Letters from Adina - #33

Letter XXXIII. Jesus is Condemned to the Cross.

“Truth! What is truth?’’ asked the Roman.

My Dear Father,

In this letter, which I write in the solitude of my chamber while all in the house are sleeping, I continue my account of the trial, if such it can be called, of Jesus.

Herod, the Tetrarch of Galilee, who dwelt in the old palace of the Maccabees, which Alexander, the Macedonian had built for Seleucus, was breaking his fast with fruit and wine at a table overlooking the Street of the Gentiles, when the noise of the advancing thousands of the Jews, who were bringing Jesus before him, reached his ear.

He started from the table, and said,“These people are surely risen in insurrection against Pilate.’’

‘‘Not so, great Prince,’’ answered the lad Abel, his cup-bearer, who is related to John, and has told me many of these things: ‘‘they have taken the Nazarene Prophet, Jesus, and are trying him for sedition.’’

The crowd flowed like the swelling Nile towards the gates, roaring and chafing like the river's mighty cataracts, so that there was something terrible in this display of the power of human hatred.

‘‘Most royal Prince,’’ said Aemilius, kneeling before Herod, and presenting the signet, “I am sent by his excellency, Pontius Pilate, the Roman Procurator of Judea, to bring before you this person accused of blasphemy.”

“Ignorant of your customs and faith, the Governor desires that you, who are of his nation, do examine him: and, moreover Pilate, learning that he is a Galilean, and a subject of your jurisdiction, courteously declines to meddle with your authority.”

Herod, then fixing his eyes upon Jesus, who had stood silently before him, seemingly the only unmoved person in the vast concourse, heaving and murmuring around Him, said to the soldiers, “Unbind him! By the staff of Jacob! he hath been very roughly handled. This man is a Galilean, and I am bound to see he hath justice, and to protect him from wrong.”

“Art thou the Nazarene, Jesus, of whom I have heard so much?” he asked, in a tone of respect.

“I am he,” was the quiet answer of the captive.

“Then joyful am I to meet thee; for I have long time desired to see thee; and I would fain behold some miracle.

“Come hither, fellow,’’ he called to a Samaritan muleteer, who stood in the crowd, whose arm had been taken off by a sword in a contest with Barabbas and his robbers; ‘‘Come hither, and let this prophet prove his power and mission, by restoring thy arm whole as the other!’’

The man eagerly came forward, and all eyes turned upon him and upon Jesus; but in vain he thrust the stump of his arm by Herod’s order before Jesus.

The eyes of the Prophet were not raised from their meditative look upon the ground.

“Art thou mocking us, thou false Christ!’’ cried the Tetrarch angrily. “Wilt thou neither speak nor work? If thou are not an impostor, do a miracle before us all, and we will believe in thee.”

Jesus remained silent, yet preserved a firm and majestic countenance, that made Him look more kingly than Herod.

“Nazarene,’’ said Herod, “Thy silence is an insult to my power. I warn thee that my patience is not divine - I make no pretensions to great holiness.”

“See the whirlwind thou hast raised, O Nazarane,” cried Herod, rising. “If thou art a prophet, these can do thee no harm ; and if thou art an impostor, if they kill thee thou deservest thy fate. I give thee up into their hands. Save thyself if thou be the Christ!”

Scarcely had Herod spoken these words and given up Jesus into the hands of His foes, than one of them thrust a helmet on His head, and pulled the visor down over His eyes.  

“Nay,” said Herod, on seeing this, “as he calls himself a king, crown him, and robe him royally, and place a sceptre in his hand; and behold! yonder block will be for him a proper throne. We must show Pilate how we Jews punish men who usurp the power of his master Caesar.”  

One of his men of war brought a cast-off robe of purple which belonged to Herod; and with loud shouts of laughter and with bitter jests they robed Him in it, unresisting as the lamb that is adorned for sacrifice.

One of them then untwined the creeping thorn which grew on the outer wall, and, twisting it into the shape of a crown, handed it over the heads of the men to Abner.

When Abner saw the crown, he smiled with cruel joy, and nodding approvingly, to the man, said - “This is what we needed. Nought could have been more fitting.”

And with his two hands he thrust it down upon the head of Jesus, cruelly pressing the sharp thorns into the captive’s brow, till the blood trickled from many wounds.

Jesus made no complaint, but the pain forced large bright tears from His eyes, which rolled down His cheeks, and hung upon the purple robe like glittering pearls.

“Here is also a sceptre for our king!” cried the Samaritan with one arm; and he gave a piece of reed, from which a Passover lamb had been slung, to those who were arraying Jesus. This was thrust into the Prophet’s hand, and He held it patiently.

Even Herod stood amazed at such godlike forbearance, and said to his chief-captain – “If this man be not the Son of God, he is worthy to be a god. Such lofty patience is more than human—it is divine. The Romans, O Aemilius, would make a hero of such a man, and when he died, worship him as a god.”

"Hail! most great and mighty sovereign of Galilee! Hail, King of Fishermen!’’ cried Herod, mocking Him, and, as it seemed, greatly amused at the jest.

When Pilate beheld their return in this manner, and understood how that Herod refused to be judge in the matter, he was greatly vexed.

‘‘What more will ye have? Why bring this man again before me? Ye say he perverteth the people. Behold, I have examined him before you, and have found no fault in him.

You proved nothing by your witnesses, touching those things whereof ye accuse him.

I then sent you with him to Herod, and lo! the Tetrarch of Galilee, one of your own nation, finds nought in him worthy of death!”

“If thou let this man go thou art an enemy to Caesar,’’ answered Caiaphas. ‘‘See thou what a commotion he has raised in the city?

If he is released there will be a revolt, and Caesar will come and take away our place and nation. Is it better that all men in Judea should perish than that one man should die?

It is expedient that either he die for the people. Nothing less than his death will now save our nation.’’

“In the name of Olympian Jove, O Nazarene, what hast thou done thus to incense these Jews? If thou art their king, prove it to them or to me,’’ demanded Pilate, greatly troubled.

‘‘My kingdom is not of the earth,’’ answered Jesus. ‘“‘If my kingdom were an earthly one, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews, but my kingdom is not of this world.’’

“Then thou does declare thyself a king!” exclaimed Pilate, with surprise.“Thou sayest truly. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth.”

“Truth! What is truth?’’ asked the Roman; but, without waiting for the reply of Jesus, and seeing that the Jews outside the hall were becoming more and more impatient, he hurriedly went out to them and said -

“I find in the prisoner no fault at all. But ye have a custom, that I should at the Passover release unto you criminal out of prison, as an act of mercy in honor of the day. Will ye, therefore, that I pardon and release unto you this King of the Jews?”’

No sooner had Pilate made this proposal than they all with one voice cried, furiously - “No! no! not this man! We will not have him released. We will have the vilest malefactor thy prison holds, rather than him.”

“Whom shall I then release unto you?”’ demanded Pilate, in a tone of disappointment.

‘“Barabbas! Barabbas!’’ was echoed and re-echoed by ten thousand voices.

This Barabbas, dear father, is the same fierce robber, of whom I have spoken in one of my earlier letters, two years ago who was then captured by Aemilius, but who afterwards escaped.

He has lately been a second time taken captive while heading a sedition in the city, and lies now under condemnation of death, and was to have been crucified, with two of his followers.

But, at the loud demand of the people, Pilate was forced to send to the officer of the wards to let him go free; and presently he was led forth from his cell to the front of the Pretorium in great pomp, and became one of the most active in enmity to Jesus.

Pilate, therefore, finding that the Jews would be content with nothing less than the blood of Jesus, returned, sorrowfully, into the judgment-hall, where he had left Him seated upon the lower step of his throne; for the stricken Prophet could stand no longer for weariness and for the heavy treatment He had undergone.  

The residue of my narrative, and what pertaineth to the condemnation and crucifixion, I will write in the morning, dear father.

Your loving daughter,

Adina.

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The new Lady Donna Immersion in Spirituality, Academics and Citizenship @ the "I AM" School will study abridged excerpts of the Letters from Adina taken from Reverend Ingraham's original edited version of 'The Prince of the House of David', published by Cassell & Co. Ltd (1903), that reveal remarkable insights into the Living Etheric Record left by Beloved Jesus's Ministry in the Holy Land.