Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

§17.2 Crucifixus sub Pontio Pilato
More important is the fact that Pharisees hardly feature at all in the Passion
narratives of the Gospels. In Mark no mention is made of Pharisees after 12.13
(early in the final week). In Matthew Pharisees appear only at 27.62 subsequent
to the polemic of ch. 23. In Luke no mention is made of Pharisees after 19.39 (the
entry into Jerusalem). And in John the only mention made of the Pharisees after
ch. 12 is 18.3. 'Scribes' 113 and 'elders' 114 are included among the Jewish authorities
who initiate the key events, but no attempt is made to identify the former as
'scribes of the Pharisees' (Mark 2.16/Luke 5.30). 115 Given the frequency of reference
to Pharisees elsewhere in the Jesus tradition, it is evident that no real attempt
has been made to attribute responsibility to them for the legal moves
against Jesus. On the contrary, the Jesus tradition preserves virtually no memory
of Pharisaic involvement in Jesus' execution. 116
In contrast, the chief priests (archiereis) feature regularly. 117 So far as the
passion narratives themselves are concerned, then, on the Jewish side the chief
actors in the unfolding drama of Jesus' arrest and condemnation were the chief
priests. This in turn clearly implies that the crucial factors behind Jesus' arrest
and condemnation were issues of Temple and high-priestly authority, and otherwise
not the Torah. Can we be more specific?
a. Temple Protest and Temple Saying
Little more need be said on this point. The prominence of the chief priests in the
move to silence Jesus fits well with the earlier observations: that the Temple was
not only the centre of Israel's religion but also the very substantial economic base
for the political power of the high priestly families (§9.3a) and that Jesus' symbolical
act in the Temple and talk of the Temple's destruction provided the final
reason/(excuse?) for Jesus' arrest and the primary accusations levelled against
113. Mark 14.1/Luke 22.2; Mark 14.43; Mark 14.53/Matt. 26.57; Mark 15.1/Luke
22.66; Luke 23.10; Mark 15.31/Matt. 27.41; note also the Passion predictions (Mark 8.31;
10.33) and Mark 11.18.
114. Matt. 26.3; Mark 14.43, 53/Matt. 26.47, 57; Luke 22.52; Mark 15.I/Matt. 27.1;
Matt. 27.3, 12, 20, 41.
115. 'Scribes' are regularly mentioned with Pharisees, but as a separate group (Mark
7.I/Matt. 15.1; Matt. 5.20; 12.38; 23.2, 13, 15, 23, 25, 27, 29; Luke 5.21; 6.7; 11.53; 15.2; John
8.3). See above, §9.3c(2).
116. Cf. Legasse, Trial of Jesus 35-38. I have already noted the unlikelihood that the
charge against Jesus was that of being a false prophet or a magician (above, chapter 15 n. 95).
117. Sixteen occurrences in Mark 14-15, nineteen in Matthew 26-28, thirteen in Luke
19-24, and fourteen in John 18-19. Sanders sets out the data synoptically (Jesus 310-11); see
the fuller analysis of the various parties involved in opposition to Jesus in Brown, Death 1424-
34.
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