Jesus in the Talmud

70 Chapter 6leaves out the procedure of the herald seeking additional witnesses whomight invalidate the testimony of the original witnesses that led to theconviction. The High Priest, only too happy with Jesus’ acceptance of thecharge of blasphemy, has the Sanhedrin condemn him to death 44 and,with no further ado, hand him over to the Roman governor to confirmand to execute the sentence—a procedure such as prescribed in theMishna for the herald might only have disturbed this carefully orchestratedmistrial.But why does the Talmud insist on the strange detail of the herald announcingthe execution forty days before it takes place? The plain answerit gives is to leave enough time for prospective witnesses in Jesus’ defenseto come forward and to argue against the accusation. But there might beanother subtext here that again subtly, or rather not so subtly, responds tothe New Testament narrative. 45 There, Jesus foretells his disciples threetimes that he will be killed and resurrected within three days, 46 the lasttime on his way to Jerusalem before the Passion begins, that is shortly beforePassover:(32) They were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus waswalking ahead of them; they were amazed, and those who followedwere afraid. He took the twelve aside again and began to tell themwhat was to happen to him, (33) saying, “See we are going up toJerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the HighPriests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death; thenthey will hand him over to the Gentiles; (34) they will mock him,and spit upon him, and flog him, and kill him; and after three dayshe will rise again.” 47In emphasizing that the herald announced Jesus execution, and not justimmediately before it took place but precisely forty days in advance, theBavli directly contradicts Jesus’ own prediction. Why all this fuss abouthim playing the prophet by dramatically prophesying his trial, sentence,and death—not only once but three times, the last time even a few daysbefore it was about to happen? We all know, the Talmud counters, that hewas going to be executed: because our (the Jewish) court had made thisdecision in public proceedings—as is customary in the Jewish law—and