jerusalem, is teeming with pilgrims for the springtime feast of passover. many of them looking for an earthly key, a messiah who will deliver them from the yoke of roman oppression. into this powder keg walks jesus of nazareth. his protests against the romans make him a popular hero. to some, he is the messiah. but to the romans, he s political trouble, so they crucify him. the followers of jesus believed that he has risen from the dead and will soon usher in the kingdom of heaven, but when and how will this new faith survive after jesus? today, more than 2 billion people call themselves christians, people who believe jesus rose from the dead. but perhaps it s a miracle that christianity did not disappear when the romans crucified jesus on a lonely hill outside jerusalem almost 2,000 years ago. this region, jerusalem and judea, represented an important land bridge between syria and egypt. so throughout history, this has been a critical place. jerusalem had been the holy
in blockbuster movies and in best-selling books. and this, despite the fact that they have both been dead for nearly 2,000 years. one is venerated as the mother of jesus, the good virgin mary who said yes to god s request and who reigns from heaven crowned with stars. in a sense, you could say that christianity began the moment mary gave birth. in fact, you could say the whole modern world begins the moment mary gave birth. it s the way we make dates, ount our age, our anniversaries and so on, from the moment mary gave birth. the other mary, called magdalene, is the bad mary. who was seized by demons. in ancient times, scholars say, her flaming red hair was a sign that she was touched by satan. until she found jesus. and her conversion at his hands made her christianity s original hooker with a heart of gold. i think i learned what most people did, which is that mary magdalene was a repentant prostitute. she was a follower of jesus, but she was the woman caught in adu
we ve come to appreciate she s a figure that s like the church, mother church putting her arms around all of us, and we do need a mother. we want a woman who loves us and cares for us deeply. whatever the merits of her elevation, it was certainly a better fate than the one that befell mary of magdalene. not a harlet, scholars say, but a cherished disciple. as i think of historical mary magdalene, i think of a strong woman who could influence people, and was very smart. and was able to cut through arguments and to understand jesus as jesus wished to be understood. until one of the guys brought in some fresh bread that he d made from our pale ale. and from that first bite, i knew my business would never be the same.
messianic expectation. the gospels tell us it was performed by the man who scholars say was jesus cousin. john the baptist lived in the wilderness wearing camel skins, eating locusts and wild honey and baptizing people in the jordan river to cleanse them of their sins. this was a radical new spin on the purification bath. john was turning an ancient ritual into a new sacrament. john the baptist, he recognized jesus at the baptism. and he said, this is the man i ve been waiting for. this is the person i m preparing the way for. and he expected jesus to be the messiah of israel. and that s the message jesus took to the jewish people. as the gospels tell us, he returned home, found his first disciples among galilean
at the time the romans killed jesus, around 30 a.d., scholars say, the jews were desperate for a messiah to free them from roman oppression, to liberate them on their promised land. but even then, there was disagreement as to who that messiah might be. in the 1st century, there was no messianic checklist. some people would have followed jesus and considered him to be the messiah, god s anointed one. others followed john the baptist. others followed additional figures. in the cosmopolitan city of jerusalem, with its massive temple, the holiest site on earth for jews, and it s regal priestly caste, would many have even noticed jesus, a wandering rabbi from the galilee? it s a good question, whether jews in jerusalem at the time would have even known about this sect of jewish christians, people who believed that jesus