How Did Jews Not Know Jesus Was The Messiah?

Often people criticize the Jews of Jesus’ day for not recognizing him as the Messiah. “How dumb can they be? He walked on water?!”

One thing I’ve learned in my little life is that all people of all time are pretty dumb. Yet at the same time, they’re never quite as dumb as they may appear. There is usually some logic behind what they are doing. (Exceptions do exist!)

The Apostle Paul said “The Jews seek a sign and the Gentiles seek wisdom.” The Jews were primed for signs. They were supposed to be watching for someone who would fulfill the Messianic prophecies.

Jesus did a pretty good job! But let’s be honest, He never did THE BIG SIGN. The major sign of the Messiah was defeating evil Gentiles and making Jerusalem this giant, powerful, unchallenged capital of all things. He didn’t do that!

If you remember in Acts right after Jesus was resurrected the disciples asked Him, “Are you going to bring the Kingdom now?” Again we laugh at them, but seriously, that was THE BIG SIGN of the Messiah! Of course they wanted to see it; that’s what all the prophecies were pointing to.

Paul, in his epistles, goes on to explain that there are certain “mysteries” in Christ Jesus, one of which is that there is this new Church Age, this new time where believers will be in the Body of Christ. This new age where there is no difference between Jew and Gentile.

Early Jews struggled with this notion. This is not what they expected at all. Bringing Gentiles into fellowship with Jews is pretty much the polar opposite of destroying Gentiles and making Jews reign supreme!

Were all these Jewish guys dumb, or did they just know their Scriptures? Seems to me they were very educated as to what the messiah was supposed to be doing. Yes, Jesus did some of those things. At the same time, He never did the BIG ONE, so obviously they would be a little confused.

It took multiple epistles of the New Testament, revelation they didn’t have at the time when Jesus was on earth, to explain it all.

Now, it also must be said that there were some Jews who were never satisfied with the signs Jesus did do. The problem with seeking a sign is that you just want to see more of them. What if I was tricked? I have to be sure. Do another one!

Because they were so fixated on signs, they failed to listen to the wisdom Christ spoke. He hinted at a delay in the physical Kingdom’s arrival. He hinted at a new time where they’d be without Him, but the Spirit would be with them.

But they weren’t really hearing that wisdom; they were watching for signs.

Conversely, Gentiles seek wisdom. This makes us Gentiles suspicious of believing signs. Resurrection doesn’t sound scientifically possible. Walking on water is rationally impossible. We focus so much on the “facts” that we miss the signs and are not sufficiently blown away by them.

Jews seeking a sign is not all bad, but taken to an extreme, a place where they aren’t hearing but only watching, won’t work.

Stop bashing on the disciples and the Jews of Jesus’ day. Yes, some of them, like the scribes and Pharisees, were obstinate and obnoxiously obtuse. But the common people, including the disciples, probably did better than you and I would have!

Humility is always good. Be humbled by their example, not puffed up that you’re better. They knew their Scripture better than most of us do. Humble up, pay attention, and be teachable.

How much of what we are looking for from God is misguided? How much of our understandings are off base? If it happened to them; I guarantee we’re doing it too.

Does Jesus Take Away Our Shame?

I saw a thing that said when Jesus turned water into whine at the wedding, He removed the shame of the host they would have had for running out of whine.

The speaker went on to say that this is what Jesus does: He takes away our shame. He spoke to a group of college students and used this passage to tell them that they no longer needed to have shame for all the terrible things they’d done in the past. They were elated and so happy that their shame was gone.

At first blush this sounds good. Most probably go along with it just fine. We do have forgiveness in Jesus Christ, the guilt is removed, and we are no longer children of wrath. All good stuff, deserving of our elatedness.

But our shame removed? Not sure about that one.

I’m especially not sure if we’re talking societal shame. Not sure Jesus cares that much about what society thinks of you. In fact, in many cases, following Jesus will add more societal shame to you. Keeping Up With the Jones’s is nothing more than societal shame, a thing we might call “conformity,” that pressures us into falling in line with humanity.

If we are truly dead with Christ and raised up to newness of life, then we should not fall under the pressures of societal shame at all. It shouldn’t be a thing for a Christian who is only concerned with their stand before God.

Furthermore, sin is bad. We’re not supposed to do it. Anyone who thinks that Jesus dying on the cross means I don’t have to feel shame for being an idiot, is an idiot.

Not having any shame over your sin would be the result of a hardened heart. The only people who are not ashamed of their sin are people who are blinded by it, people who don’t see anything wrong because they’ve ruined their conscience. Perhaps people who take their sin and turn it into Pride events, as an example.

Further, furthermore, there’s this thing called Scripture. Rather than using a parable to extrapolate a point that isn’t there about a subject not being addressed, why not look at verses that talk about our sin and shame.

Here’s one to consider, Romans 6:20-21L

For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.

The sins of the past are still a source of shame for the believer. It’s not until you have the illumination of the Spirit and God’s Word that you truly see your sin for what it is, and how much there is, and how gross it is.

Even if I’m forgiven by Jesus Christ, I still feel shame for all the stupid sins I’ve done.

Ephesians 5:12 says not only is sin bad, “it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.” Just talking about sin is shameful. I imagine this means actual sin is also shameful.

I imagine it’s important to put in a disclaimer: you shouldn’t live with just shame, you can’t beat yourself up and refuse to leave the house, but you should still see your sin as shameful.

Like the sinner who didn’t raise his eyes to heaven but merely said, “Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner.” He was justified, not the guy who felt no shame and boasted about himself.

We tend to get carried away in our religious talk. We like to make sanctimonious sentimental points. They feel good and get a cool response. But if they aren’t biblical, all we’re doing is leading people astray.

Minimizing sin’s grossness will certainly make people feel better, they might even be elated to hear it, but it’s also unbiblical and probably will lead to license and more unchecked sin.

The Law Divides; The Gospel Unites

The law divided the nation of Israel from all the other nations. The reason for the division was to keep Israel from being tainted by pagan practices.

Israel was chosen as the nation to bring forth the Messiah. They had to be different, they couldn’t be pagany like all their neighbors with this holy job. The law set them apart as a holy/separate people. Gentiles knew the difference and didn’t like the Jews. Jews knew the difference even more and detested Gentiles.

When Peter received his vision in Acts 10 with the sheet coming down with all manner of unclean animals he was ordered to eat, he balked. But God insisted. Peter is then summoned by a Gentile to come preach to Gentiles.

The message Peter comes up with is that God shows no partiality, that people from all nations who fear God and do righteousness are accepted with God (Acts 10:35).

Paul explains in Galatians 3 and 4 that once Christ came, the law went away. The point of the law was to set apart Israel until they brought the Messiah. The Messiah got brought, so there is no longer a need for separation.

The Mosaic Law was never given to save people, not even Jews. It was simply there to battle against the sin prevalent in the heathen, pagan nations around them.

Paul several times talks about how there is no longer a difference between Jew and Gentile, male and female, and slave and free. These distinctions were huge in the law, but since the law is gone, the distinctions are gone.

This is the great “mystery” of unity in the body of Christ. To us, who have never been under the rigors of the Mosaic Law, being unified with Jews and Germans and Brazilians doesn’t seem that big of a deal. But if you had been raised under the Law, being unclean for large portions of your life, many times because of those heathens, this would have been mind blowing.

Peter struggled with it in Acts 10. But even after getting the point, he falls again in Galatians 2. Paul confronted him to his face about his fear of associating with Gentiles when Jewish leaders came around.

Old habits are hard to kick.

There is unity in Christ. He brings things together. All believers are “in Christ” and lose their personal identities. It is no longer I who lives. My nationality, gender, or class makes no difference in Christ.

The world loves to divide along these lines. Christians have lost these markers of identity, we no longer care about them. All we care about is being in Christ. Our one identity we cling to is who we are in Christ, members of His body.

The Mosaic Law is no longer in effect, therefore, its distinctions are gone as well. But people sure do love to divide.

Stop it! There is no reason for that in Christ. Wouldn’t it be swell if the Church could truly live this before a watching divided and fighting world?

It sure would be. But people like to divide. Baptists are better than Presbyterians don’t ya know?! We will continue to do so until God’s judgment where He will once and for all divide the sheep and the goats.

Let God do that job. Until then, we live by humble, loving service esteeming others better than ourselves.