13 - A new reconstruction of the final days of Jesus

Summary

Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.

(Luke 1:3–4)

Scholars who have looked at what we can know about the historical Jesus from the Gospels have generally decided that the answer is ‘not much’.

(Judith Redman)

The quotations above strikingly illustrate the difference between the claims of a gospel, in this case that of Luke, to have carefully investigated everything about the life of Jesus and the claims of many modern scholars, that we cannot reliably understand much about the historical Jesus from the gospels. Geza Vermes represents what is often thought to be the view of the majority of scholars about the gospels when he writes: ‘They are filled with discrepancies.’

In this book I have carefully investigated the last days of Jesus afresh. I have forensically examined the gospels, comparing them with each other and with historical sources. I have found that the major apparent discrepancies in the gospel descriptions of the final days of Jesus, including the last supper, do not exist. They arise because we have wrongly interpreted the gospel texts. When correctly understood, all four gospels agree with each other to a remarkable extent. They also agree with the relevant passages in the Dead Sea Scrolls and with Jewish and Roman historians.