Jesus in the Talmud

Jesus in the Talmud 107stranger, as he who is born in the land, when he blasphemes the name ofthe Lord, shall be put to death” (Lev. 24:16). In the Mishna, 42 even utteringthe name of God (the tetragrammaton) is punished by the death penalty ofstoning—how much more does this apply to the blasphemer who uses thename of God for himself? Hence the great indignation of the High Priest,who tears his clothes upon hearing Jesus’ blasphemy (Mt. 26:63–65): 43(63) Then the High Priest said to him: I adjure you by the livingGod, tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God! (64) Jesus said tohim: You have said so. But I tell you: From now on you will see theSon of Man seated at the right hand of Power [God] and coming onthe clouds of heaven. (65) Then the High Priest tore his clothes andsaid: He has uttered blasphemy. Why do we still need witnesses? Youhave now heard his blasphemy.Here, Jesus connects his expected resurrection and ascension to heavenwith his claim to be the Son of God: the son will return to his originalplace, his throne next to his father’s throne in heaven. This unthinkableblasphemy demands the immediate action of the Sanhedrin: the impositionof the death penalty.The same is true for Jesus’ “disciples,” who, as I have argued, serve ascodes for Jesus’ claim to be the Messiah and Son of God. The rabbinicjudges make sure that Jesus will not ascend to heaven and appear beforeGod (Mattai), that he is not an innocent victim of the Jews (Naqqai), thathe is not the Davidic Messiah (Netzer), that he is not God’s son and firstborn(Buni), and that he is not the sacrifice of the new covenant (Todah):rather, Jesus deserves to die, will be dead, and, most certainly, will not risefrom the dead and guarantee his disciples-followers eternal life.This devastating critique of Jesus’ claim of divine origin is most explicitin the Babylonian Talmud, but it was not unique. Although we do notfind in the rabbinic literature other sources that so directly and bluntly referto Jesus, we do have a couple of texts that obviously allude to his blasphemousclaim. One is preserved in the Jerusalem Talmud, where thefollowing dictum is attributed to R. Abbahu, a Palestinian rabbi of the latethird/early fourth century: 44