Grateful, excited crowds gathered outside Jerusalem to welcome their new leader with praises and palm branches, and with harps and cymbals and stringed instruments, and with hymns and songs, because a great enemy had been removed from Israel. The new leader cleansed the temple and city and strengthened Jerusalem’s fortifications. He then placed his sons in positions of authority so they would be ready to reign after him and begin a dynasty that would last 100 years. The year was 142 BC and the leader was Simon Maccabeus. You can read about him in the book of 1 Maccabees. Would Jesus be any different from all the others who have trodden the well-worn path from revolutionary to saviour to dictator to executioner?