Jesus, The Odds

Paradox of the Trial

Possibly the greatest paradox in history occurred when Jesus of Nazareth was tried for the offense of blasphemy under God’s Law. The open question is whether or not Jesus was telling the truth…

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 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 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 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 to be blasphemy.

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.

Previously, Jesus challenged people who didn’t believe he is the Son of God should, instead, believe in the miraculous deeds he performed. Nicodemus was one of those people who believed first in the miracles that Jesus performed.^[7] The miracles; however, didn’t seem to matter to those judging Jesus.

Undercurrents of the aberrant 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 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 to God, then saved at the last moment.^[10]

Centuries later, the Hebrews escaped the slavery of Egypt and arrived at Mt. Sinai where God handed down the Law to Moses. God also made promises about the place He had chosen for their future home. 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 a kingdom in the land of Abraham. It was established under King David and became the kingdom of Israel.

Another of those promises 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 for a grave lack of faith in God. The location of the sacrifice happened to be a threshing floor 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 the blasphemy trial.

God promised at Mt. Sinai that the most complicated cases in the land were to be litigated in the place He chose. Jerusalem became the place, the Judgement Seat of Israel.^[15] Jesus was judged in that city by the Jewish leaders of the Sanhedrin.^[16]

Sanhedrin, among other responsibilities, served as the supreme court of Israel. Sanhedrin membership consisted of priests, including the High Priest, and members of influential families.^[17]

Priests of God themselves were charged with standing before God to serve as judges to honor and preserve the Law.^[18] Indeed, even the High Priest Caiaphas was among those who judged Jesus in the Temple, the House where God’s Name dwells.^[19]

Passover, since the deliverance from the 10^th plague in Egypt, is stipulated by God to occur at an appointed time, Nisan (Abib) 15^th. The observance date was codified in the Law at Mt. Sinai and God promised to provide the place to observe the Passover at its appointed time.^[20] The Temple in Jerusalem became the only place to offer the Passover sacrifices.^[21]

If Jesus is the Son of God, the trial and crucifixion became the ultimate, multifaceted paradox. Jesus was judged at God’s appointed time for the Passover; he was tried in God’s chosen Judgement Seat of Israel in God’s chosen 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]

Was the trial of Jesus a paradox – was Jesus the Son of God or a heretic?

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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] “Sanhedrin.” JewishEncyclopedia.com. 2011. <https://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/13178-sanhedrin>
[18] 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>
[19] “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>
[20] 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.

Jesus of Nazareth – a Real Historical Figure?

Media today widely treats Jesus of Nazareth as a real historical figure. Evidence can be seen in many forms such as via NBC, National Geographic and The History Channel.

Premises of these media presentations is based on the factualness of the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem during the end of King Herod’s reign; his Roman crucifixion at Jerusalem, and the claims of his Resurrection that spawned a new religion.

The History Channel mini-series The Bible in 2013 became the adaption into the 2014 major motion picture release of Son of God. The next year this was followed with the 2015 NBC mini-series A.D.: Beyond the Bible picking up where the Gospels ended with the crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus.^[1]

National Geographic in 2015 published the hard cover book Jesus: An Illustrated Life where its website promo begins by saying “Two thousand years after his death, Jesus of Nazareth remains one of history’s most influential and fascinating figures.” The 2016 spin-off magazine special edition entitled The Story of Jesus states “Jesus of Nazareth remains one of history’s most influential and fascinating figures.”^[2]

New York Times reported decades earlier in 1977 an article entitled Jesus of Nazareth which was then turned into a 6 hour TV episode that later aired on NBC.^[3] US News & World Report magazine ran as its cover story on April 16, 1990, The Last Days of Jesus: The new light on what happened based on the premise that Jesus was a real person who lived, died and quite possibly rose from the dead.

Movies, books and magazines do not necessarily prove Jesus was a true historical figure. While many may react by thinking the historicity of Jesus is an established fact, there are those who are skeptical with some adamantly insisting he never existed at all and, as a consequence, Jesus cannot then be the Son of God.

Of those skeptics who do not believe the historical reality of Jesus of Nazareth, that small percentage still translates into millions of people. Many consider themselves to be agnostics or atheists, but not all.

Theories against the historicity of Jesus of Nazareth fall into two basic areas. One is based on a passive form of legend that developed over centuries about a figure known as Jesus.

Another theory is loosely centered on some manner of Christian conspiracy where Christian activists created a fictitious messiah figure, some believing it is a full blown conspiracy.^[4] Quotes from the promo webpage for the aptly named book, The Christ Conspiracy by D. M. Murdock, are examples of these views:^[5]

“Jesus is a mythical figure in the tradition of pagan mythology and almost nothing in all of ancient literature would lead one to believe otherwise. Anyone wanting to believe Jesus lived and walked as a real live human being must do so despite the evidence, not because of it.” – C. Dennis McKinsey

“The gospel story is an artificial, non-historical work. It has been fabricated from source materials that can be identified and traced to their incorporation into the gospels. There is not a particle of hard evidence that ‘Jesus of Nazareth’ ever existed.” – Harold Leidner

Standing opposed to these charges are diverse sources outside the Bible reaching back through the centuries to within just a few years after the Roman destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in 70 AD. They come from Roman era sources; major, non-Christian religions – even some atheists.

Credentials of these historical sources are important in weighing the integrity of their statements in-spite-of their antagonism. One is these is the highly recognized Roman historian of the Jews, Josephus, himself a former Jewish Pharisee priest and military General. Others include prominent Roman historical figures such as Tacitus and Suetonius. Perhaps the most credible sources are two major world religions, Judaism and Islam.

Some sources do not directly discuss the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, but in denouncing or criticizing the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, they have conceded by inference that he was born, lived and walked this earth. Others refer to the crucifixion of Jesus, a recognition that he once lived in order to be crucified.

Virtually all the sources that corroborate the historical existence of Jesus of Nazareth are antagonistic toward Christianity. When opposing forces agree on a common point of information, it becomes the strongest form of a truth because both sides have essentially established – willingly or reluctantly – that it is a fact. Trial lawyers use this strategy to artfully extract common points of truth from witnesses to establish factual information. Using factual testimony of their opposing witnesses, they strengthen their own cases.

Over the past 2000 years up to this very day, the personage of Jesus of Nazareth has and continues to make a monumental impact on the world stage. Continually seen in current news stories, the name of Jesus still causes religious tensions, political turmoil, persecution, brutal atrocities of martyrdom and wars to be fought.^[6]

What are the odds that all these consequences are the result of a false premise, one that says Jesus was not a real person? Something profound happened involving a historical figure two thousand years ago that forever changed history – even calendars – nevertheless, some will still continue to believe it is all a myth. Was Jesus of Nazareth a real person?

Updated November 11, 2022.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

REFERENCES:

[1] “The Bible.” A&E Television Networks, LLC. 2022. <https://www.history.com/shows/the-bible> “Son of God.” IMDb.com, Inc. 2022. <https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3210686> “Beyond AD.” NBCUniversal Media, LLC. <https://www.nbc.com/beyond-ad/about> “Jesus of Nazareth. Amazon.co.UK. image. 2011. <https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61mjpUpOKcL._AC_SL1051_.jpg>
[2] Isbouts, Jean-Pierre. “Jesus: An Illustrated Life.” National Geographic Society.2015. http://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Illustrated-Life-Jean-Pierre-Isbouts/dp/1426215681/ref=sr_1_1/185-6473608-4923818?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1462376067&sr=1-1&keywords=national+geographic+jesus>
[3] “Jesus of Nazareth.” The New York Times Company. 2022. <https://www.nytimes.com/1977/04/02/archives/long-island-opinion-tv-jesus-of-nazareth-starts-on-nbc-tomorrow.html>
[4] Gauvin, Marshall J. “Did Jesus Christ Really Live?” (ca. 1922). Infidels.org. <http://www.infidels.org/library/historical/marshall_gauvin/did_jesus_really_live.html>
Ron Csillag. “For scholars, a combustible question: Was Christ real?” TheStar.com. 2008. <http://www.thestar.com/article/557548
“Was Jesus a Real Man?” The Atheist Apologist. 2010. <http://www.atheistapologist.com/2010/06/was-jesus-real-man.html>
“Historicity of Jesus.” New World Encyclopedia. 2012. <http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Info:Main_Page>
Roussos, Ioannis. “On the Historicity of Jesus Christ.” Atheist Foundation of Australia. <http://atheistfoundation.org.au/article/on-the-historicity-of-jesus-christ rel=”nofollow”>
Rich, Tracey R. “Looking for Jesus?”, JewFAQ.org. <http://www.jewfaq.org/search.shtml?Keywords=what+about+Jesus>
Wolchover, Natalie. “Proof of Jesus Christ? 7 Pieces of Evidence Debated.” 2013. LiveScience.com. <http://www.livescience.com/38014-physical-evidence-jesus-debated.html>
Gloag, Paton J. Introduction to the Synoptic Gospels. 1895. “Introduction to the Synoptic Gospels.” Online Books Page. <http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/008728595>
[5] Murdock, D.M. aka S., Acharya. The Christ Conspiracy. Advertisement. <http://www.truthbeknown.com/christ.htm rel=”nofollow”>
[6] Chiaramonte, Perry. “Christian persecution seen in more locations across the globe, new report shows.” February 02, 2017. <http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/02/02/christian-persecution-seen-in-more-locations-across-globe-new-report-shows.html>