“I’ve been studying and researching the crucifixion of Jesus for about 30 years,” writes Stephen Mansfield, author of Killing Jesus: The Unknown Conspiracy Behind the World’s Most Famous Execution. “When I was an undergraduate, a theologian from the Vatican spoke to our theology class. He said, “Whatever you think you know about the crucifixion of Jesus, you don’t know.”
“You just know what you have been told,” said the visiting 
theologian. “You know what you’ve surmised from movies and from the text. It was far harsher, it was far grittier, far bloodier, it was far nastier, it was far more corrupt than you’ve ever imagined.”
“And then this eminent scholar began to take us through the actual process of the crucifixion,” writes Mansfield, “the biology of it, the physiology of it, the legality of it, the Roman laws that kicked in, the laws of the Sanhedrin that kicked in, and it was as though every word in scripture just exploded with meaning. I was fascinated with the crucifixion ever after.” And Mansfield found __ things you probably didn’t know about the crucifixion.
- He had embarrassed corrupt officials. “The reality is that there
was a tier of Jewish leaders who were corrupt and who were using the Temple at the time for their own profit. This wasn’t the average Jewish person on the street, of course, and it’s silly to say only the Jews killed Jesus,” writes Mansfield. - They were getting rich by abusing things holy. “But what is true is that a corrupt layer of Jewish leaders, who were sold out to Rome, definitely were using the Temple for their own purposes. They were garnishing money out of the trade happening at the Temple and absolutely had sold out to Rome.”
- They were in league with the Roman enemies. “In fact, they
made sacrifices of bulls and other animals every single day for the Emperor. So this was a corrupt system and, from a Jewish perspective, a heretical system.” - He threatened their power. “At the same time, these corrupt leaders were trying to hang on to control of the nation, because they were concerned that Jesus’ preaching and the fact that people wanted to make Him king would draw the attention of the Romans.
- They feared the people would revolt. “They were afraid that the Romans would come and take away the nation if they suspected the Jews were electing or appointing their own king. This, of course, would have unseated Caesar in the hearts of the people,” writes Mansfield.
- It was like an ancient mafia. Mansfield continues: So there was a
great deal of underhandedness, a sort of mafia structure within the Temple. There was political intrigue beneath the surface. Most people think it’s very simple – Jesus preached something they didn’t like, they killed him. The reality was he threatened the Sopranos. - He repeatedly confronted them. He threatened the corrupt underground government. He threatened the secret coup that was controlling the Temple and thus the nation. The average man didn’t know about it, but Jesus did and that’s why he hammered the themes that he did. This ultimately led to his execution.
- It was a political murder. The Bible reveals sacred truth but it does so through an often earthy, troubling, lewd, starkly human drama. We are not meant to be embarrassed or rush quickly by.
9. 
A cold-blooded assassination. “ We have been given the crass story of a political murder in a violent age, a murder committed after the guardians of virtue decided to kill a man because he was too much competition,” writes Mansfield. “There is more here than we usually see. There may even be more than we are willing to face. We should ponder every word, envisioning the story as fully as we can.”
From www.beliefnet.com
