One of the greatest problems that historians attempting to decode Jesus’ life have is that there is very little evidence. There are no sources from Jesus’ time (Public Broadcasting Service 3:00), so they have to go on interpretations of others. Nevertheless, these different layers do not always align, and are often contradictory. In addition, Jesus was a poor and rather historically commonplace person, so it was only years after his death that there were important records of his life made. This often amounts to second hand accounts, which are obviously not as reliable as first hand ones.
The Essenes were an Apocalyptic sect within Christianity. They believed that God was to soon bring them justice through the eradication of evil. Furthermore, they believed in two Messiahs, with very different outlooks, one being more loving, while the other, more just (Public Broadcasting Service 24:30). As they were Christians, they believed that after this great war, the Essenes would be the only ones that would be left, marking the re-establishment of a sort of golden age. They lived near the valleys where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found and had a great influence on Christianity, especially on John the Baptist himself.
It is not quite clear what happened in the temple. However, it seems that he deeply criticized the way that the temple was being run, something that would be seen as “an act of political subversion” (Public Broadcasting Service 44:20). Some people say that he destroyed the temple, but this seems to be metaphorical; it seems that what he did was incite disorder in the already lurking political unease, serving as the detonator for a revolution. He was arrested, tried, tortured and crucified, as most people know now.
Works Cited
Public Broadcasting Service. “PBS – From Jesus To Christ. The First Christians – 1 of 4.” YouTube, uploaded by Pierrebrd, 7 Apr. 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZPKCDOeyMg&feature=youtu.be
