The Jewish Mystery of Jesus Christ:
It is puzzling to consider why some Jews do not recognize Jesus as the long promised and awaited Messiah, with so many prophecies of the Scriptures fulfilled to the letter in Jesus of Nazareth...
... One reason is that the Scriptures make 300 prophecies of the "First Coming of the Messiah", as the suffering servant of Is.53, but make 500 prophecies about the "Second Coming of the Messiah", the triumphal King of Zach.14... to the point that some rabbis talk about two Messiah, and for most Jews, the "triumphant one" is the Messiah they were expecting...
... The Jews did not kill Jesus, the Roman soldiers did, under the command of a Roman Governor, Pontius Pilate... however the "real killers" of Jesus are you and I, because each time we sin, "we crucify the Son of God for ourselves holding him up to mockery" (Hebrews 6:6)...
... The Jews, and you and I, were expecting a Messiah to bring us the kingdom of this world, but Jesus offers us something infinitely bigger, the Kingdom of Heaven... and for it we shout "crucify him"!... we expected a boss, and Jesus is only a God. We wanted swords, and Jesus gives us palms. We were longing to be bosses, but Jesus orders us to love. We were expecting to be victorious, with honors, and Jesus commands us to forgive and to be humble... and for it, as a criminal of high treason, we shout "crucify him"!...
The Messiah, Christ in Greek
The "Messiah" is an idea and hope that runs through every page of the Holy Scriptures... with 300 prophecies about his "First Coming", and 500 about his "Second Coming"... announcing his character, his time of coming, the type and details of his church... and the Messiah is the core of the heart of every Jew... He was promised to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David... he shall save Israel and the whole world!...
There have been many who claimed to be the Messiah... the one who "will establish the throne of God's Kingdom for ever" (Psa.12).
"Jesus of Nazareth", was one of those who claimed to be the Messiah... racially and religiously Jesus was born, lived, and died a loyal Jew. He at all times observed the Jewish religious ceremonies rigorously. His first commandment was a direct quotation of the "Schema", in Debt.6: "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength" (Mar.12:29-30).
Without any question, Jesus is the most famous and influential person in the history of the human race... He never wrote a book, but millions of books have been written on him... He owned no property, won no medals, never held any political or religious office, commanded no army... Yet no person in history has had such an influence on the human race. Even the present year is dated from his birth.
He said that he had come not to destroy, but to fulfill the Jewish Laws. He announced his purpose in Luk.4 with the words of Is.61:1-2: "The Lord anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind.
Jesus' reception, During his life was a stormy one: The multitudes flocked to him, and many of them acknowledge him as the Son of God and the long-awaited Messiah (Christ). But the powerful forces in the Jewish congregation, Pharisees and Sadducees, jealous of his popularity, incensed by his denunciation of some of them, and bitterly critical of his disregard for formalism, his willingness to violate some of the minor laws, and very specially for his heretical claim that he was the Son of God, the Messiah, repudiated him, and conspired to kill him... their final conspiracy was not after doing something bad, but after resurrecting a 4 days death, Lazarus! (Jn.12)... they were blind!, they could not see that he was really God... and eventually they saw him crucified, fulfilling the scriptures, as he had announced 3 times before... and after learning of his resurrection, they persecuted his followers!...
