Caiaphas, Jewish High Priest, however, could and apparently did meet that night with an advisory body - a political sanhedrin, which had no legal or religious status. (Source: "Studies in History of Sanhedrin," by Hugo Mantel, and "Who Crucified Jesus?" by Solomon Zeitlin.)

What, then, caused distortion of these details, leading to such monumental, tragic consequences?

There was good reason for such caution in telling and writing of story. With death of Jesus, his followers had to convince Rome that they had no issues with Rome, and that they did not hold Rome or Pontius Pilate responsible for Jesus' death. Above all, they had to convince Rome that their "kingdom" was not of this world.

Even so, Jesus followers were persecuted for years. Christians faced horrible deaths by crucifixion or in Roman arenas where they were fed to lions for entertainment of emperors and public.

Some years after Jesus, Jews did revolt, but uprising was crushed and Second Temple was destroyed in 70 C.E. Another revolt followed in 132 C.E., led by Bar Kokhba, who was declared Messiah by Rabbi Akiba, a leading rabbi. Three years later, Bar Kokhba and 580,000 Jews were killed in battle, while tens of thousands of Jewish men and women were sold into slavery. It was not a good time to be a Jew or a follower of Jesus, or to say or write anything that would have placed Pontius Pilate or Rome in a bad light. Those living around that time understood and knew how to read between lines. In time, however, full story was forgotten, lost or suppressed for ideological reasons, leading to formalization and institutionalization of perverse Christ-killer charge leveled against Jewish people.

We cannot change past. But we can avoid mistakes of past, now that we know better. It is time that we retire pernicious Christ-killer charge and bury it forever. It has no legitimate place any more in decent, knowledgeable, responsible Jewish-Christian relations, teachings, or story-telling.