“Jesus lay in the tomb over the Sabbath. He would not regain consciousness for many hours, and in the meantime the spices and linen bandages provided the best dressing for his injuries.” (Hugh Schonfield, The Passover Plot)
Hugh Schonfield’s ‘The Passover Plot’ made a splash when it was published in 1965; its reputation has not fared well over the ensuing decades. Schonfield speculated that Jesus, convinced of his messianic destiny, cleverly manipulated his enemies and the authorities and somehow masterminded his own crucifixion and apparent death. The “plot” twist was that Jesus arranged in advance to be given a powerful sedating potion while on the cross ("I thirst"), the effect of which would simulate death; when it wore off (so the scheme went), the revived Jesus would declare that he had risen from the dead. In Schonfield’s narrative, all went according to plan until a Roman centurion, wanting to be sure Jesus was dead, thrust a sword into Jesus’ side—the fatal blow, unexpected, from which the resuscitated Jesus would not recover. Joseph of Arimathea played his part faithfully, but, alas, all the messiah's angels and all the messiah's men could not put the messiah together again.
Needless to say, scholars everywhere lambasted Schonfield’s far-fetched theory, preferring instead the sober, much more plausible claim that the dead Jesus, after spending some time harrowing Hell, was spirited back to life in new and improved form—and just in time for Easter! Plausibility, like just about everything else, is in the eye of the beholder, which is not to say that I agree with Schonfield's theory, only that I have yet to figure out how "Jesus rose from the dead" can possibly be considered the most likely explanation of the gospel stories.
That said, here is Schonfield's assessment:
Of set purpose, Jesus embarked on a program calculated to what he believed the Scriptural prophecies demanded of the Messiah. He was obsessed with this necessity. Its requirements shaped his every move and engaged his constant vigilance. As he understood it, the greatest issues for humanity depended on his success. It was a singular, fantastic, and heroic enterprise, though in the strange apocalyptic milieu of the time perfectly comprehensible. It called for intense messianic faith, acute perceptiveness, an iron will, and a very high order of intelligence. 1
Jerusalem waited breathlessly on the eve of this portentous Passover, in hope, in doubt, and in fear.
The destined road for Jesus led to torture at Jerusalem on a Roman cross, to be followed by resurrection. But these things had to come about in the manner predicted by the Scriptures, and after preliminaries entailing the most careful scheming and plotting to produce them. Moves and situations had to be anticipated, rulers and associates had to perform their functions without realizing that they were being used. A conspiracy had to be organized of which the victim himself was the deliberate chief instigator. It was a nightmarish conception and undertaking, the outcome of the frightening logic of a sick mind, or of a genius.
And it worked out. 2 The Messianic hope which Jesus espoused and in a unique manner personified has not yet exhibited its full potentialities; he is still the leader, worthy to be followed, not of a lost cause but of one ever demanding fuller realization. He has not been forgotten; he is continually with us, pestering us and challenging us.
Despite viewing Jesus as a master manipulator (and a dissimulator, and a charlatan) Schonfield nonetheless declared the man from Nazareth to be the model for us all:
The Mind that was in the Messiah can also be in us, stimulating us to accomplish what others declare impossible. The victory for which Jesus relentlessly schemed and strove will be won at last. There will be peace throughout the earth. 3
I can hardly wait.
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1 Forgive me, but I can’t help noticing that the qualities Schonfield attributes to Jesus could apply just as easily to, well, Lenin, among others.
2 Sort of. Let us not lose sight of Alfred Loisy's famous remark, “Jesus foretold the kingdom, and it was the Church that came."
3 Eventually. For now, violent conflict continues to have the upper hand. See this helpful list of current wars, uprisings, and protracted unpleasantness:
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