Jesus in the Talmud

Jesus’ Punishment in Hell 93ing bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this breadwill live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the worldis my flesh.”(52) The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying: “Howcan this man give us his flesh to eat?” (53) So Jesus said to them:“Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man anddrink his blood, you have no life in you. (54) Those who eat myflesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them upon the last day; (55) for my flesh is true food and my blood is truedrink. ... (57) Just as the living Father sent me, and I live becauseof the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. (58) Thisis the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which yourancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread willlive forever.”Here we have it all. First, the clear equation of eating bread and eatingthe flesh of Jesus as well as drinking (presumably wine) and drinking theblood of Jesus. Second, the incredulous Jews contesting precisely thisgrotesque claim that Jesus can demand from his followers to eat his flesh:How can someone, who is not out of his mind, seriously offer his flesh toeat? Third, the unambiguous juxtaposition of the old and the newcovenant: The Jews ate the bread from heaven, the manna; the followersof Jesus eat the real bread from heaven, his flesh. Moreover, and mostconspicuously, eating the manna leads to death; eating Jesus’ flesh (anddrinking his blood) leads to life—not just to a prolongation of life but toeternal life.It is this claim, not accidentally made explicit again in the Gospel ofJohn, which our Bavli narrative attacks or rather parodies. No, it argues,Jesus is dead and remains dead, and eating his flesh won’t lead to life. Notonly that those who follow his advice and eat his flesh will not live forever,as he has promised; rather, he is punished in the Netherworld forever andnot granted the milder punishment of those who will be released aftertwelve months into merciful nonexistence. And the peak of irony: the initiatorof this bizarre heresy is appropriately punished by sitting in what hisfollowers excrete, after allegedly having eaten him: excrement! With thisexplanation we finally have a crime (the heresy of the Eucharist) and a