Jesus in the Talmud

72 Chapter 6claimed to be God and deserved the capital punishment according to ourJewish law. With this deliberate “misreading” of the New Testament narrative,the Bavli (re)claims Jesus for the Jewish people—but only to fend offonce and for all any claim by himself or his followers. Yes indeed, the Bavliadmits, Jesus was a Jewish heretic, who was quite successful in seducingmany of us. But he was taken care of according to the Jewish law, got whathe deserved—and that’s the end of the story.The Baraita in our Bavli narrative about Jesus’ execution adds yet anotherremarkable detail that needs closer inspection. All the uncensoredmanuscripts and printed editions of the Bavli reveal the precise day of hisexecution: he was hanged on the eve of Passover, that is, the day beforePassover. The same is true for the only rabbinic parallel to our story (also inthe Bavli), where it is said that the son of Stada was hanged in Lod/Lyddaon the eve of Passover. 51 This conspicuously precise date is concordantwith John, whose Gospel contradicts the three synoptic Gospels: WhereasMatthew, Mark, and Luke are quite vague about the date of the trial andexecution but clearly state that Jesus eats the Passover meal (the “Last Supper”)with his disciples before he is arrested (Mt. 26:3f. even states explicitlythat the high priests and the elders of the people postpone Jesus’ arrest untilafter Passover in order to avoid a riot among the people) 52 and was crucifiedon the first day of the feast (the fifteenth day of the month of Nisan),John declares that the Last Supper is not the Passover meal but takes placebefore Passover. 53 Instead, the trial before Pilate takes place about noon onthe very day on which (in the evening) Passover begins (the fourteenth ofNisan). 54 Hence, whereas the synoptic Gospels agree that Jesus was executedon the fifteenth of Nisan (the first day of Passover), it is only Johnwho says that the execution took place on the fourteenth of Nisan (the daybefore Passover). 55 Interestingly enough, it is the particular holiness ofPassover falling on a Sabbath that John gives as the reason for the Jewishrequest to have Jesus and the two other criminals buried on that very Friday:the Jews did not want the bodies of the executed left on the cross overSabbath. 56 This seems to be a (slightly distorted) reference to the biblicaland rabbinic law that the body of an executed criminal must not remainon the tree/cross overnight (any night, not just the Sabbath night). 57Finally, the Bavli has preserved a further conspicuous detail that betraysan intimate knowledge of the New Testament Passion narrative: that