation.
2 Joseph was a direct descendent of the House of David – his lineage is recorded twice in the gospels (although the accounts differ in places). However, if Joseph wasn’t the father of Jesus, his genealogy would have had no connection with his step-son whatsoever, so why did the writers bother to record it?
3 Wise men from the East (we don’t know how many there were) came shortly after the birth of Jesus – to visit the child born ‘King of the Jews’.
4 Upon hearing a king had been born, in order to protect his throne (to which he had no genuine claim), Herod slaughtered all male children under the age of 2, and Joseph’s family fled into Egypt (well at least in one account).
5 The bible says nothing of Jesus’ life from the age of 12 until just before he began his ‘Ministry’, it is presumed at around age 30. What was he doing for all those years? Possibly away receiving an education from the ‘wise men’?
6 Jesus was crucified by the Romans on a charge of insurrection – in other words he was a troublemaker. (The gospels record that he told his disciples to sell their cloaks to buy swords, suggesting he wasn’t the Prince of Peace as we’re led to believe).
7 The sign the Romans nailed to the cross read ‘Jesus of Nazareth - King of the Jews’ – a phrase that recurs from birth to death.
8 Did he die? Doubtful. Crucifixion resulted in a long and torturous death, often lasting many days, but Jesus was on the cross for just a few hours – and although it was customary for the Romans to break the legs of the victim to hurry death along, Jesus was spared that agony. In fact, when his rich friends went to Pilate to ask if they could take ‘the body’ away, Pilate was surprised that Jesus had died so quickly. Were the Roman soldiers bribed?
9 As has already been mentioned here, rumour has it that Jesus spent his remaining days in India. Maybe he found sanctuary with his mentors, the Wise Men from the East, eh?
This theory has been proposed before – in a book, the name of which escapes me at the moment – but it’s on my shelf somewhere. I doubt we’ll ever know the truth, and there are always going to be suppositions and ‘maybes’, but personally, I think Jesus the man existed, and I think it possible that he was, indeed, the rightful King of the Jews. What do you think? Any sleuths out there?