378
What did Pilate do when Joseph solicited the body of Jesus?
Mark: “Pilate marveled if he were already dead” ([xv, 44]).
Why should Pilate marvel if he were already dead when previous to this, according to John ([xix, 31–33]), he had, at the request of the Jews, ordered his soldiers to dispatch him if alive and take his body away?
379
Were the disciples present at the crucifixion?
John: They were, or one, at least ([xix, 26]).
According to the Synoptics, all were absent; all had forsaken their Master, all had fled. The Twelve Apostles at this time, unless Judas had already hung himself, as Matthew declares, numbered one traitor and eleven cowards.