The Passion Story: When Thieves Are Not Thieves

I'm reading one of the best books I have ever seen about YESHUA. It is JESUS by CH Guignebert. It's not a new book; it's from the 1950s; in fact, it's out of print. I was lucky enough to be able to get it from Amazon. It's in pretty good condition and I didn't have to spend a lot to get it.
Three times during the tale of Passion Week, the gospel uses the word "thief".
1. My father's house is a house of prayer for all persons but you have turned it into a den of thieves.
2. Jesus said to those arresting him, Why have you come out against me with swords as against a thief?
3. Jesus was taken to the hill of the Skull and there executed along with two thieves.

I looked up each of these verses in the original Greek. The word used in all 3 cases is not KLEPTOS, the Greek word for thief. It is used to describe Judas.
The word in all 3 cases is LESTAS, "Mugger", a person who uses extreme violence to rob and kill people. This is the favorite word the Romans used against freedom fighters. It corresponds to our use of the word "terrorist".
Most New Testament scholars agree that if Jesus caused a disruption in the Temple, it was more than just turning over money tables. The gospel writer says that Jesus did not let the Temple be used as a shortcut while he was there. Specifically, he did not "let anyone carry vessels through the Temple." Why is this necessary for the story? It's necessary, I believe, in that it means, not just vessels but weapons. In Hebrew, the word for the weapon is KLEY MILCHAMA, literally "vessels of war". The gospel writers are writing long after the events but they do know that an event took place there involving Jesus where SOMEONE said the Temple is being turned into a den of LESTOI, an insurrection.

Jesus asks the arresting police, Why are you treating me like an insurrectionist? which he was. In fact, during the arrest, Peter attacks them with a sword. Jesus' words that people who live by the sword die by the sword are only describing what happened to the Jews during the Insurrection of 66CE. In fact, the NIV translates the verse as, Why are you coming out against me as one who causes a revolt?

All New Testament scholars agree that neither Jews nor Romans executed people for theft. The punishment for theft is jail. Everyone now realizes that the 2 men executed with Jesus were freedom fighters. One of them, in fact, admonishes Jesus for not using his messianic powers to set them free.

I am pushing the idea of YESHUA as a Zealot when in fact, he may only have been a "fellow traveler."  Guignebert seems to think he was an apocalyptic prophet whose mission was to teach the Jews about the Kingdom of Heaven and that in order for it to happen, they would have to go through a process of METANOIA, extreme repentance. This is similar to the preaching of John the Baptist although Jesus was less strident and angry than John. One interesting thing that Guignebert points out is that James did not condemn those Jews who didn't believe in Jesus as messiah. The Jesus of James had no "mission" to anyone. James just tells anyone who listens that "the Son of man will soon return to bring in the Golden Age." Eusebius wrote the history of the Church in the 4th century. He tells the story of the heretic who asks James what does "the Gateway of Jesus mean."  James just says the Son of man will soon return to judge the living and the dead. Nothing about the blood of Jesus bringing salvation. We can see why Jesus'  own brother was demoted in the New Testament. He is called James the Less by Catholics when he should be James the Great.