Paradox of Paradoxes
Possibly the greatest paradox in history occurred when Jesus of Nazareth was tried by Jewish magnates for the offense of blasphemy under God’s Law. The open question is whether or not Jesus was telling the truth when he declared himself to be the Messiah.
According to the Cambridge Dictionary, a definition of “paradox” is “a statement or situation that may be true but seems impossible or difficult to understand because it contains two opposite facts or characteristics.”[1]
Blasphemy is defined in God’s Law in Leviticus where the consequences of being guilty of the offense was the death penalty.[2] Jewish sages in a Talmud Mishna and Gemara written during or shortly after the era of Jesus expounded that blasphemy is uttering the name of God and also may include cursing, piercing or incorrectly blessing His name.[3]
Once Jesus had said, “the Father is in Me, and I in the Father.”[4] On another occasion, Jesus said “…unless you believe that I AM, you’ll die in your sins.”[5] Practically every Hebrew knew that “I AM” is another name for God.
At the height of the aberrant trial, High Priest Caiaphas asked Jesus very specifically, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?” Under oath Jesus answered, “ I Am.”[6] Caiaphas immediately recognized the answer of Jesus and declared it was a blasphemy.
Previously, Jesus challenged people who didn’t believe he is the Son of God should, instead, believe in the miraculous deeds he performed and Nicodemus was one of those people.[7] The miracles performed by Jesus; however, didn’t seem to matter to those judging him.
No doubt, Jesus believed and said he is the Son of God. As a result, Jesus of Nazareth was charged with blasphemy and found guilty by the Jewish leadership.
Undercurrents of the trial were hugely significant. Promises made at Mt. Sinai two thousand years earlier had implications to the location and timing of the trial and crucifixion of Jesus. Those prophetic promises and their possible fulfillment laid the ironic groundwork for a paradox.[8]
Scroll back even farther to the book of Genesis during the time when Abraham had moved to a new land after leaving the Ur of the Chaldees with his father and family.[9] In that new land, Mt. Moriah became the place where Abraham took his miraculously born son, Isaac, to be sacrificed upon the command of God and was then spared at the last moment.[10]
Centuries later, the Hebrews escaped the slavery of Egypt and arrived at Mt. Sinai where God handed down to the Hebrews the Law to Moses. God also made promises about the place He had chosen for their future home and the place included Mt. Moriah.[11]
In the promised land of Abraham, a city called Salem had been already built. In the process of conquering enemies in the land of Abraham, Salem was overtaken by Israel’s army and came to be known as Jerusalem encompassing Mt. Moriah.
God promised the Hebrews a kingdom in the land of Abraham. It was fully established under King David and the land became the kingdom of Israel.
Another promise made by God at the place was to provide “the permanent place for His Name to dwell.”[12] In a most unusual twist, King David offered an atonement sacrifice on a threshing for a grave lack of faith in God and the location of the threshing floor happened to be on Mt. Moriah.
Fire came down from Heaven to burn the atonement sacrifice. King David was so moved by the circumstances surrounding the sacrifice, he chose that spot to be the location for the Temple, “the permanent place for His Name to dwell.”[13]
Matthew and Luke record that Jesus was in the Temple when he referred to Isaiah 56:7 saying “My House will be called a house of prayer.”[14] Jesus claimed the Temple as his house, the place where God’s name dwells, a statement with implications to irony of the trial.
God also promised at Mt. Sinai that the most complicated cases in the land were to be litigated in the place. The Sanhedrin served as the supreme court of Israel and Jerusalem became Judgement Seat of Israel.[15]
Sanhedrin membership consisted of priests, including the High Priest, and members of influential families.[16] Priests of God were charged with standing before Him to serve as judges to honor and preserve the Law.[17]
High Priest Caiaphas was among those who judged Jesus.[18] In God’s house where God’s Name dwells, the Temple, Jesus was judged.[19]
Timing was a significant factor in the dichotomy.[20] The crucifixion of Jesus occurred on the first day of Passover at the place God promised at its appointed time where the Temple became the only place to offer the Passover sacrifices.[21]
Paradoxically, if Jesus is the Son of God, he was judged at God’s appointed time for the Passover, tried and crucified in God’s chosen Judgement Seat of Israel in the holy city of Jerusalem; in the Temple where God’s name is to dwell; and the judges of the trial included God’s own top-level priests in defense of God’s own Law.[22]
Were the circumstances of the trial and execution of Jesus as the Son of God a paradox of paradoxes, or was Jesus a heretic for which there is no paradox, just a merely a series of coincidences?
Updated September 29, 2024
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REFERENCES:
[1] “paradox.” Cambridge Dictionary. 2023. <https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/paradox> “The Paradox.” YouTube.com. image. 2015. <https://i.ytimg.com/vi/hRCedoRPyyo/maxresdefault.jpg>
[2] Exodus 22:28; Leviticus 24:15-16.
[3] Soncino Babylonian Talmud. Ed. Isidore Epstein. Sanhedrin 55b-56a. <https://israelect.com/Come-and-Hear/sanhedrin/sanhedrin_55.html>
[4] John 10:38.
[5] John 8:24. ISV.
[6] Mark 14:61. ISV, NLT, NRSV. CR Matthew 9:6, 26.64; Mark 2:10-11, 8:31, 14.62; Luke 5:24, 9:22, 22:69.
[7] John 3:1-2.
[8] “irony.” Cambridge Dictionary. 2023. <https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/irony>
[9] Genesis 11:31.
[10] Genesis 22:1.
[11] II Chronicles 3:1; II Samuel 5:6-11. Josephus. Antiquities. Book VII, Chapter III. Ryrie Study Bible. Ed. Ryrie Charles C. “Laws relating to conquests” ref. Ex. 23:20-33.
[12] Exodus 23; 29:43-46; 33; Deuteronomy 12:11-14, 16: 11,18-20, 17:8-10; Numbers 34:1-15; I Chronicles 17:3-10. CR Exodus 30:36, 40:2-11, 34-38; Leviticus 16:2; II Samuel 7:12-13.
[13] Deuteronomy 16:1,6. I Chronicles 21:18-26. CR Exodus 12:14-15; Leviticus 23:4-8. CR Deuteronomy 16:1-8; II Chronicles 8:12-14, chapter 29, 35:1-6.
[14] Matthew 21:13; Luke 19:46.
[15] Deuteronomy 17:8. CR Exodus 19:6.
[16] Ariel, Yisrael. “The Chamber of the Hewn Stone.” The Temple Institute. 2019. <https://www.templeinstitute.org/illustrated/hewn_stone_description.htm> Ariel. “Blueprints for the Holy Temple.” <http://www.templeinstitute.org/blueprints-for-the-holy-temple.htm>
[17] Leviticus 19:15-18; Deuteronomy 1:16-17, 17:8-13, 19:15-21, 25:1. CR Exodus 18; 28:1; Numbers 8:14, Deuteronomy 16:18-19, 18:1-6, 21:5; II Chronicles 8:14; 19:8-11; Nehemiah 11:10-18. “Priest.” Jewish Encyclopedia. 2011.. <https://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/12358-priest>
[18] “Sanhedrin.” JewishEncyclopedia.com. 2007. <https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/13178-sanhedrin> Schoenberg, Shira. JewishVirtualLibrary.org. “Ancient Jewish History: The Sanhedrin.” n.d. <https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-sanhedrin> Shurpin, Yehuda. Chadad.org. “The Sanhedrin: The Jewish Court System.” n.d. <https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/4100306/jewish/The-Sanhedrin-The-Jewish-Court-System.htm>
[19] “Sanhedrin.” JewishEncyclopedia.com. 2011. <https://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/13178-sanhedrin>
[20] CR Exodus 12:14-15; Leviticus 23:4-8. CR Deuteronomy 16:1-8.
[21] Deuteronomy 16:1-6. II Chronicles chapters 8, 29, 34-35:19; Ezra 6:16-22. CR Leviticus 23:4-6; Numbers 9:2, 28:16-17. Edersheim, Alfred. The Temple – Its Ministry and Services. 1826 -1889. <https://ccel.org/ccel/edersheim/temple/temple.i.html> Coulter, Fred R. cbcg.org. The Christian Passover. “Chapters 12-13, Part 1. n.d. <https://www.cbcg.org/booklets/the-christian-passover/chapter-twelve-when-and-why-the-temple-sacrifice-of-the-passover-was-instituted-part-one.html>
[22] Exodus 26:31-37. Deuteronomy 12:11-14, 16:18-20; 17:8-10; 18:1-8, 19:15-18.
