“Jesus was tried and convicted in one sitting of the Sanhedrin. That, too, was illegal. Your Mishnah says that a criminal case resulting in an acquittal of the accused may end on the day it begins, but if the sentence is death the trial cannot be concluded before the following day so that a full review of the evidence may be made. And then, according to your own story, after you had found Jesus guilty you neglected to impose formal sentence on him. From beginning to end, Caiaphas, all of it was illegal—the arrest, the lack of witnesses who could agree, the trial on the day before the Sabbath, enemies on the bench, using the prisoner’s own words to condemn him, the unanimous verdict, the lack of formal sentencing, all of it—illegal! According to your own laws you brought an innocent man to Pilate!”

The high priest cocked his head and returned my stare. I could hear laughter, alien in such a setting, floating up from the lobby. Caiaphas twisted his body so that his back was facing me and asked a question that nearly floored me. “Does Vitellius know what you have just told me?”

“Everyone knows,” I said, as positively as I could. “How could they not know with so many noisy Christians out there, even in your Temple courtyards, repeating their story over and over?”

“I agree,” he said despairingly, “and they are too ignorant to realize that what I did was to save all of them from being impaled on Pilate’s sword.”

“Caiaphas, did you ever consider, even for a moment, after the crucifixion that you might have murdered the Son of God by mistake?”

“Never! When the father of our people, Abraham, prepared to sacrifice his beloved son, Isaac, God interfered and delivered a ram to be killed instead. If God would not even permit the sacrifice of Isaac, would he permit the murder of his Son without destroying the world? The world, as you can see, Matthias, still exists.”

“Will you tell me, now, what happened at Pilate’s hearing?”

“No! Ask him.”

“Did you witness the crucifixion?”

“I did not,” he said. “When the soldiers led Jesus away, I returned to the Temple to make preparations for the approaching Passover. A few of my assistants did go in my stead and reported to me when it was finished.”

“Were you surprised when you learned that Jesus had expired only a few hours after being hung on the cross?”

He shrugged. “Some endure for so long that their legs are finally broken to put them out of their misery, while others die immediately, perhaps from shock. But why am I telling you? Crucifixion, after all, is a Roman punishment, not ours. I was more surprised to hear that one of our own Sanhedrin, your friend Joseph, had gone to Pilate without consulting any of us and claimed the body and laid it in a new tomb, carved for his own eventual interment, in a garden near the place of execution.”