Episode Five
Flavius Josephus was a prolific writer, and his were the earliest independent mentions of the names “John the Baptist” and “Jesus the Nazarene” outside the Gospels. Due to his proximity to Caesar and the similarity in the narratives between The Jewish War and the Gospels, it is highly probable that Josephus was the source of Mark, Luke/Acts, and likely Matthew as well. With Josephus as the touchstone, the reader can see the events of his life and primarily the events detailed in The Jewish War reflected in the text of the Gospels.
The character of John the Baptist appears to be modeled on John Hyrcanus II: an older, well-respected priest and sage who counseled for integration with the Romans and was killed by Herod. Understanding why he was ‘the Baptist’ requires some context. Prior to the arrival of John the Baptist in the Gospels, there is no one else in history who was referenced as a ‘baptist’ or ‘baptizer’, and there are no stories of rituals in Jewish, Roman, or Greek lore that compare to the modern rite of Baptism (in any of its forms) in its shape or intent. It turns out that the word is a very specific descriptor of John Hyrcanus II and his role in Jewish-Roman relations.
Possibly the most famous and most valuable export from the Levant was a particularly rich dye that gave cloth and fur deep reds and purples, particularly the imperial purple that only the Caesars could wear. Part of the mechanical process that set that dye into the cloth was a repeated dunking and removing of the cloth from the dye: the Greek word for this action is where we get our word “baptism”. Hyrcanus was not a dyer, but a priest/king who worked to convert his people to Roman culture, and as he altered their allegiance, he metaphorically changed their colors. In the book of Mark, John the Baptist converted Judeans, Samaritans, Idumeans, and Galileans to Roman red in the Jordan: the river that ran red with the blood of the Judean rebels during the Jewish war.
The point of discussing John (Hyrcanus) at the beginning of Mark is to set a point in time where Rome first came into a relationship with the Judeans, when the Hasmoneans had asked for Roman assistance and promised fealty. The subsequent inability or unwillingness of the Judeans to repress the Zealot rebellions on their own was seen by the Romans as a grave insult. To rebel against Caesar was to sin against God and the Holy Spirit of Rome.
The Gospels showed Jesus the Nazarene voluntarily submitting to Roman culture and established as both the son of Caesar in heaven, but also the leader anointed by God. In the same text, both John and Jesus promised that a great man would follow them who was both worthy to lead and terrible to behold. That man’s name was Flavius. The synoptic Gospels were written to show that the Flavian family had been specifically appointed by Gaius Caesar Augustus to take over leadership of the Empire at that time.
A secondary purpose of the Gospels was to be instructional for Roman citizens. The stories tell how to be a good Roman citizen and the consequences of failure, with the Jews being shown as the ‘bad example’ in most cases. The “good” Jesus was a model Roman citizen, while the “bad” Jesus was a Zealot and a rebel, and very naughty and stupid.
As a bonus, the writers took the opportunity when writing the Gospels to mock the Judeans, their history, their culture, their militarism, and most especially their anti-Roman sentiment at every opportunity. They joke that there are only a handful of names between the lot of them, so all the men are named ‘James’, ‘Simon’, and ‘Jesus’, and all the women are named ‘Mary’. The Gospels continued the Roman apologia begun with The Jewish War: presenting the idea that it was okay that the Romans were so violent because the Judeans were so awful. The Gospels present Judeans as nearly feral, short tempered, and easily confused. They are shown behaving in anti-social ways and then complaining about Roman behavior. Their cultural traditions and dietary restrictions are repeatedly brought up for mockery. One can imagine Romans howling with laughter while reading the Gospels.
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