What Don't You Get?

Have you ever wondered what it was that the Pharisees didn't get about Jesus?

I mean so many people could tell he knew what he was talking about.  How many times did some one comment in the scriptures that he spoke with authority?  Yes, people followed him just so they could see the miracles performed in front of their eyes.

Of course, he made the Pharisees mad when he went to parties given by sinners and had a good time.  (It would've been different if he went out of obligation and abhorred each moment while eating the food.)  But, apparently the people at the parties enjoyed his presence as well . . . there is no mention of him being kicked out of a party because of what he said.

Don't forget, when the Pharisees asked Jesus about a difficult subject he either threw it back at them with another question or answered in a riddle of a story.  Of course, the answers to the questions were at times more frustrating than anything else.  And when they did get it, they wanted him out of the picture. 

What I didn't realize about the difficult questions the Pharisees were asking was that they were actually looking for a messiah that could give critical explanations of scripture. (They didn't see the fulfilling of scripture happening in front of their eyes.)

According to The New Testament Environment, originally written by Eduard Lohse, people knew there would be miracles occurring during the time of the Messiah's coming.  They just didn't expect the miracles to come from the Messiah.  They thought, or rather expected, the Messiah to give demonstration of being the Messiah by fulfilling scripture and thereby explaining critical points.

I always felt that references back to the prophecies about Jesus was just a nice thing the New Testament writers did for us.  But there again, there was a reason and a purpose.  The thought of the day would have been . . . Jesus performing miracles and being the Messiah, how is this possible?  So, they needed to show all readers of their books and letters that Jesus spoke in certain ways, did certain actions and found himself in certain places so that all prophecies could be fulfilled.

Even today, sometimes things happen in ways so different from what we expect that we can't see that God is working and how he's working until we've walked through it.  Jesus came and is still alive.  He just came in a different package than the people, including the Pharisees, were expecting.