Nobody Was Waiting for What Jesus Offered
The Israelites of the first century were not waiting for a personal savior who would forgive their sins and give them a quiet relationship with God. They were waiting for a warrior king who would overthrow Rome, restore the nation of Israel, and usher in an age when God finally showed up to set everything right.
That is not a cynical reading. That is simply what the historical evidence tells us about Jewish hope in the Second Temple period. And if you do not understand what Israel was waiting for, you will not understand why Jesus was so controversial, so unexpected, and so world-altering.
The Hebrew word "messiah" means "anointed one." In ancient Israel, kings and priests were anointed with oil as a sign of being set apart for their office. By the first century, "messiah" had become a technical term for the figure Israel expected: a divinely empowered deliverer who would come to restore everything that had gone wrong.
But here is what most people miss: there was no single, agreed-upon picture of what the messiah would look like or exactly what he would do. Different groups in Second Temple Judaism carried different versions of the hope. Some expected a warrior king descended from David who would drive out the Romans by military force. Some expected a priestly figure who would purify the temple. Some expected a heavenly figure who would descend to judge the nations. Some expected several figures working together.
What almost none of them expected was what Jesus actually did.
He did not raise an army. He did not drive out the Romans. He did not restore a Davidic monarchy in any recognizable political sense. He ate with the wrong people, touched the unclean, forgave sins outside the temple system, and said the last would be first and the greatest would be the servant of all.
And then he died. Under Roman execution. Which, by every available framework in first-century Judaism, meant one thing: he was not the messiah.
(The resurrection changes everything about that conclusion. Chapter 5 in (Re)Discover Jesus is where the story becomes undeniable and world-overturning.)
WHAT TO DO THIS WEEK
Read Mark 11:1-10 this week, the account of Jesus entering Jerusalem on a donkey. As you read, try to put yourself in the crowd. They are shouting "Hosanna!" which means "save us now." They are placing branches on the ground (like laying out the “red carpet”) which were a recognized symbol of Jewish national hope. They expect something to happen.
Pay attention to what Jesus does when he arrives: he looks around at the temple and then leaves. He does not storm the fortress. He does not call down fire. He does not lead a revolution. Whatever he is doing, it is not what the crowd expected.
That gap between expectation and reality is the beginning of understanding what he was actually doing.
Want to go deeper? (Re)Discover Jesus walks through all of this with historical scholarship and modern application, making it ideal for personal study, a small group series, or a church-wide reading plan. Grab a copy for yourself, order a set for your group, or invite Dr. David Pendergrass to bring these ideas to life in person at your church.
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