norwegen
Diamond Member
My mistake. The Jews wanted him dead, but neither Agrippa nor Festus could find fault with him.Hence his differences with the Pharisees and their scribes and the elders and chief priests. Paul preached the same salvation (not in temple but in God). So the Jews had them both executed.Jesus turned upside-down the expectation of Israel's Messiah. The traditional kingdom that the Israelites expected was the one that even the Baptist expected, who expressed disappointment with Jesus when he supposed that God’s dominion had not arrived in a timely enough fashion (Mt 11:2-3; Lk 7:20). Like his countrymen, the Baptist expected to see a political empire of his people with Jerusalem as its capital. Instead, he saw that Jesus had been spending his time preaching and healing while he himself was in jail (Mt 11:4-6; Lk 7:21-23), while Rome was still occupying Judea and Galilee, and while the temple and the Old Covenant remained in place.
The Messianic Age was replete with self-proclaimed messiahs, from Theudas and Judas (Antiquities 20.5.1 & 2; Acts 5:36-37) to Bar-Jesus (Acts 13:6-12) to Simon bar Kokhba. They all fit that warrior mold; they all saw themselves ensconced in history as mighty warriors and faithful servants who would restore the glory of their promised land.
Jesus is the only one who actually made a difference, as history bears out, and he preached new life not in temple or territory but in God.
Great post.. Jesus didn't fit the expectation at all.
Paul was executed in Rome. You've lost me.
The point is, they persecuted and tried Paul for the same reason they persecuted and tried Jesus. They expected, as you say, a warrior king, and not what these two men offered.