Chapter 01 00:00 AM

CLÁUDIA PROCLA'S DREAM

00:01 am - YERUSHALÁYIM, FRIDAY, APRIL 07, AD 30

CLAUDIA WAS ON BOARD a boat and she heard a clamor; the skies turned dark and the Aegean sea churned.

The captain of the boat tells her:

— The great Pan is dead:

She looks in disbelief at the information and finds it really impossible to have happened and asks the captain:

— How can God die?

To which he replies:

— Don't you remember? They crucified him and suffered under her husband, Pontius Pilatus.

Then Claudia hears a chorus of voices repeating the words of the Apostles' Creed:

"He suffered under Pontius Pilatus, was crucified, killed and buried..."

With her husband's name repeated in different languages ​​and the name of the man who had done something significant for their son that no one else had the ability to do, it couldn't be a mere coincidence.

CLAUDIA PROCULA woke up in despair from her nightmare, she was in a cold sweat and breathing heavily.

This is not good...

She looked to the side and saw that her husband had already got out of bed, even though it was dawn, the streets seemed noisy, she got up and went to the balcony and saw a large crowd.

— What's going on, darling?

Pontius Pilatus turned and embraced his wife tenderly and gave her a kiss.

— It's okay, darling, we've been here for four years and every Pesach is all this mess, they're just getting everything ready for their party, it's nothing to worry about.

She nodded and Pilatus realized there was something wrong with her.

— It's all right? Looks like she saw a ghost.

— It's just... I had a dream about him...

For some weeks Claudia had always talked about the Nazarene who had cured her son Pilus who was born with a deformed foot, they tried to send some gifts to Yeshua ben Yousef, but they had to deliver them to the treasurer named Yehudhah ish Qeryoth, who thanked the gift and he said he would deliver it personally to the Rabbi.

— It was just a dream, honey, go back to bed and try to relax a little, I don't like their parties either, but since we're here, let's enjoy a little, the weather isn't too good today to be out here, Kaiafa is up to something very serious.

— Something I should be worried about?

— I know we owe our son to the Nazarene, but I can't stop them from judging him.

— I know you'll do what's best for everyone, darling.

He nodded and gave her a kiss.

— I hope so.

Claudia nodded, kissed her husband back and went back to bed, but she couldn't close her eyes thinking about the dream she had...

It certainly is a bad omen... something very serious is going to happen today...

***

THE PRICE OF A SLAVE

00:10 am - YERUSHALÁYIM, FRIDAY, APRIL 07, AD 30

— WHATEVER YOU HAVE TO DO, Yehudhah, the Rabbi told him, do it quickly.

YEHUDHAH ISH QERYOTH was walking hurriedly through the familiar streets of Yerushaláyim when he was going to the Sanhedrim with his father, Shim-on.

He couldn't have done that to me... he couldn't... I've always been one of the most loyal to him...

Yehudhah was sacrificing himself and everything he had lived for the past three years.

Everything I've seen can't be a lie... it can't... He's our deliverer, it can only be Him...

YEHUDHAH ARRIVED AT THE SETTING PLACE and found the man who had been looking for him a few days ago.

— I knew you were an intelligent boy, Yehudhah, - said the man with a smile on his face, "very different from your father, a traitor to the Sanhedrim."

Am I really different from my father?

Yehudhah knew that story better than anyone, he was present when the Sanhedrim tried and condemned his father for treason, he had been the only one of the great council who had supported the zealot in the coup d'état they had attempted against Rome.

Yehudhah in a quick body play pressed the man's body against the wall and pressed a dagger to his neck and roared.

— Don't ever mention my father's name again, you bastard pig.

The man just smiled.

— Come on…they're waiting for you.

YEHUDHAH HAD BEEN sought out by the high clergy of the Sanhedrim before, they said that if he turned over the man named Yeshua he would receive a great reward.

— I can't promise anything.

— Remember, Yehudhah, your family fell out of favor in the Sanhedrim because of you, just imagine the son of a member of the great council of seventy-one elders following a ruffian like the one who claims to be the King of the Jews.

— If you saw the things we've seen, being king of anything is the least of your problems.

— Are you going to tell me you believe in the magic he does?

— Nobody can do that kind of magic.

The man just patted his shoulders and showed him a saddlebag with some coins.

— Don't forget, Yehudhah, everyone will win, including your Rabbi...

YEHUDHAH ENTERED the Sanhedrim, where the entire summit of priests was waiting for him, regardless of what the answer would be, he had promised to return with the answer if he would betray his Rabbi, everyone there was already prepared, because if he decided to stay with the Nazarene, they would arrest him and judge him along with the imposter.

The Sanhedrim was the Supreme Court of Jewish law, with the mission of administering justice, interpreting and applying the Torah, both oral and written. It exercised, simultaneously, the representation of the Jewish people before the Roman authority. According to an ancient tradition, it had seventy-one members, heirs to the tasks performed by the seventy elders who helped Moshe in the administration of justice, in addition to Moshe himself. It developed, integrating representatives of the priestly nobility and the most notable families, during the Persian period. In those times, it was presided over by the monarch Asmoneo, who was also high priest.

— So this is the famous Sanhedrim?

The guide nodded pretending not to know the story of that man, son of a traitor and about to betray one of the most famous men in Judea, he had certainly been there with his father, Shim-on.

— Herod the Great, at the beginning of his reign, had a large part of his members executed, forty-five of them who tried to challenge him, because the council had dared to remind him of the limits within which his power must lie, replaced them with characters submissive to his wishes. With Roman procurators, including that of Pontius Pilatus, the Sanhedrim again exercised its judicial functions in civil and criminal cases, within the territory of Judea.

Yehudhah knew exactly why that had happened.

His father had betrayed the counsel of the sages.

— At that moment, its relations with the Roman administration are tense, and the relative scope of autonomy granted to it is in line with Roman policy in the conquered territories.

— A mere detail that you don't need to worry about, after all we just have to keep the people in line and the Romans do some treats for the elders.

Yehudhah nodded.

— Nevertheless, the most likely is that in those moments, the potestas gladii, the ability to pass a death sentence, was reserved for the Roman prefectus, who, as was customary, at those times, would have received from the Roman emperor extensive judicial powers, including and those of death, which is what will soon happen to your friend.

— He is not my friend.

The guide nodded visibly indifferently.

— The Sanhedrim, therefore, can judge their own causes, but they cannot condemn anyone to death.

The guide glanced sideways at Yehudhah and saw his face soften.

Despite everything he was doing, he had a certain affection for the Rabbi...

— The overnight meeting of its members to interrogate Yeshua will only be a preliminary investigation to define the charges that deserve capital punishment to bring them the next morning against Yeshua in the process before the Roman Prefectus.

They arrived at a door and the guide knocked, the guard opened it and Yehudhah took off his hood and showed himself to the guard who nodded and led him into the judges' palace.

— They are waiting for you, I hope you bring us good news.

Yehudhah didn't say anything, he was furious for what had happened at supper a few hours ago...

***

THE LAST SUPPER

8:00 pm – THURSDAY – APRIL 06, AD 30

AS SOON AS HE ARRIVED in the room, Yeshua began the evening with a gesture of humility, washing the feet of each of his disciples with water. This was a task normally reserved for slaves and servants, not revered Rabbis, especially Rabbis of the faith.

Myriam de Magdala secured a place on the second sofa closest to the center table, but both she and the other women would spend a good deal of time serving, not sitting in their seats.

Yohanan was at Yeshua's side, where he could lean against him. But instead of taking his place and starting the celebration, Yeshua stood up and removed the beautiful robe his mother had made for him.

— All of you will be servants, - he said, looking at them one by one. – The bigger ones will serve the smaller ones. I will give you an example.

He wrapped himself in a towel, slung another over his arm, and asked for a basin of water. Myriam got up and went to fetch a basin from the kitchen.

— You take the towel like this. – You must wash them, as this is how you will serve each other.

Bending down, she picked up Thomas's feet and washed them, then dried them with the towel. The silence in the room was total and the only sound that could be heard was the hands of Yeshua in the water. When she approached Cephas, he jumped to his feet.

— Not! – He said. – You can't do this!

And he walked away.

— If I don't wash you, you will have no part with me, - Yeshua said in an authoritative way as he rarely referred to his disciples.

Cephas stared at him hesitantly.

— Then... you'll have to wash all of me, not just my feet! – He sat down again and took the hem of his tunic.

— Those of you who are clean will only have to wash your feet, - said Yeshua. 'Those who are not clean… - And he looked at Yehudhah, who quickly uncovered his feet and placed them to be washed.

After Yehudhah, Yeshua went to James the Greater, repeating the ritual with the same quiet solemnity. Then he approached Myriam's feet, who couldn't bear the thought of seeing him kneeling at her feet like a servant. That didn't feel right. Never had a man submitted to such menial work for her, and the fact that he was Yeshua made him even less suitable. However, it was undeniable the bond that implied that gesture of his, bringing them closer than anything else he could have done.

When he finished washing everyone, he said:

— Remember this. You must be servants to each other.

And he put his robe back on, taking a seat at the head of the table. The first course of the meal was lettuce and onion salad with sesame seeds. The salad was accompanied by honey, apples and pistachios. These were the spices that those who missed them had chosen to make up for the little they ate on a daily basis.

— Look here, figs of Galilee, - Myriam said. – I know you miss them, Shim-on. And the dried fish from Magdala? Does anyone miss it besides me?

Seeing them at the table was a blessing to her. Everything the fish symbolized to her, her routine and her daily rituals, still seemed to be there, without having been forgotten or finished.

— I missed the fish too, - said Cephas. – Do you think I don't miss some of the things we left behind? Because it's not just you...

Of course it was true. Everyone had left things they missed. Myriam nodded to Cephas. Slowly, everyone ate. There was chicory accompanied by a sauce of vinegar and grapes that Yeshua's mother had prepared.

Myriam and the other women rose to get the wine glasses for the entire group, returning to their seats before Yeshua began the meal itself. Then came the main course, and again the women rose and brought out platters of roast lamb, date paste and roasted onions, seasoned with coriander. A tray with the traditional ritual foods had already been prepared: leg of lamb, baked eggs, watercress, salt water and unleavened bread. It was placed on the table directly in front of Yeshua.

The meal continued, obeying the religious ritual, and it fell to Yohanan, the youngest, to ask the usual questions. Then Yeshua filled his cup with some wine, lifting it.

— I will not drink the fruit of the vine until I drink it again in the Kingdom of God. – He said.

He tasted the wine.

— This is my blood, the blood of the new covenant, shed for many for the remission of sins. When they drink from it, they will remember my death.

Then he said:

— One of you will betray me.

Everyone looked at him and then to each other:

— Will I... will it be me? – Thomas asked.

He trembled with fear as he asked the question.

— Is it me? – Asked Thaddeus, worried.

Everyone whispered and reflected. Everyone had their doubts. Everyone feared that, through carelessness, they were the suspect.

Myriam looked at Yohanan, who, followed by Cephas, whispered something in Yeshua's ear.

— Wouldn't it be me, for sure, master? – Yehudhah asked, in a voice so low that he was lost in the hubbub.

— It will be someone who, like me, has a hand on the table.

Yeshua's voice was calm and James understood the words just by the movement of his lips. Only two hands were on the table:

Yeshua's and Yehudhah's...

Yehudhah removed it from the table.

Apparently, James was the only one who had heard Yehudhah's question and his answer.

Yeshua continued with his ritual meal. He took a piece of unleavened bread, broke it and said:

— This is my body, offered by you.

Then he distributed the pieces of bread. When they had finished eating, in silence and reflection, Yeshua dipped a piece into the bowl of food and juice, handing it over, then said to Yehudhah:

— Do what you have to do quickly.

He, having received the piece of bread, looked deep into Yeshua's eyes and could not see any emotion or rancor, he nodded with his head bowed, jumped up. He almost knocked over the table in front of him. The others looked at him, thinking that he would go out to give money to the poor, as an offering, after all, he was the one in charge of keeping the money.

James also got up. He was going to stop him. Yeshua gestured to him.

— No, James - he said.

It was an order...

Perplexed, he sat down again.

Yehudhah went downstairs and disappeared. Now it was just the faithful upstairs.

— I've been looking forward to spending this Passover with you, - Yeshua said. – You are the ones I chose. And now I must speak to them. My children, I will only be with you for a little while longer. You will look for me, but you will not be able to go where I am going. I give you a new commandment: love one another. You must love each other as I have loved each one of you. That way, everyone will know that they are my disciples, if they love one another.

Cephas said:

— But, master, where are you going? Why can't I join you?

Yeshua looked at him sadly.

— Shim-on, Shim-on - I told him.

— Not! Call me Cephas! – Contested Cephas.

— Satan demanded that you be sifted like wheat, - Yeshua snapped. – But I prayed a lot that his faith was not shaken. And since you managed to resist, you will have to strengthen your brothers and your sisters. So, in addition to Yehudhah, Satan also demanded Cephas!

Cephas shouted:

— Sir, I'm prepared to be arrested and die with you!

Yeshua shook his head.

— I tell you, Cephas, that before the rooster crows in the dawn of this day, you will deny three times that you know me.

He turned then to the others, and his face looked like stone.

— When I sent you on a mission, without money, without a bag of groceries and even without sandals, did you need anything?

— No, nothing, - replied Thaddeus and everyone else. Myriam nodded.

— Well, now it will be different. Get money, get a bag, and if you don't have a sword, sell your cloaks and buy one. The scriptures must be fulfilled: "he was numbered among the evildoers – Shim-on and Cephas showed their swords and unsheathed.

— Look, Lord, we already have two here!

Yeshua looked pleased.

— That's enough, - he told her as kindly as he always did. – Come on. I must speak to them as friends, not servants.

He pointed to another room in the house where there were cushions and places to sit.

— Sit down, dear ones, - Yeshua said, addressing them all as one loved one. – I have so much to tell you… It breaks my heart.

They sat around him and he remained standing.

— I must go, - he said. – But that you already knew. What you still don't know is that it will be better for you if I go, because after I go I will send you the Comforter, the Holy Spirit. I will not leave them orphans. I will come to you. And where I will be, I will prepare a place for you.

Everyone looked at him not knowing what to say.

— I leave you peace. - My peace I give you. I don't give it as the world does. Don't let your hearts have worries or fears.

He spoke even more, but what he said was confused. Myriam only understood that she left them.

— Rejoice that I'm going to Father, - he said.

Then he said it was a vineyard and they were branches of it. But none of it made sense. Nothing, at least not that night.

— Herein is my father my Father glorified, that they bear fruit and become my disciples. I love them as my Father loves me. You will weep and lament while the world rejoices; you will cry in pain, but that pain too will become joy.

She looked at all of them, pausing for a moment on their faces.

— But I will see you again and there will be joy in your hearts, and no one will take that joy from you.

What could that mean?

All night long he had said such mysterious things. And there was also that foot washing session. She had called wine her blood, and bread her body. And the swords. And now those sentences. Only the reference to Yehudhah was clear. But that, too, was only clear to James.

Maybe it was all clear in their minds at another time, but they didn't notice. They didn't understand.

Myriam of Magdala felt like throwing herself at Yeshua's feet and crying out:

— Explain to us, please! Explain these words so that we can understand them!...

— Shall we sing the traditional Passover Psalms? – He said. – We will start with "I love the Lord.

— I love the Lord, because he hears my voice and my supplications. Because he bent his ears to me, I will invoke him. I will as long as I live.

His expression seemed distant and his thoughts far away. She had already left them.

He approached her, but looked at her sternly, as if he warned her not to touch him, and she backed away.

She continued to chant the psalm:

— Lord, I am indeed your servant, your servant, your maidservant's son.

His voice echoed, strong and melancholy, beyond those walls, into the night.

As they accompanied Yeshua in the song of the Psalms, those familiar voices were comforting at a very strange time and situation. Then Yeshua bowed and said:

— I must tell my Father about you, my dears.

In silence, they waited.

— Dear Father, I have revealed your name to those you gave me. They belonged to you and were given to me by you. They heard your word and now they know that everything I gave them came from you. For the words I gave them are yours and they accepted them. I pray for them. Now I will no longer be in this world, but they will be here while I go to you. Holy Father, we keep it in your name, which you gave me, so that they may be one, just like us. While I was with them, I protected them and kept them in your name, which you gave me. But now I go to you. I speak in the world so they can fully share my joy. I gave them your word and the world hated them, for they too, like me, do not belong to this world. I don't ask you to take them out of this world, but to keep them from harm. Just as you sent me into this world, so I sent them into the world. I pray not only for them, but for those who come to believe in me through your word, that they may be one, as you, my Father, are in me and I in you. They are the gift you gave me. I wish they too could be where I am, that they could see the glory you gave me, for your love for me predates the creation of the world. Righteous Father, the world didn't know you, but I knew you and they know you sent me. I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love you gave me may also be in them, just as I am in them.

Yeshua spoke in a low voice and there was no other sound in the room. They all listened attentively to those surprising phrases. Myriam did not understand them, but she understood that he was calling them to a greater mission than the one he had already given them.

— A mission that seemed to him to surpass the capacity they had.

Yeshua continued.

— Did we do really well? No. We brought constant disappointments... We were weak and we wavered... But he has faith in us... In us... Actually, I don't understand him, but I must have faith in him - thought Yohanan - Just as I believe in others things he tells us, he asks me to believe these...

— Come, my dears, whom I have chosen. – I don't call them servants, but friends, - he said, rising and reaching out to embrace them, one by one. – Now, we're leaving.

***

ON THE WAY TO GETSEMANI

10:00 pm – THURSDAY – APRIL 06, AD 30

THEY LEFT THE ROOM and went out to the street, which was in the noble area of ​​Cidade Alta, a neighborhood favored by the old aristocracy. Beautiful, spacious homes lined the wide sidewalks, conveying an aura of luxury and tranquility.

The palace of Ananus was nearby and, a little further on, the residential palace of Pilatus. Moonlight hit the houses, highlighting the white of their facades.

James imagined that inside them people would be celebrating Passover sumptuously and according to traditional rituals. Yeshua's enemies celebrated the feast with what they supposed were clean hands.

Was Yehudhah there? Would you have a place reserved for your tables?

They followed Yeshua through the streets that descended to the Lower City, where the houses were much smaller and closer together. But the dim, yellowish illumination of the lamps in the small windows was a sign that Passover was celebrated there too, with the same words and the same rituals as it was celebrated in the Upper City. That night, all Jews were equal.

They crossed the part of the Lower City where the City of David had originally existed, a sprawling plateau that stretched from the top of the Temple Mount almost to the Kidron Valley. It had long since ceased to be the center of the city, but it was still associated with the name of David.

From there, they exited through a small gate in the east wing and passed into the Kidron Valley. They walked behind Yeshua and none of them dared to speak. The words they had heard in the upstairs living room of that house were so confused, but also so high, that no one wanted to tarnish them by discussing them with others. They walked, therefore, in silence and without looking at each other.

They reached the path that led to the Mount of Olives. When he reached the gate leading to the garden of Gethsemane, Yeshua stopped.

— Come with me. I want you to pray here.

He entered and held the gate open for them to pass. Within the garden stretched the grove of ancient olive trees that Yohanan already knew. They had been planted in rows and the trunks of some of them were the size of Cephas' chest. The moon seemed to hang from one of the tall cypresses that surrounded the garden.

Yeshua stopped and gathered everyone around him: all the men except Yehudhah, and the women who had followed him from Galilee.

— I need to pray, - he said. - If any of you want to go back to where we stayed, on Mount Olives, you can leave. I will go later. I don't know how long I'll be here, but you can go.

Then Thomas spoke in a shaky voice:

— Master... You referred to things of great importance that are going to happen. – But we don't understand it. – If we leave it now, how will we understand? We will not see what will happen.

Yeshua sighed.

— My love and my trust in you will last, even if you neither see nor are here.

Some of them, James, Matthew, Thaddeus and Nathaniel decided to return to the camp site. The rest stood in that tranquil, fragrant grove and looked to Yeshua, awaiting instructions.

He motioned for Cephas, James the Greater, and Yohanan to join him.

— Come with me, - he said.

The four walked away and disappeared into the trees in the forest. The others were looking at each other.

— LET'S WAIT HERE and say our own prayers, - said Thomas at last. – He withdrew and went to pray alone.

In the dimness of the falling night, Myriam realized that Yeshua's mother was crying. Approaching her, she said:

— Do not Cry. We cannot understand what he said, or what he meant, about what will happen.

Turning to her, Yeshua's mother said:

— She spoke of the betrayal she was suffering and spoke of her death. He spoke of returning to God. How can you say you don't know what will happen?

With an effort, she stifled a sob of tears.

— I don't think I can bear it!

Myriam put an arm around her shoulders.

— He wants us to endure, - she said, only then realizing, as she said it, that this was the meaning of part of Yeshua's prayer. She still didn't understand the rest.

— He knows it will be difficult, no, very painful. But he also says that it should be so. – She paused to organize her ideas. - But we do not know exactly what it should be. Maybe even he doesn't know. This is part of our ordeal.

— I can't take any more trials. For me, it's been one ordeal after another. I can't... Enough of the trials! – Unburdened the mother of Yeshua.

"God knows how far we can take it," Myriam said. – He must believe us.

She didn't know where those words came from, but she knew they reflected her faith in God and what he had revealed to her thus far, however obscure and strange those revelations.

— Let's sit here.

They sat down by the root of one of the huge olive trees. The moon was higher and had already broken free from the branches of the cypress. Its glow lit up the entire olive grove, turning those huge trees into rows of silver beasts, like war elephants. Yeshua's mother had fallen asleep beside him.

***

SEALING THE DESTINATION

YERUSHALÁYIM, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 5, AD 30

— JUST SEE if it is not Yehudhah, son of Shim-on, who has come to us.

Kaiafa was with open arms as if receiving a child and Yehudhah knew the falsehood of that damned and felt even more false for handing over the man whom he faithfully followed for those long three years.

Yousef bar Kaiafa had been high priest since AD ​​18, appointed by the Roman procurator Valérius Gratus, predecessor of Pilatus.

In the very first moment he caught the attention of Yehudhah a character who occupied the center of the courtroom. Around fifty years old. He was short and morbidly obese. His obesity was especially noticeable in his rounded, congested face and a large jowl on which a gray beard rested. His head, without the turban that some of his fellow bankers wore, was topped by black hair, very short, in the Julian style.

His great bulk was remarkably multiplied by robes very different from that of the other judges. He was dressed in a tunic and breeches, all in fawn silk. His chest was encircled by five bands or stripes, each its own color: gold, crimson, scarlet, violet, and gold.

Yehudhah said in a distinctly grumpy tone:

— Spare me your sarcasm, Yousef bar Kaiafa, we all know about your disagreements with my father, I know very well that I'm here purely on business, it would help a lot if we got right down to business.

— But I think we can do business amicably, after all, stopping the Nazarene is a good deal for both parties, don't you think?

Yehudhah ignored the comment, he didn't want to get involved any more than he was already involved in it all.

After everything I've done for Rabbi, worse, after everything he's done for me...

***

ZEALOTS

YEHUDHAH ISH QERYOTH was born in Qeryoth south of Hebron, region of Judea, and was the only one of the twelve apostles who had not been born in Galilee, which was already an initial factor for never truly being considered one of the twelve disciples of the Rabbi in the eyes of others.

Shim-on Ish Qeryoth who had been the companion of Yehudhah, leader of the Maccabees, a revolutionary and clandestine movement that was a thorn in the side of the Romans who had every time to put out a fire here and another there caused by them, everything started to develop its guerrilla activity and persecution of the Roman army in Augustus' time, commanded at first by Yehudhah ben Hezekiah of Galilee, who in Herod's time had distinguished himself by assaulting a royal army's arsenal and by his attacks and fires.

Hearing of these bands that were plaguing the country, Varus had hurried from Antioch with two legions. He razed the cities of Sephoris and Emmaus and their inhabitants, supporters of the rebellious Yehudhah ben Hezekiah, were sold into slavery.

Varus ordered the capture and execution of all the Galilean partisans, crucifying over two thousand of his supporters, but the chief, Yehudhah, managed to escape and with the help of another extremist, a Pharisee named Zadok and Shim-on Ish Qeryoth, they initiated a slow and deep movement of clandestine struggle against the Roman Empire.

IN THE CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH of Yeshua of Natsrat this movement, which adopts the name of zealots or caretakers, began to gain adherents, spreading like a stain of oil throughout Israel. Once again, Galilee was the cradle and heart of these extremist patriots, who did not cease their hostilities against the Roman legion settled in Caesarea and in the rest of the Jewish nation's territory.

Camouflaged with an ardent religious spirit, these terrorists wielded weapons in accordance with a doctrine that could be summarized in the following principles:

God's reign over Israel was incompatible with any foreign rule and to accept the Caesar of Rome as king was to violate divine law.

God is the only king of the people;

Emperor worship, in any of its forms, was abhorrent. The zeal of many of these zealots went to the extreme of not even touching the Roman coins bearing the effigy of Caesar. The payment of taxes to Rome was an idolatry and an apostasy, since it implied submission to Rome and the Emperor.

Precisely Zealous nationalism arose with Yehudhah ben Hezekiah and had its origins in Augustus' order that the entire Hebrew nation be censused. This census operation was actually more economic than statistical. And this angered the Jews;

Jews were not to passively await the arrival of the Kingdom of God. Collaboration with God through revolution and holy war was necessary. They believed in the miracles of God and considered that they should always be at the service of that liberating idea;

The main objective of the armed struggle was to achieve Israel's political freedom and independence. The Zealots had taken Yahweh's deliverance from Egypt as the symbol and model to emulate.

According to Zealot philosophy, conversion to God necessarily required disobedience to Roman authority and sacrificing money, tranquility, and even life for these saving principles.

SHIM-ON, MOTIVATED by his contemporary when presenting his son in the Temple, heard from the priest:

— This child's name will echo through the centuries, Shim-on, - said Ananus, the temple's high priest.

Hearing this, he named his great friend, Yehudhah ben Hezekiah.

— He will be called Yehudhah.

Ananus nodded knowing well the fame of Shim-on's companion.

— Yehudhah Ish Qeryoth.

YEHUDHAH grew up listening to the stories of his predecessor and always dreamed that he would someday help free his people from the hands of the Romans.

— You will do something very important one day, son.

— I know, Dad.

Shim-on clapped a hand on his shoulder and nodded proudly.

— No matter what it is or what price you have to pay, if you have to, just do it.

That's when it all happened.

Shim-on was arrested, tried and convicted as one of the leaders of the zealots supporting Yehudhah ben Hezekiah, his companions being Bar Abbas, Dimas and Gesta.

***

THE MESSIAH OF THE ZEALOTS

IT HAD BEEN JUST ONE YEAR since Yehudhah ben Hezekiah had been crucified in Sepphoris and all Galileans witnessed this boundless horror on the part of Herod the Great.

Yehudhah was an educated man, a good husband and a father who wanted to raise his children in a better world, a Galilee ruled exclusively by the Israelites, not by Roman puppets who crushed the people under the weight of unsustainable taxes.

Yehudhah traveled through the agricultural villages and fishing communities of Galilee preaching a subversive message to impoverished peasants not to pay taxes to Rome or tithe to the Temple in Yerushaláyim which was infested with members of the Sanhedrim who served Herod instead of serving the God.

He even founded a new sect within the Jewish faith, which advocated a radical theology of unshakable devotion to the one true God of the Israelites.

— Bending to Caesar Augustus and Rome is a sin, and a sin of death, - Yehudhah told all who could hear him.

The Romans ignored Yehudhah, considering him a mere religious fanatic, worse, just another religious fanatic in a nation in the same retrograde molds, had he not assembled an army of peasants expropriated from their lands to try to overthrow by violence the government established by Rome in Galilee, his name would never have reached Caesar's ears.

This action generated an immediate reaction:

Yehudhah ben Hezekiah must die...

The order was given by Herod Antipas, the fifth son of Herod Magnus, who had hunted Yeshua in the past and had once crucified the disgraced Zealot leader, he was a man who had escaped the cross once, wanted to know if it would be possible to escape a second. Father and son had done everything in their power to brutalize and strip the good people of Galilee of everything they had. Naturally, Caesar Augustus was the first to take a slice of the taxes collected. He had softened since his youth. Absolute power suited him, and Julius Caesar's vaunted heir, who had been mocked for his cowardice in Philippi, was now a seventy-year-old monarch famous for erecting sumptuous buildings and temples throughout the empire. He even had a certain admiration for the Jews and their reverence for traditions.

Augustus lived sumptuously but not ostensibly degenerate. This penchant for excess and perversity would fall on Tiberius, his adopted son and heir. But it was Caesar Augustus who allowed Herod the Great to rule Judea for nearly four decades and personally divided the kingdom after the tyrant's death, handing control of Galilee to Herod Antipas.

Antipas' soldiers soon captured Yehudhah ben Hezekiah for the second time, buying him at torture price from the relatives of Yehudhah's men, and began the crucifixion process by stripping him naked in the palace courtyard. A mob was allowed in so that everyone could witness his martyrdom. Among those present were his best friends, Jacob and Shim-on. Little did the young men know that they too were destined to be crucified one day for trying to avenge their friend's death and starting a tradition of crucifying every Galilean who rose against the power of Rome.

Antipas' soldiers forced Yehudhah to kneel in front of a low pole, he was bound with his hands over his head. Two soldiers drew their short-handled whips, the three leather straps of which had lead balls and splinters of mutton bone at the ends, stopped before him, ready to lash his back with the leather straps, one at a time, delivering the blows. with full force.

With each lash, the leather straps tore at the skin and muscle, while the lead and splinters of bone left deeper wounds. This caused internal bleeding. Like all aspects of Roman execution, stripping and lashing had a specific purpose:

Public nudity served to humiliate Yehudhah, while the scourge broke his spirit so that he would not resist being thrown to the ground and nailed to the cross.

Roman-style crucifixion was not just a brutal form of murder, it was also a process to mentally and physically destroy the victim and everyone who witnessed the torture, whether male, female or child. Yehudhah would be nothing but an empty shell when his time came to hang on the cross.

Jewish law said that a man could only be flogged forty times less than one, as it is written. But with the Romans it was not quite like that, or, in the case of Herod Antipas, with the Gentile mercenaries who acted as Roman soldiers. These non-Jews could flog a man as many times as they liked. The only requirement was that the victim be able to carry the crossbeam to the place of crucifixion.

So, as much as the soldiers counted each time the flagrum landed on Yehudhah's back, legs and head, it was clear that he would receive much more than the 39 lashes the law required, he was not a criminal common, was a traitor whose crime had been:

Urge the nation to claim its freedom...

Most importantly, Yehudhah had sought to free the people of Judea from the unfair taxation applied by Rome and Herod. He had compared abusive taxation to a form of slavery, calling on his fellow Jews to rise up against their oppressors.

Yehudhah screamed in agony as one of the soldiers delivered another blow with the leather straps against his flesh. But he knew better than to curse his executioners, as that would only earn him more lashes. So he endured the torture in complete silence. In a matter of moments, Yehudhah was covered in blood.

In the Roman Empire, a convict could be executed in several ways: hanged, burned alive, beheaded, placed in a sack full of scorpions and then drowned, or crucified. Although all the options were terrible, the last one was considered by far the worst of all. And even though crucifixion was so widespread throughout the Roman Empire that it was practiced by a tetrarch like Herod Antipas, it was such a horrible death that it was forbidden to execute Roman citizens in this way.

Out of strength, Yehudhah ben Hezekiah lay down, bleeding to death after receiving the lashes, after which the soldiers brought in a raw log and threw it to the ground. Despite the blood running down his back, Yehudhah is forced to his feet. The barbed log, known as a patibulum, is lifted by the executioners and placed on their shoulders. This is the crossbeam of his crucifix and, like all the damned, Yehudhah must carry it beyond the walls of the city of Sepphoris to the place where a vertical pole in the ground forms the second part of the cross to which he will be nailed and left to die.

His legs are broken to make the torture even more dreadful. He will hang in full view of the thousands of inhabitants of Sepphoris, unable to contain the urine and feces that will stain the cross and add to his humiliation even further. Yehudhah would be dead by nightfall if he was lucky.

The first time he was crucified, Yehudhah was lucky to have a Herod impatient to witness his slow death and told his men to abandon him there, but this time it was different, he was being watched by everyone.

The story of Yehudhah's execution spreads throughout Galilee, but he would not be the only one to be persecuted, there were countless other would-be prophets who believed that it was possible to end the Roman occupation through violence. Everyone paid with their lives for this audacity. And then they were forgotten, so that few in succeeding generations remembered the story of Yehudhah ben Hezekiah.

***

THE LAND OF ZEALOTS

GALILEE WAS A PROVINCE further north in the region called Canaan by the patriarch Abraham, one of the grandchildren of the patriarch was a man named Jacob, who also answered by the name of Israel and generated the descendants that would come to be known as Israelites. In the future, the territory controlled by Rome that was known as Judea at the time would come to receive the same name.

Two "seas" marked the borders of Galilee: the Mediterranean and the great lake called the Sea of ​​Galilee, filled with fishing villages like Capernaum. Syria lay to the north and west, while Samaria stretched to the south. It was an uninhabited landscape, with hills, wide plains, villages and peasants who take care of the land they received as an inheritance.

Since returning to Galilee ten years earlier, Herod Antipas has dedicated himself to rebuilding the city of Sepphoris, making the revitalized city his home, and he is determined to make it even more sumptuous than Yerushaláyim was.

The division of his father's empire between him and his brothers means not only that Judea was a divided nation, ruled by three people – Antipas in Galilee, his brother Philip where Jordan is, and his brother Archelaus in the south in Yerushaláyim, as well as that, for the first time in history, the ruler of Galilee lives there. This makes Sepphoris a cosmopolitan hub for the region, in contrast to the agricultural lifestyle and rural landscape of Galilee.

It is in this city that the Nazarene Yosef ben Jacob finds constant work thanks to the endless construction projects of Antipas. Building some of the city's new and complex mansions, plastering walls or laying the basilica's mosaic floor, there's plenty of service in that vast, gleaming limestone metropolis perched atop a hill.

Sepphoris was so large that it had two markets, one in the upper city and one in the lower city. Everything a man could want was for sale here: glass, pottery, dried fish, onions, herbs, cattle, and even sex, if you were willing to sneak out of the hubbub and into the silence of the alleyways.

Like Yerushaláyim, Sepphoris was walled, and caravans of donkeys appeared at the city gates every week, begging to come in and sell their wares. It was a city like no other in Galilee. Since the resettlement and its resurrection, it has housed doctors, lawyers, artisans, tax collectors, and artists who performed mimes and comedic shows in its theater. But the price to pay for the construction of such a wonderful metropolis was extremely high.

Thanks to Antipas, Sepphoris was also home to many of those who lost their farmland due to abusive taxation. With no soil to cultivate or a place to call home, they flocked to the poorest parts of the city, stealing, prostituting or begging for a living, occasionally, to ensure that Moshe's Law was fulfilled like a fake. necessary morality, some people were stoned in the public square when they were caught in adultery, even though this was a practice almost common to all. So, beneath the veneer of progress and sophistication, lay the decay and misery of the "Gilee's jewel". As much as Sepphoris is the image of prosperity, many in Galilee were starving.

***

A MAN WITHOUT PAST AND WITHOUT FUTURE

AFTER SHIM-ON'S DEATH, first tried by the Sanhedrim and later crucified as his predecessor, who took the place of leader of the Zealot movement was a violent and cruel man named Bar Abbas, it was then that another Galilean was gaining notoriety among the people. for his non-violent speeches, a Nazarene from a family known to be descended from King David, the man was named Yeshua ben Yousef.

Yehudhah, who was already famous among the Galileans for hanging around with thieves and murderers, but after the death of his father he met the disciples of Yeshua ben Yousef, during the period when they were disciples of the cousin of the Nazarene, Yohanan Baptista, for having already invited some of them to participate in the resistance, especially Shim-on Zealots, who had left the group to follow a man he called Rabbi.

In one last opportunity to call Shim-on, he was on his way and had a terrible pain in his stomach, seriously thinking he was going to die that day, the Nazarene knelt before him and touched his stomach, stopping the pain immediately.

— What the hell did you do to me?

— You can't just say thank you, - said Cephas despite himself knowing his fame.

Yehudhah felt uncomfortable and looked at his friend Shim-on and he nodded.

- Thanks.

Yeshua stood up and held out his hand to help him to his feet, and without saying anything followed him to where he would deliver the sermon.

AFTER LISTENING TO THE SERMON, Yehudhah wanted exactly that for his life, he knew that Yeshua was the man his father was referring to, not Bar Abbas.

One day you will do something important that will echo through the millennia...

Yeshua reached out to the amazed Yehudhah and said:

— Come and follow me, Yehudhah.

— How do you know my name, Rabbi?

— Rabbi, - Cephas tried to intervene before Yeshua could sign that bastard's invitation.

Yeshua said nothing more to him, just kissed him on the forehead and that was the symbol of their friendship and the way they always greeted each other and the way they would be known for centuries to come.

***

YEHUDHAH'S STRATEGEM

7:00 pm – WEDNESDAY – APRIL 5, AD 30

THE MEN TALKED loudly to each other, so most of them didn't hear the last part of the dialogue between Yehudhah and Yeshua, who were sitting side by side.

When Yehudhah got up and hurried away, some assume he was just getting more food and drink.

The traitor went out into the night. The Nazarene knew very well where he was going.

There was a time when Yeshua trusted in Yehudhah, even appointing him treasurer of the disciples and openly calling him a friend. But when money was involved, often years of friendship could quickly go up in smoke.

Clinging to the promise of a pocketful of coins, Yehudhah traverses the streets and narrow alleys of the Lower Town, climbing the steep hill to bring Kaiafa the good news.

— THAT YOU WANT TO GIVE IT TO ME and I will deliver it.

Kaiafa smiled and seductively swung the saddlebag with the silver coins theatrically, smiled and threw it at him who caught it deftly in midair.

— A more than fair price for your fine services, my young Yehudhah, - Kaiafa said, boasting of the value.

Yehudhah counted the silver coins and was visibly happy with the payment, for the first time in those three years he saw the color of the money he thought he deserved.

— I didn't agree any value with you, I just said that I would be very well paid if I did, and as you see, it is.

Yehudhah had a fit in his conscience, but it soon faded from his thoughts, he knew that if he gave up at that time they would arrest and torture him, he would have to hand over the Rabbi pain or no pain.

— You don't have to do much, son of Shim-on, just show us who the Nazarene is, signaling with a kiss and the other things we'll do on our own, it's a fair price just to let us know who your Rabbi is.

Yehudhah looked at the coins in his hand and thought:

What's done is done...

— Let's get on with it.

He just didn't know there was someone spying on them all the time.

***

ONE ABYSS CALLS ANOTHER ABYSS

00:45h - FRIDAY - APRIL 7th, AD 30

THAT WOULD BE THE most elaborate LIE he thought and the Romans likewise fell into the trap.

Yehudhah Ish Qeryoth made the centurion hesitate.

— The Romans, as you well know, savagely persecute the zealot revolutionaries.

Even more after the traumatic events of yesterday...

— That's why, my lord.

The commanding officer of the legion ordered them to wait while he went to the procurator's residence. Anyway, in this and that Sanhedrim wasted an hour.

***

THE PROSECUTOR'S NIGHTMARE

11:00 pm – THURSDAY – APRIL 06, AD 30

PILATUS WENT UP to sleep and, at first, he didn't want to know anything at all. But Kaiafa's envoys insisted, forcing Janus to look for Pilatus a second time, announcing to him that an important arsenal had been discovered in the camp and that if they managed to capture the leader of that revolt, they would have a grand victory and would stabilize once and for all as the dominant people. About the Jews.

— We've already captured Bar Abbas, their boss, have you forgotten what they did yesterday, Janus?

— Maybe there are several leaders, a kind of branching faction.

Pilatus nodded regretfully.

— The prefectus would gain an important triumph in Caesar's eyes. – Finally, and perhaps to get rid of the odious priests.

Pilatus consented, and the centurion on guard handed over the command of a platoon of thirty or forty legionnaires.

In this way, and hastily, the detachment left Yerushaláyim guided by Yehudhah.

The squad with Temple security and Romans exited the Temple through the Golden Gate towards Gethsemane.

***

HOPE DIES TOO

10:00 pm – THURSDAY – APRIL 06, AD 30

ANANUS AND HIS son-in-law were in agreement to detain Yeshua ben Yousef in this place until Kaiafa could gather as many priests dedicated to doing whatever it took to stop the advance of the Galilean Yeshua. In this way, the judgment would be relentless. The law further stated that the Council of the Sanhedrim cannot meet before the first offering, at three in the morning.

Kaiafa, in order not to arouse suspicion even among his own men and servants, ordered two of his confidants to pay generously to the Roman optio so that, despite the opinion of the head of the Temple guards, he would take Yeshua of Natsrat to the palace of Ananus.

Some of Yeshua's own disciples and apostles in the case of Shim-on the Zealot, and Yehudhah Ish Qeryoth himself, who believed from the beginning that the doctrine of Galileo had a lot to do with this national liberation movement of the zealots.

What Yehudhah could not know is that this hope had died long before, in the garden of Gethsemane.

***

BETWEEN THIEVES AND MURDERERS

00:45h - FRIDAY - APRIL 7th, AD 30

THE THREE PRISONS, Bar Abbas, Dimas, and Gesta were numb with pain from the lashes they had taken from the Roman soldiers.

— There's nothing more satisfying than flogging Jewish troublemakers, - said Petronius, the Roman responsible for the prisoners, - and tomorrow we're going to crucify all three.

Bar Abbas had already received the forty lashes required by Jewish law and was watching his companions being flogged.

— You are a pile of shit, - barked Bar Abbas, the leader of the Jewish revolt for the freedom of his people.

The Roman smiled in satisfaction.

— Then imagine how despicable it must be to die at the hands of a bunch of shit, don't you?

Bar Abbas's already wounded pride, which was already wounded, was completely destroyed.

Because you forsook me, Lord, I served him faithfully trying to deliver His people...

But Bar Abbas knew there would be no answer, for there was never an answer to his prayers.

BAR ABBAS HAD BEEN ARRESTED the night before during a botched robbery against the house of Pilatus, for an agreement with the Sanhedrim to appease the fury of the Roman prefectus, Pontius Pilatus, Bar Abbas and their two companions would receive the maximum capital punishment, ser crucified together and that alone helped to have a wonderful day in the middle of that place at the end of the world.

Kaiafa was standing before Pilatus when the prefectus passed sentence.

— It will be a fine spectacle on your Passover, Kaiafa, to kill these three accursed ones who dared to enter my palace and face the power of Rome.

— It was a fair sentence, prefectus.

— Of course it was, your people must understand that they are slaves and that is part of the will of their God.

Kaiafa only bowed and accepted the condemnation of the three who had failed in their missions, Kaiafa was indebted to Pontius Pilatus for returning the glory of the Sanhedrim, solving small issues among the Jewish people, but being a slave was far from any Jew's plan.

BAR ABBAS, GESTA AND DIMAS were thrown into their cells and the pain of the whips was even more intense when they placed their bodies on the dirty floor, they were completely defenseless in that fetid environment.

— You are the leader of these two idiots, aren't you?

He didn't say anything, just saw Kaiafa at the door witnessing all the torture they suffered by covering their nose due to the strong smell of urine and feces that exhaled from the place.

— Look, old fool what we do with Jewish rebels who challenge the power of Rome.

The soldier lifted his tunic and began to urinate on Bar Abbas, aiming for his face as he laughed. Bar Abbas tried to lift his leg to stop it, but the Roman soldier stomped on his Achilles' heel, nearly breaking it.

— If you're thirsty, now is the time. – He made the joke as the Roman soldiers laughed.

— No need to do such a thing, centurion, - Kaiafa said in an unprecedented gesture of empathy and humility on his part.

The centurion patted the high priest on the shoulder twice, wiping a few drops of urine off his stole.

— They should raise their hand to their God that we don't fuck them. - He motioned for his soldiers to leave.

Kaiafa stayed at a safe distance from them.

— Piatus allowed me to bring you one last meal because of Passover.

— You're as rubbish as they are, useless old man.

— I may be useless, but I won't be the one hanging on the tree tomorrow at this time.

— If I have the chance, this is how you will die.

Kaiafa smiled:

— Too bad the dead don't kill anyone, isn't it?

— Maybe I won't die after all, if I didn't die when you tried to kill me after learning that Judith was sitting in that lap because she didn't have a penis in her house to satisfy you.

Kaiafa's face was visibly upset, he knew how much that betrayal of his wife had cost him.

He took a deep breath and maintained the dignity of his high priestly office.

— A pity that the man who is said to raise the dead will be among you.

— That Yeshua person?

He gave a smile in agreement with the unfortunate prisoner's comment.

— Not even in their unfortunate deaths will they be the main stars, they will be mere supporting actors in the show I have prepared.

Kaiafa tossed some loaves, curtsied with a distinctly sarcastic smile, and left.

***

PREPARATIONS

5:00 pm – THURSDAY – APRIL 06, AD 30

YESHUA HAD MUCH TO DO, but time was too short and his time was coming. He must finally define his life for the disciples. As the final hours before Passover approached, Yeshua planned to organize one last meal with his followers before saying goodbye, as they had been eyewitnesses to his legacy. And it would be their responsibility to pass it on.

While all this was vitally important, something made him hesitate: the dire prospect of his imminent death. Yeshua found it difficult to focus on his final message to the disciples. Like every Jew, the Nazarene knew the horrors, pain and humiliation reserved for those condemned to crucifixion. He strongly believed that he should fulfill the scriptural account, but he is overcome with panic. The fact that the entire city of Yerushaláyim was in an uproar over the last-minute preparations for Passover didn't help at all. Everything should be perfect for the holiday.

A lamb should be purchased for the feast, not just any lamb, but an unblemished one-year-old male. Furthermore, every home should get rid of any leavened bread.

All over Yerushaláyim, women were sweeping floors and cleaning counters frantically, as a single crumb could bring impurity into their home.

At Elazar's home, Martha and Myriam are dedicated to cleaning. After sunset, Elazar would walk around the house with a lit candle, in a symbolic search for the smallest trace of fermented products. Finding none as expected, he declared his home ready for Passover.

YEHUDHAH ISH QERYOTH watches Yeshua silently, his gaze fixed, waiting for the Nazarene to reveal his plans for Passover so he can sneak out and inform Kaiafa. It would be easy to ask the high priest to send the Temple guards to Elazar's house overnight, but capturing Yeshua so far from Yerushaláyim would be disastrous. Many pilgrims would see the Nazarene being taken back to the city in chains, which could trigger the rebellion that so terrifies religious leaders. Yehudhah was sure that none of the other disciples knew that he had betrayed Yeshua. So he waits, listening and waiting for the moment when the Nazarene would summon his followers to tell them that it was time to return to Yerushaláyim.

It was inconceivable that Yeshua would not want to return to the Holy City at least once more during their stay there. Perhaps he was waiting for the end of Passover to begin revealing that he was the Christ. If so, the Scriptures say that this should take place in Yerushaláyim. Sooner or later, he would have to return to the Holy City.

***

PREPARATIONS AT THE PALACE OF PILATUS

YERUSHALÁYIM, FRIDAY, APRIL 07, AD 30

IN THE PALACE WHERE the high priest Kaiafa LIVED, slaves and servants comb the huge property for barley, wheat, rye, oats or spelled. They clean sinks, stoves and ovens to get rid of any traces of yeast.

They completely sterilized pots and pans by filling them with boiling water and then throwing a brick in so that the water overflows and washes them off.

Cutlery was heated until it glowed and then poured one by one into boiling water. However, there was no need to buy the lamb for sacrifice, as Kaiafa's family held the concession to sell these animals throughout the Temple.

***

PREPARATIONS AT THE PALACE OF KAIAFA

YERUSHALÁYIM, FRIDAY, APRIL 07, AD 30

IN THE FORMER PALACE of Herod Magnus, where Pontius Pilatus and his wife Claudia were again grudgingly tolerating the Passover, there were no preparations. The Roman procurator began his day with a shave, as he had a smooth face and short hair, as per the imperial fashion of that time. He didn't care much for Jewish tradition. He was not interested in the age-old belief that Moshe and the Israelites were forced out of Egypt before their bread had had time to rise, which made leavened products banned on Passover. For him, there will be ientaculum, prandium, and cena (breakfast, lunch, and dinner), which would include all-you-can-eat bread, usually fermented with salt instead of yeast, according to Roman tradition.

If he were in his palace in Caesarea, Pilatus could also enjoy oysters and a slice of roast pork for dinner, but these delicacies were neither found nor allowed in the orthodox Yerushaláyim, much less on the eve of Passover.

In turn, Kaiafa and the priests avoided entering Herod's palace as the feast approached, for fear of becoming impure in the presence of the Romans and their pagan lifestyle. This turned out to be a relief to Pilatus, as it guaranteed him a brief respite from the Jews and their eternal troubles.

Or at least that's what he thought.

***

ROMANS' PREPARATIONS

YERUSHALÁYIM, FRIDAY, APRIL 07, AD 30

NEAR THE TEMPLE, at Fortress Antonia, the huge citadel that serves as a base for Roman troops, hundreds of soldiers filed into the dining hall for their evening meal. This barracks was connected to the Temple by the northwest wing, and most of these men stood guard that day, passing through the gate reserved for military personnel to the thirteen-meter-wide platform above the colonnades that stretched along the Temple walls.

From above, it was easy to keep an eye on the Jewish pilgrims as they busied themselves with last-minute preparations for Passover. The entire week had been chaotic for the soldiers, who had spent hours standing in the hot sun. But tomorrow would be the hardest day ever. Lambs and pilgrims would be everywhere, and the stench of blood and animal droppings from the inner courtyards of the Temple would rise to their posts. The slaughter would last for hours, as would the spectacle of men hugging bloody lamb carcasses to their chests as they hurriedly left the Temple courts to prepare the evening's feast.

Typically, the military garrison consisted of little more than 500 soldiers and an equivalent number of support personnel. But with Tiberius Caesar's troops flown in from Caesarea for Pesach, the number of legionnaires rose into the thousands, bringing with them all the complementary support units and private servants to shoe horses, carry baggage, and carry water. So the dining room was in an uproar as the men sat down to eat a starter consisting of vegetables seasoned with garum, the fermented sauce made from fish intestines that could not be missing from Roman meals.

The second dish was a porridge flavored with spices and herbs. There's meat sometimes, but it had been hard to get any that week. Bread was the staple of the soldiers' diet, as was sour wine made from a combination of vinegar, sugar, table wine, and grape juice. Like everything that was placed before these hungry men, the dishes were consumed quickly and in large quantities.

Twelve soldiers pored over their meals knowing they wouldn't just witness the slaughter of sheep the next day. These were the men who would make up the death squad of the crucifiers, soldiers of extraordinary strength and utter brutality, assigned to the arduous task of nailing men to the cross in the Roman style. Each squad consisted of four men known as a quaternio. A fifth man, the centurion called the exactor mortis, would oversee the work of the first four.

The next day, three teams of executioners would be needed, as three men were sentenced to death, the leader of the zealous revolutionary army, Bar Abbas and his two companions, Gesta the assassin and Dimas the bandit.

The initial flogging would take place within the walls of the city of Yerushaláyim, but the heavy work of nailing the man to the cross and hauling him up would take place outside, on a hill known as Calvary, or, as the Jews say in Aramaic, Gulgata, as the site had gone down in history as the place where David had buried the head of the giant Goliath, coincidentally the name it meant, Mount Skull, was shaped like a skull-drawn figure, which matched the burying the head story. of Goliath, as well as, to perform the traditional and almost weekly crucifixions. The shape of the small elevation that would serve as a stage for the executions.

While the quaternion devoured their dinner, the vertical beams on which each of the convicts would be nailed were already resting on the ground beside him. These staticulas were always ready, waiting for the arrival of the patibulum, the horizontal beam that must be carried by the convict. A crucifixion required less than five men. But the Romans were exacting, and forced each executioner to be on the lookout for his fellow quaternities, ensuring that there was no sign of mercy for the prisoner. A smaller death squad wouldn't be so careful.

Thus, these well-trained soldiers would take the crucifixions of the next day seriously, as substandard performance could get themselves punished, even more so with those in particular who were rebels against the Roman Empire.

***

THE PRICE OF BETRAYAL

YERUSHALÁYIM, THURSDAY, APRIL 6, AD 30

YEHUDHAH WAITED for midnight to carry out the capture of the Nazarene, the chances of many disciples being sleeping was great, which would facilitate the fulfillment of his mission:

Whatever you have to do, do it quickly...

He was going to the front of the platoon to show them who the Rabbi was.

Yehudhah met before his arrival at the Temple, Ananus, his cousin, who had presented himself as a traitor to the priests on Wednesday morning.

According to Yehudhah Ish Qeryoth reported to the priests, only two of the eleven men who had remained in the upper room were sword-wielding, Cephas and Shim-on the Zealot, his long-time companion.

But Yehudhah warned:

— It is not advisable to linger, in the Gethsemane camp there are about sixty disciples and there is a respectable arsenal there.

Yehudhah arrived at the Temple sooner than he had anticipated, and it took many comings and goings of the head porter to Kaiafa's residence and the different Temple dependencies to be able to assemble a sufficient number of guards. It was impossible to take those on guard at the time, out and into the Sanctuary, and this considerably delayed the departure of the platoon.

The difficulties in finding men on leave were such that, finally, in despair, Yehudhah was forced to ask the incumbent high priest for the support of Kaiafa's servants and confidants.

In total, thirty-five henchmen came out of the Temple, armed with all kinds of clubs and clubs.

Things weren't going as Yehudhah had planned. The Sanhedrim wanted to arrest Yeshua when the city was completely deserted. And this was also the intention of Yehudhah, who was afraid of the reaction and possible reprisals from his former companions.

THE TRAITOR AND HIS GROUP surrounded Yohanan Mark's house when Yeshua ben Yousef and the eleven disciples had practically left, on their way to the garden of Gethsemane.

Yehudhah didn't get to see Yeshua and the eleven, but it was close. If the patrol hadn't taken so long, the Rabbi's arrest would certainly have taken place right there.

Elijah, father of Yohanan Marcos and owner of the house where he had performed the Supper with Yeshua and his disciples upon seeing Yehudhah and the armed men, immediately realized his disastrous intentions, refused to speak to Yehudhah Ish Qeryoth and expelled him to kicks.

One of the things that most outraged Yehudhah was that none of the men in the temple lifted a finger to help him.

— Our only interest is in the man to show us with a kiss - said Malchus - until then, your life and what they do to you, we do not care.

HUMBLEED AND AFRAID at the violent reaction of the owner of the house, Yehudhah understood that if the attitude of that adherent of the Rabbi had been so radical, that of the group camped on the Shim-on farm could not be less. And the increasingly nervous traitor explained to those who followed him:

— Certainly the Nazarene and his men headed toward the Mount of Olives.

When the Levites urged him to go after them, Yehudhah stopped them, saying:

— It is not wise to face sixty men armed with swords, nor are we all properly armed.

That change of plan meant that the Temple guards would have to fight and possibly also arrest the apostles or at least the leaders of the Gethsemane group, which would infuriate the Romans who were looking for just one person. And Kaiafa's orders weren't exactly like that. For the high priest, the only important man was Galileo.

The platoon found themselves at a difficult crossroads, they were clearly men of action rather than thought and planning. And instead of risking taking an initiative that was not considered by Kaiafa, they decided to return to the Temple.

This temporarily soothed Yehudhah, but increased the nervousness of the leaders of the Levites. As he thought, Kaiafa's secret meeting with her trusted people in the Sanhedrim had been set for that night.

And by eleven o'clock, when Yehudhah and the group returned to the Temple, some of the Pharisees, scribes and Sadducees had started arriving at the room of hewn stones.

The guards' nervousness, presenting themselves to Kaiafa without the prisoner, was more than understandable.

— Where is the Galilean?

— When we arrived at the house of Yohanan Marcos, son of Elias Marcos, they had already left.

Kaiafa was visibly altered by that, if there hadn't been so many priests there, without a doubt he would have had them flogged.

Time was short, and for a moment both Yehudhah and the priests even considered postponing the arrest. They did not have a force large and powerful enough to run the risk of invading the garden and arresting Yeshua before his disciples.

***

THE NEW KAIAFA PLAN

KAIAFA DID NOT GIVE UP and his hatred for Yeshua was such that he did not hesitate to propose a solution that disgusted even his colleagues:

— We have no other solution than to request an armed escort from the Roman procurator, so the imposter's arrest will not be difficult and, at the same time, the responsibility for the capture will rest with the foreign occupation forces.

— It is not a wise strategy to resort to them at this time, Kaiafa.

— We are not privileged to act intelligently, as this is our only option at the moment.

Some of the Sanhedrim members tried to get Kaiafa to give up that project.

— You well know that Yeshua thinks about violence, we already had some previous experiences in which we used the law and he cleverly managed to dodge.

They rightly thought that the Galilean would not allow his own to draw weapons. But Yehudhah intervened again. And his cowardice surfaced once more.

— I know them better than anyone here and the disciples will not accept such arrest peacefully, certainly the disciples will not obey the Rabbi.

Kaiafa stood in front of him and cupped his chin as if studying a slave's teeth.

— Rabbi… - he said mockingly, - even a traitor still calls him Rabbi.

— Just a mere formality of how we treat you.

Kaiafa nodded.

— Clear...

Yehudhah's expression clearly showed his discomfort with himself and with himself, however much he was betraying the Rabbi, he was still one of them, he spoke like them, acted like them, thought like them...

— Kayafa's suggestion, - he added, seems excellent to me, - said the head of the Temple guards, "let us go to the Antonia Tower as soon as possible and see with Pilatus the possibility of a reinforcement of the Roman guard.

And the priests appointed a representation of the Sanhedrim, who immediately proceeded to the Roman headquarters.

THE GUARD CENTURION heard their request and refused to let an escort out.

— It's too late and the order must come directly from the prefectus Pontius Pilatus, - the officer explained.

The priests insisted and the centurion had no choice but to call Janus, the commander-in-chief of the garrison detached in Antonia, who, very annoyed by that inopportune visit, asked them:

— What reason should I provide them with an escort?

And Yehudhah, before the priests reacted, addressed Janus:

— Yeshua is part of a group of zealots who plan to invade Pilatus' house in the same way that Bar Abbas tried him the day before and are clandestinely camped on the Gethsemane farm with a respectable arsenal of weapons, in fact, Bar Abbas being captured did part of your plan from the beginning.

— Bastards, - snapped Janus, - we have to catch these bastards before they can act.

Yehudhah smiled, predicting that his plan was finally working.

The Romans had no other option, they knew what kind of people they were dealing with as the day before they had had a tremendous headache with Bar Abbas and his men.

— Let's go.