In Joseph Heller's book Catch-22, an Air Force bombardier is desperately seeking relief from going out on the deadly missions he must fly each day. As he gets close to the number of missions that will allow him to be rotated, the number of missions needed for rotation keeps changing. He concludes that only a crazy person would keep flying those dangerous missions. He thinks he must be crazy, and therefore he should be sent home. His superiors agree with him that a crazy person should be sent home but only a sane person could recognize the danger involved. Therefore, anyone who sees the danger is not crazy. He is caught in catch-22.

On the day after people poured out of Jerusalem to greet Jesus and accompany him with palm branches and shouts of acclaim into the city, agents of two groups t…