Hartley Neita, Contributor

I will bet 10 cents - that's what I can afford not having won the $120 million-plus Lotto last week - that you did not know that columnists, talk-show hosts and journalists from Jamaica covered the events leading up to the first Easter in Israel 2,000 years ago.

Well, I found this out while looking through old newspapers, magazines and other documents at the National Library of Jamaica.

Demonstration for John the baptist

The first thing I found was that there was a demonstration when John the Baptist was arrested. The road between Jerusalem and Bethlehem was blocked. TVJ showed the crowd with placards demanding justice. Michael Sharpe interviewed one of the demonstrators who said that she knew John from him was a lickle buoy an' him never trouble nobody. "Him was in him bed, sir, reading him Bible when the police and soldier man dem come an' drag him out and carry him to prison. We want justice!"

Invaded farmer's cornfield

The next thing I found was a report that Motty Perkins had interviewed the Minister of Agriculture about 12 men who had invaded a farmer's cornfield and reaped and ate it. Motty wanted to know why they were not arrested for praedial larceny. The minister explained that the men had eaten the corn and so there was no evidence.

Motty also contacted the commissioner of police to find out why charges had not been laid against a man who whipped vendors in the Cathedral in Jerusalem, and wounded them.

The commissioner referred him to his assistant in charge of crime, one Mark. "Now remember," he said, "not Mark the disciple. And if you want to talk to the Minister of National Security, also remember he is not the disciple either."

Dawn Ritch was also in the country. She tried to contact the Minister of Finance on Good Friday. Unfortunately, he was at a football match between the Jews and Gentiles in his constituency and just as the match started there was a three-hour power outage. The whole city became dark and his cellphone was not working. She was doing a review of the last three years and wanted to ask him if he had collected GCT or excise duty on the wine which had been made from water at the wedding in Cana.

She also wanted to talk to Michael the archangel, but got Michael the politician instead - which upset her, and him - and Michael the banker, from whom she sought a long-term loan which she described as a contribution.

Barbara Ellington wrote an interview she had with Barabbas. In it, he told about his early years in the inner city of Jerusalem. It was then he was influenced into a life of crime. Barbara Gloudon interviewed 'Jerusalemians for Justice' to find their views on whether the crowds were right in choosing Barabbas to be freed.

The Mayor of Jerusalem had held a news conference raising cane about the city being littered and the gullies being choked with palms carried by the crowd through the city. And The Star newspaper published a photograph of Salome as the 'Hottie of the Decade'.

Desmond Richards had an exclusive interview with the Prime Minister in which she told him that her predecessor in office had suggested that she should appoint a committee to investigate if the feeding of the thousands with the five loaves and fishes was done in a healthy manner.

And Wyvolin Gager and the Stone organisation, and Don Anderson and Bill Johnson and their polling teams published polls which all said that Christianity was just a passing fad which would soon be forgotten.