Easter was always more important in my family, for obvious reasons.
I like to refer to Sanders' account of Jesus' life, and mention Randall Collins' post on the subject.
I still have not read a satisfying account of the relationship of his birth and lineage to his life.
Accounts asserting his descent from King David are problematic, unfounded and sensational; but still, how else, other than something like this, to account for his charismatic appeal to the common people during his lifetime, such that his martyrdom made such an impact on Palestine and places farther away, decades after his death, even into the time of Paul?
Certainly there was also some basis, true or false, for the Romans accusing him of claiming to be the rightful King of the Jews.
It may be that he descended instead from an out of power priesthood, (rather than from King David), say the Shiloh priesthood, as discussed in Who Wrote The Bible.
That makes sense, given other evidence, and would have provided a similar motive for his claims to speak with authority, and for his acts of opposition to the Temple authorities in Jerusalem.
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