Sunday, he was the main attraction in an impromptu parade, for which he had no permit. It resulted in several instances of littering and disturbing the peace. Monday, he disrupted commerce in the temple, putting himself on the wrong side of the merchants. Tuesday and Wednesday, he got in the faces of the religious leaders, practically daring them to stop him ("Man, a guy can't even get arrested in this town!"). As it turned out, it was up to one of his own, Judas Iscariot, to actually infuse some gumption into the Uppity Mucks (UMs) so they would finally arrest Jesus late Thursday night.
And what a joke that after-hours trial was. If the UMs really wanted to put an end to Jesus ("So like John before him, this Jesus must die" - Jesus Christ Superstar), they should have prepped the witnesses better, so they wouldn't have had to hear things like...
- "This guy healed people...on the Sabbath...only a naughty-naughty would break the Sabbath rules by, you know, working...um...miracles...and...stuff."
- "I heard him say he was going to tear down the temple. You could get him for...uh...attempt to conspire to commit unauthorized demolition."
- "No, no, no...he said that the temple could be torn down but that he could build it back up in just three days. Charge him with flagrant stupidity and delusions of grandeur."
It finally came down to Jesus needing to give them what they were looking for: a capital offense. He acknowledged that he was the very son of God, which, to the UMs, had to be blasphemy of the highest order, unless they were supposed to believe that this guy who healed the sick and raised the dead and opened blind eyes and restored leprous limbs and taught timeless wisdom and answered the most difficult questions put to him was actually, you know, God-on-Earth.
Yeah, like THAT was going to happen...
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