Jesus Christ
The Passion
They Repented Not: The Message of Jesus Rejected
by Rhawn Joseph, Ph.D.
After Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in the towns of Galilee. Jesus offered hope, love, redemption, and salvation:
"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." -Matthew 11.
And yet, despite his success and the multitudes who flocked to hear him speak and to be healed, Jesus was disastisfied: "The labourers are few."
And it was not just the paucity of "labourers" which weared him, but his knowledge that his message of God and of love and foregiveness, was not truly accepted or understood by the elders, the priests, the Pharisees, the Sadduccee, or the masses of people of the cities.
Jesus also had many enemies and they continually plotted to undue his good works. Indeed, in every city, every town, every village, the elders, the priests, the scribes, the Sadduccees, and the Pharisees plotted and preached against him, calling Jesus a false prophet and a devil. But this too was as prophecied: "The chief priests, the scribes... shall condemn him and shall mock him, and shall scourge him, and shall spit upon him, and shall kill him." -Mark 9.
And yet, although Jesus knew that his message was to be rejected, that this was in accordance with prophecy, he was nevertheless sorely disapointed and angry by their reaction.
"Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not...But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee." -Matthew 11.
"For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed....because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand." -Mathew 13.
The elders, the chief priests, and their scribes did not want to understand. Instead, the Pharisees and their spies complained about his behavior and sought to trick him with their questions in order to destroy him:
"There come to him the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders, And say unto him, By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority to do these things? And Jesus answered and said unto them, I will also ask of you one question, and answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or of men? answer me. Now as the priests well knew, the people believed John the Baptist to be a prophet, sent to them by God. But, just as the priests and Pharisees had rejected Jesus, they had also secretly rejected John. They did so secretly for to announce their disbelief would anger the people and undermine their authority. The people might even rise up and stone them to death. And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say, Why then did ye not believe him? But if we shall say, Of men; they feared the people: for all men counted John, that he was a prophet indeed. And they answered and said unto Jesus, We cannot tell. And Jesus answering saith unto them, Neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things." -Mark 11
Jesus had outsmarted them again. So, they plotted all the more, and accused Jesus of violating the sabbath--a sin whose punishment is stoning unto death.
"And, behold, there was a man which had his hand withered. And they asked him, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath days? that they might accuse him. And he said unto them, What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out? How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the sabbath days. Then saith Jesus to the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it forth; and it was restored whole, like as the other. Then the Pharisees went out, and held a council against him, how they might destroy him." -Matthew 12.
It was because of the dangers these spies and enemies posed, that Jesus remained every careful of what he said in public, and often spoke in parables:
"Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand."
Yet, as Jesus soon discovered, he was in much greater danger than he first realized. The authorities had no qualms about killing prophets. Indeed, soon after these trials and tribulations Jesus learned of the murder of his cousin, John the Baptist.
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