Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

§17.1 Crucifixus sub Pontio Pilato
the end) is hardly to be dismissed out of hand. Nor the likelihood that the words
were allowed to fall out in other performance traditions precisely because of
their potential embarrassment. 91
All in all then, the results are more meagre than we might have hoped for. 92
The tradition of Jesus' crucifixion and death, as attested by those who witnessed
it, is firm enough in outline. 93 But the tradition was evidently formed from the
first to bring out scriptural allusions and to give the whole a spiritually edifying
character. That was how Jesus' death was remembered from the beginning — as
fulfilling scriptural types and as providing a good model of martyr-like piety and
concern for others.
g. The Burial of Jesus
Some assume that Jesus' body would have been routinely disposed of by the authorities.
94 But the tradition is firm that Jesus was given a proper burial (Mark
15.42-47 pars.), and there are good reasons why its testimony should be respected.
95 (1) The tradition of Jesus' burial is one of the oldest pieces of tradition
we have (1 Cor. 15.4 — hoti etaphe), 96 and, unlike the preceding narrative, no de-
91. Cf. Brown, Death 1086-88. J. B. Green, 'Death of Jesus', DJG 146-63, makes a
good case for arguing that Luke is not responsible for the quotation of Ps. 31.6 (Luke 23.46)
(151-52).
92. The accounts of three hours of darkness (Mark 15.33 pars.), the veil of the sanctuary
being rent (Mark 15.38 pars.), the centurion's 'confession' (Mark 15.39; but note Luke 23.47),
the earthquake (Matt. 27.51; Gos. Pet. 6.21), and the dead saints being raised (Matt. 27.52-53)
are best attributed to dramatic recital and theological elaboration (discussion in Brown, Death
1034-43, 1098-1140, 1143-52, 1160-67, 1192-93).
93. The accounts hardly give an adequate indication of the horror and agony of death
by crucifixion, but we can fill out at least some of the details from what we know of crucifixion
elsewhere — 'that most cruel and most horrible of punishments' (Cicero) (see, e.g.,
Hengel, Crucifixion 24-32; G. S. Sloyan, The Crucifixion of Jesus [Minneapolis: Fortress,
1995] 14-18; Legasse, Trial of Jesus 88-91). John's account of the final phase (John 19.31-37)
is refracted through a theological prism (19.36-37), though attributed to an eyewitness
(19.35), but both the practice of breaking the legs of a crucified man (to hasten his death) and
that of a spear thrust to ensure death are attested for the period (see, e.g., Legasse 161 nn. 112,
113).
94. Crossan is confident that 'Nobody knew what had happened to Jesus' body' {Historical
Jesus 394). Behind the Gospel narratives 'lies, at worst, the horror of a body left on the
cross as carrion or, at best, a body consigned like others to a "limed pit"' (Birth 555).
95. Nicely summarized in Davies and Allison, Matthew 3.647-48.
96. A point especially emphasized by M. Hengel, 'Das Begräbnis Jesu bei Paulus', in
F. Avemarie and H. Lichtenberger, eds., Auferstehung — Resurrection (WUNT 135; Tübingen:
Mohr Siebeck, 2001) 119-83 (here 121, 129-38, 175-76).
781