The Beloved Disciple: A Witness Against Anti-Semitism

There are two significantly different accounts of the passion and death of Jesus in the four Gospels. The accounts in Mark and Matthew which placed primary responsibility on the Jews fed the almost two thousand years of anti-Semitism that reached a climax in the Holocaust. John's account of the passion that has been virtually ignored through the centuries gives no evidence of involvement of the people and suggests collusion between Pontius Pilate and wealthy Jerusalem officials who served as functionaries of the Romans. Recent archaeological and paleological discoveries have greatly increased respect for the historical value of the Gospel of John.