Jesus Teachings - Threat to Jews - Essay Example

Jesus Teachings-A Threat to Jews The book of Mathew presents Jesus Christ as the son of God. He marks the begging of Christianity in a community that was dominated by Jews. The history of Jewish community exposes the trial and tribulations faced by Jews under the reign of Roman emperor in exchange for freedom of worship and protection against their enemies that was distinct from the daily practices of the Romans. Therefore, when Jesus was born the Jews community was under the leadership of Roman emperor while the religious practices were presided over by the Jews. In his teachings, Jesus was accused of treason against the Roman government (Mathew, 2). At the same time, he was accused of blasphemy by the Jewish leaders for claiming to be the king of Jews and for performing a miracle and disobeying the Sabbath. Although Jesus mission was to establish God’s kingdom on earth, the Jews religious leaders perceived Him as a serious threat to their religious duties and this made them accuse Jesus of misleading the people before the Roman rulers. Jesus was the descendants of Abraham thus they are from the Jewish community (Mathew 1:17). After the birth of Jesus King Herod the Great sought to kill Jesus because Herod was the King of Judea and a Roman. Herod had seen the star that shone on the East and he understood the king had been born. He sent messengers to identify the king so that Herod could go and worship him, although his intention was to kill the king. However, Herod could not kill Jesus because the angel of the lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and requested him to go into hiding with his son and his wife. Therefore, the birth of Jesus had sent a signal to the Roman leaders about the upcoming king and that may have instilled fear among the Roman leaders because they did not understand the true nature of Jesus kingship. After baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist, the Holy Spirit ascended upon Jesus and he started preaching. Jesus appointed his twelve disciples as to assist him in his ministry. He called people to depart from their sins and told them to “repent for the kingdom of God is at hand” (Mathew 10: 50). When Jesus was preaching, someone told him that his mother and sisters were looking for him, but Jesus pointed at his disciples and replied that his "For whatsoever shall do the will of My Father which is in heaven, the same is my brothers, and sisters, and my mother” (Mathew 12: 50). The Jesus declaration of his relatives had an impact of the Jews because to them Jesus was ordinary son of Mary and Joseph the Carpenter and by claiming his father was in heaven did not go well with the Jews. Jews were not contented with His utterances because they could not understand why he claimed that God was His father. His utterances were used by Jews in accusing Him of blasphemy. Jesus mission was to establish the kingdom of God on earth and had no interest with earthly kingdom. He performed miracles used parables to teach about the God’s kingdom. In Mathew (Chapter 15), the Pharisees and Sadducees accused Jesus of misleading his disciples. They claimed that the followers of Jesus disobeyed the Jews traditions by not washing their hands before undertaking meals. The Jews community valued their traditions so much because they served as unifying factors to the Jewish community. However, Jesus criticized the Pharisees for profaning the God’s practices with their traditions and claimed that the Pharisees and Sadducees worshiped God not with their actions but with the word of mouth. The Jesus teaching about what defiles a man and how it can draw away from God was a great drawback to the Jewish community and especially the leaders because to them Jesus was misleading the people. The Jews accused Jesus of causing disorderliness among the Jews by teaching them not to obey the Jews traditions. Jesus spoke in parables and performed miracles by healing the sick and raising the dead. He spoke with authority and claimed that his message was from God. The high priests called Jesus and asked him to elaborate whose authority he was using (Mathew 21: 23). The high priests felt threatened by Jesus’ utterances and deeds because they thought he was drawing more attention of the people to himself. They thought that Jesus may win the affection of the people and cause rebellion among the religious followers. The Pharisees tempted Jesus by asking whether it was appropriate to pay tax to the Roman Authority. However, Jesus replied that they should "give to Caesar what belongs to him and give God what belongs to God" (Math22: 21). The Pharisees and Sadducees were Jews, but since they felt threatened by the popularity Jesus was gaining among the Jews, the Pharisees sought means to set the Roman rulers against Jesus by accusing him of misleading the people not pay tax to the Roman rulers. Although Jesus never told his followers not to obey their earthly leaders, the Jews always accused Him of misleading the people because He always claimed he did the will of His father. The Jews accused him because they thought he was gaining powers over them. In Mathew 24: 2, Jesus told his disciples, “you may well look at all these. I tell you this: not a single stone here will be left in its place; every one of them will be thrown down.” Jesus was referring to the destruction of the temple of Jerusalem. It was a magnificent temple and that had taken many years to build. However, Jesus was using the temple to refer to his own body although his followers did not understand him. In Mathew 26: 61, Jesus was accused before Caiaphas, the high priest and a Jew that, in His preaching, He claimed he would destroy and restore the temple within three days. The accusation about demolishing the temple and rebuilding it within three days was a misunderstanding among the Jews because Jesus was not referring to the physical temple, but his own death and resurrection after three days. However, the Jews felt threatened because the temple of Jerusalem was of great significance to the people as a center of worship and a symbol of unity among the Jews. Having no divine understanding of what Jesus was implying by demolishing the temple and rebuilding it in three days was a blasphemy to the Jews. He used the parable of temple to refer to His body yet the Jews leaders could not understand his parable thus they mistook it for blasphemy. The high priest took Jesus to the governor of Judea (Pilate) and accused him of various things. Pilate was a Roman ruler in charge of Judea. The high priests accused Jesus of inciting his followers against paying tax to the Roman government and of treason for claiming to be the king. In the gospel of Mathew Chapter 20, Jesus taught about of heaven and prepared his followers to inherit the kingdom of God. That was in rhyme with his wise teachings in the Gospel of Mathew Chapter five where Jesus put a lot of emphasizes of how to live in accordance to Gods will. Therefore, the accusation against Jesus to Pilate that he was claiming to be a king did have much impact on Roman emperor than it had on Jews leaders. Jesus was not an earthly king and did not have any intention of possessing earthly powers. For instance, Jesus had not established any earthly army neither did he carry any physical weapon at all. Therefore, there was no way Pilate and other Roman leaders could view Jesus as a threat to their government yet he had no military force. Pilate was reluctant to execute Jesus because he could not find any fault on the claims laid before him. Although Jesus had many followers and gained a lot of influence among the Jews Pilate did not consider that as a threat to Romans in any way. On the contrary, Caiaphas who was a Jew and a high priest considered Jesus influence as a great threat and accused Jesus before Pilate. He was a threat to the Jews religious leaders because He was gaining popularity in his ministry while other religious leaders were losing influence among the Jews. The Roman leaders would send the Caiaphas or their soldiers to arrest Jesus if they had perceived Him to be posing any threat at all. On the other hand, if Jews did not see Jesus as a threat to their own influence they would defend him against the Roman government (Mathew Chapter 26). In conclusion, the teachings of Jesus and his popularity among the Jews may have caused hunger Roman leaders, but not as much as it did to Jewish leaders. The claims that Jesus incited Jews not to pay tax to the Roman government, that Jesus claimed to be the king, that he spoke blasphemy and committed treason against the Roman rulers were all allegations framed on Jesus by the Jews leaders who considered Him a strong religious opponent and the most popular among the people. Pilate’s dissatisfaction with teachings of Jesus may have been the reason he accepted to crucify Jesus, even though he claimed to have been pressured by the people. Although he claimed he did not find any fault with Jesus, Pilate had the authority to rescue Jesus and he did not do so. Probably he was happy inwardly when the high priests presented Jesus for trial before him. However, since they were political leaders and Jesus was a religious leader, the Jews leaders such as the high priests were more annoyed by the teachings of Jesus than the Roman political leaders. Reference Mathew Chapter 1-28: King James Version. Read More