ИСТИНА

A split between “this world” and “the world to come” unites the semiotics of Early Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism. In “this world,” “the power of darkness” (Luk 22:53) prevails. In “the world to come,” the community of righteous ones lives peacefully under the rule of God. The “world to come” is “within you,” both transcendent and immanent, in the future and now. According to R. Meir, righteous persons already belong to the world to come (y Sheqalim 3:3). Jesus is already “the King of the Jews,” though his kingdom is “not of this world” (Joh 18:33-36). The two worlds are not only split but also collide. Their collision creates cognitive dissonance, which is visible in the transcripts of interrogation found in the Gospels and in Bavli Gittin (56a-b). A Roman officer (either Vespasian or Pilate) interrogates a Jewish teacher (either Jesus, called Rabbi in the NT, or R. Yohanan b. Zakkay) on the matter of a kingdom. Jesus has to answer if he is the king of the Jews. R. Yohanan b. Zakkay greets Vespasian as a king and immediately becomes subject to the death penalty on two counts: Vespasian is not a king and if he were a king, the Rabbi should have come to him previously. At the end of the interrogation, both Rabbis (Jesus and R. Yohanan b. Zakkay) “shut up,” “give no answer.” Moreover, in Bavli Gittin (56b), God himself “keeps dumb.” S. Averinsev and P. Gooch have already compared the silence of Jesus to the articulated voice of Socrates at his trial. As I would suggest, the notion of God “keeping dumb” made the difference between Jewish teaches (including Jesus) and Socrates.