Caesar's Messiah: The Roman Conspiracy to Invent Jesus:Flavian Signature Edition (24 page)

Luke 10:11-16

6) Power over wind and sea

Luke then describes a story in which Jesus is shown to have power over the water and the wind.

But as they sailed He fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling [with water], and were in jeopardy.

And they came to Him and awoke Him, saying, "Master, Master, we are perishing!" Then He arose and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water. And they ceased, and there was a calm. 

But He said to them, "Where is your faith?" And they were afraid, and marveled, saying to one another, "Who can this be? For He commands even the winds and water, and they obey Him!" 

Then they sailed to the country of the Gadarenes, which is opposite Galilee.  

Luke 8:23-26

Josephus then describes a story in which Titus is shown to have power over the water and the wind. To recognize the typological linkage, a reader must grasp that when Titus returns to his father “in great haste” he does not take the slow and safe route along the coast, but exposed himself to storms by coming across open waters. The point of the story is to show that Titus made the journey safely, showing that he had power over the wind and sea.

Moreover, when he heard that Galba was made emperor, he attempted nothing till he also should send him some directions about the war: however, he sent his son Titus to him, to salute him, and to receive his commands about the Jews. Upon the very same errand did king Agrippa sail along with Titus to Galba;

but as they were sailing in their long ships by the coasts of Achaia, for it was winter time, they heard that Galba was slain, before they could get to him, after he had reigned seven months and as many days. After whom Otho took the government, and undertook the management of public affairs.

So Agrippa resolved to go on to Rome without any terror; on account of the change in the government;

but Titus, by a Divine impulse, sailed back from Greece to Syria, and came in great haste to Cesarea, to his father.

Wars of the Jews
, 4, 9, 498-501

7) Faith of the Centurion means no need to go into the house – God as a Roman commander

Luke then describes a Centurion whose faith in Jesus is so great that he believes that Jesus can “heal” his slave without going into his house. In the tale, the Centurion likens Jesus to himself, a Roman commander who orders those under him when to go or come. 

When He had completed all His discourse in the hearing of the people, He went to Capernaum.

And a centurion's slave, who was highly regarded by him, was sick and about to die.

When he heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders asking Him to come and save the life of his slave.

When they came to Jesus, they earnestly implored Him, saying, "He is worthy for You to grant this to him;

“for he loves our nation and it was he who built us our synagogue." 

Now Jesus started on His way with them; and when He was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to Him, "Lord, do not trouble Yourself further, for I am not worthy for You to come under my roof;

“for this reason I did not even consider myself worthy to come to You, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed.

“For I also am a man placed under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, `Go!' and he goes, and to another, `Come!' and he comes, and to my slave, `Do this!' and he does it." 

Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled at him, and turned and said to the crowd that was following Him, "I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such great faith."

Luke 7:1-9

In Josephus’ version of Luke 7:1-9, Vespasian tells his commanders that they do not need to go into a city because god is acting as the Roman commander and causing the Jews to kill themselves. Notice that, as in Luke 7, the Jews are described as being sick. The passage makes the nature of the Jews’ “sicknesses”, so often depicted in Luke, easy to understand. When the Gospels describe an “illness” or “demonic possession” of a Jew, they are referring to the “fever” that caused them to rebel from Rome. “Healing” them of their demonic illness depicts one of two things: either a rebellious Jew recognized that Caesar is the Christ – as in the case of Josephus – or “healing” the “infection” by killing the Jews that do not.

And now all the rest of the commanders of the Romans deemed this sedition among their enemies to be of great advantage to them, and were very earnest to march to the city, and they urged Vespasian, as their lord and general in all cases, to make haste, and said to him, that "the providence of God is on our side, by setting our enemies at variance against one another;

“that still the change in such cases may be sudden, and the Jews may quickly be at one again, either because they may be tired out with their civil miseries, or repent them of such doings."

But Vespasian replied, that they were greatly mistaken in what they thought fit to be done, as those that, upon the theater, love to make a show of their hands, and of their weapons, but do it at their own hazard, without considering, what was for their advantage, and for their security;

for that if they now go and attack the city immediately, they shall but occasion their enemies to unite together, and shall convert their force, now it is in its height, against themselves. But if they stay a while, they shall have fewer enemies, because they will be consumed in this sedition:

that God acts as a general of the Romans better than he can do, and is giving the Jews up to them without any pains of their own, and granting their army a victory without any danger;

that therefore it is their best way, while their enemies are destroying each other with their own hands, and falling into the greatest of misfortunes, which is that of sedition, to sit still as spectators of the dangers they run into, rather than to fight hand to hand with men that love murdering, and are mad one against another…

“Whether therefore any one hath regard to what is for our safety, he ought to suffer these Jews to destroy one another; or whether he hath regard to the greater glory of the action, we ought by no means to meddle with those men,  now  they  are  afflicted with a distemper at home; for

should we now conquer them, it would be said the conquest was not owing to our bravery, but to their sedition.”

Wars of the Jews,
4, 6, 366-371, 376

8) Mercy, the “unburied” that are “happy”, and the prophet

Luke then describes a story of Jesus showing mercy and restoring to life a man who was being buried. In other words, it was a burial service that led to happiness not sadness. Then he covers the subject of a “prophet” who has visited his people. 

Now it happened, the day after [that] He went into a city called Naim; and many of His disciples went with Him, and a large crowd.

And when He came near the gate of the city, behold, a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother; and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the city was with her.  

When the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her and said to her, "Do not weep."

Then He came and touched the open coffin, and those who carried [him] stood still. And He said, "Young man, I say to you, arise."

So he who was dead sat up and began to speak. And He presented him to his mother.

Then fear came upon all, and they glorified God, saying, "A great prophet has risen up among us"; and, "God has visited His people."  

Luke 7:11-16

In Josephus’ version of the story, he first mentions the dead outside the city, then contrasts the mercy of the “Christ” with that of the Jews’ viciousness, the “happy unburied” followed by a “great prophet” who has “risen up”.

The statement: “A great prophet has risen up among us” in Luke 7:16 above, refers to the concluding line in the Josephus passage below. The Gospels’ character Jesus is the “ancient oracle” who Josephus records as having predicted “that the city should then be taken and the sanctuary burnt, by right of war, when sedition should invade the Jews, and their own hand should pollute the temple of God.” Though the symbolic linkages are somewhat oblique, it is not difficult to see that the concepts occur in the same order in Josephus’ version as Luke 7:11-16 – “mercy”, “those that lay unburied were the happiest”, and the prophet who foresaw the truth of the coming war.

And now the commanders joined in their approbation of what Vespasian had said, and it was soon discovered how wise an opinion he had given. And indeed many there were of the Jews that deserted every day, and fled away from the zealots,

although their flight was very difficult, since they had guarded every passage out of the city, and slew every one that was caught at them, as taking it for granted they were going over to the Romans;

yet did he who gave them money get clear off, while he only that gave them none was voted a traitor. So the upshot was this, that the rich purchased their flight by money, while none but the poor were slain.

Along all the roads also vast numbers of dead bodies lay in heaps, and even many of those that were so zealous in deserting, at length chose rather to perish within the city; for the hopes of burial made death in their own city appear, of the two, less terrible to them.

But these zealots came at last to that degree of barbarity, as not to bestow a burial either on those slain in the city, or on those that lay along the roads;

but as if they had made an agreement to cancel both the laws of their country and the laws of nature, and, at the same time that they defiled men with their wicked actions, they would pollute the Divinity itself also,

they left the dead bodies to putrefy under the sun; and the same punishment was allotted to such as buried any as to those that deserted, which was no other than death; while he that granted the favor of a grave to another would presently stand in need of a grave himself.

To say all in a word, no other gentle passion was so entirely lost among them as mercy; for what were the greatest objects of pity did most of all irritate these wretches, and they transferred their rage from the living to those that had been slain, and from the dead to the living.

Nay, the terror was so very great, that he who survived called them that were first dead happy, as being at rest already; as did those that were under torture in the prisons, declare, that, upon this comparison, those that lay unburied were the happiest.

These men, therefore, trampled upon all the laws of men, and laughed at the laws of God; and for the oracles of the prophets, they ridiculed them as the tricks of jugglers;

yet did these prophets foretell many things concerning [the rewards of] virtue, and [punishments of] vice, which when these zealots violated, they occasioned the fulfilling of those very prophecies belonging to their own country;

for there was a certain ancient oracle of those men, that the city should then be taken and the sanctuary burnt, by right of war, when a sedition should invade the Jews, and their own hand should pollute the temple of God. Now while these zealots did not [quite] disbelieve these predictions, they made themselves the instruments of their accomplishment.

Wars of the Jews
, 4, 6, 377-388

In conclusion, the sequence of parallels proves a deliberate design.  While unusual parallels occur in literature, those that are accidental will not occur in the same sequence because they are, by definition, subject to the rules of probability concerning random events. Many of the parallels are self-evident, as they are either literally the same event or too close conceptually to be disputed. Simply the fact that the sequence of these parallels occur in the same order, proves that one set of stories was dependent upon the other. In my opinion, these self-evident parallels include 1. Fishing for men at the Sea of Galilee, 11. Binding and loosening, 13. On to Jerusalem – the messengers are sent ahead, 28. The triumphal entrance into Jerusalem and the stones that cried out, 29. Jerusalem encircled with a wall, 31. The Abomination of Desolation, and 34. Simon’s fate, from the list above.