Jesus came before
Yehoshua ben Peraḥya several times and said to him: Accept our, i.e., my, repentance.
Yehoshua ben Peraḥya took no notice of him. One day
Yehoshua ben Peraḥya was reciting
Shema and
Jesus came before him with the same request.
Yehoshua ben Peraḥya intended to accept his request,
and signaled him with his hand to wait until he completed his prayer.
Jesus did not understand the signal and thought: He is driving me away.
He went and stood a brick upright to serve as an idol and he bowed to it. Yehoshua ben Peraḥya then said to
Jesus: Repent.
Jesus said to him:
This is the tradition that I received from you: Whoever sins and causes the masses to sin is not given the opportunity to repent. And the Master says:
Jesus performed sorcery, incited Jews to engage in idolatry, and led
Israel astray. Had
Yehoshua ben Peraḥya not caused him to despair of atonement, he would not have taken the path of evil.