Page 121 - Gnosis volume 2

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28
nowbeit no man spoke openly of Him for fear of the Jews . And did not Jesus say: think
29
not that I am come to send peace on earth; I came not to send peace, but a sword .

*
* *

However, there was one tendency that gained more and more favour with the rulers

of the Jewish nation. It was founded on political considerations: it was imperative to

suppress all dissensions among the people, if Judea was to be liberated from the Roman
yoke. They had to be united, consolidated around the Temple, backed by the

priesthood, the princes and the scholars, one in their struggle against the Gentile

domination. This was the logical reasoning from the "worldly" point of view.

Of course, it is easy, after the event, to condemn those responsible for the conduct of
the Jewish people, but one wonders how these severe judges would have acted

themselves if they had had to face the responsibilities that were incumbent on the

Sanhedrin at that time. They had considerable difficulty in maintaining the unity of the

people. Certain elements favoured a compromise with the conqueror: Herod the Great
went as far as to fix a Roman eagle on the porch of the Temple. The rulers of the Jewish

nation considered Christ's activity from the strictly human angle: weighing the

consequences it could have on their national interests and not bothering at all about

their duty as the

28
John, VII, 12-13.
29
Matthew, X, 34-35; Luke, XII, 51.