Cy Kellett welcomes Catholic apologist Tim Staples for a discussion on why many Jews did not see Jesus as the Messiah.
Transcript:
Cy: Why didn’t the Jews recognize Jesus as the Messiah? And the spirit of it was kind of like, well, wasn’t it just obvious? I didn’t feel like it was obvious, but I couldn’t communicate it well to this person. So you communicated in a way that will like, why didn’t the Jews recognize him if it’s all so obvious?
Tim: Right. Well, I think that a few did, but very few. Okay, we need to point that out too. There was Simeon and Anna and a few. But the question is obviously a valid one and a good one. But I think what happened is the popular culture had sort of excised certain texts about the Messiah that he was to be a king. Right, right, certain texts.
And let’s face it, you know, we tend to look at the aspects of the faith that are more favorable to us, things that we like, those are a little more pleasant. Why do you think Christmas is so much more popular than Easter or Good Friday, certainly, or the whole Easter season and Lent and so forth leading up?
Yeah, because Christmas, you have the joy and peace and of course, wonderful. All of which is true. But crucifixion and resurrection, that one, we’ll set that aside. When’s Christmas again?
So in the popular culture, the Messiah was gonna be the one who would crush the Roman Empire, establish Israel and the Kingdom of David, reconstituted all over the world. That’s what. And they’re looking at Isaiah 2, the lion will lay down with the wolf, or the lion with the lamb and so forth. And all of those texts that refer to peace throughout the world and forever and ever.
Right. So texts of scripture like Isaiah 53 and Wisdom chapter 2 and Psalm 22, all those suffering servant texts, let’s just say they weren’t on the top 10 hit list. They weren’t on the top hundred hit lists. Those things tended to be shelved a bit.
And so when Jesus comes, he was not what they were looking for. That is the popular culture. This guy is supposed to come and think about this, Cy, even after the resurrection. And Jesus has been with them 40 days and now he’s getting ready to ascend. And what do the apostles, or at least some of them say? Will you restore the kingdom now?
Right. You talk about, you know, Jesus is like, okay, you know, just hang out until Pentecost, alright? And it’ll all make sense to you. Now, would he establish his kingdom? Yeah, he already had and he already is and he will in full. But they even at that time were not ready for the fullness of understanding of what was coming.
So to me, it’s understandable why they would have missed their own Messiah, except for the very few. But if they would hang out, if you would hang out and look a little deeper and ask yourself, how is this guy raising the dead? How is this guy? Those were the ones who converted, were the ones who listened to the message and they saw what he did.
But even they didn’t have full comprehension. They just knew. I haven’t seen any of you guys raise the dead lately. I haven’t seen any of you guys, you know, cure the blind. Because of course, that had never happened in the history of Israel. No prophet, no one had ever healed the blind. But prophetically, of course, Isaiah 61 said he would do that. He would open the eyes of the blind and so forth.
And so those whose hearts were really looking and were open to truth were the ones that found him. But you know what? Whenever I answer this question, Cy, I always have to say this. The question shouldn’t be, you know, why did so many miss it? It’s why do I believe it? Why? Why has God graced me with this incredible gift? Gift to believe.
Like you said in your book, this teacher of strange things who says a lot of things that disrupted folks. They’re like, who is this guy saying the kinds of crazy things that he’s saying? Sorry, this guy is not. No, get out of here. When he says he’s going to be the judge on the last day, when he says he would raise the dead in John chapter six,
Right. He said, you believe in me and I will raise you up on the last day. I mean, the stuff that Jesus said was crazy. So, I mean, forgive me, folks. I don’t mean that it really was crazy, but it sounded crazy. It sounded so crazy that really, it really should make us appreciate the gift of faith.
And folks, remember, we’re the guys running around saying, we eat Jesus every day at Mass. Yeah. Guess what? That sounded crazy to me as a Protestant. I said, the Catholic Church is crazy. But just like her Lord and Savior, you know, Jesus performed miracles. He did stuff that made you. If you were open and if you were willing to consider what he is saying and what he’s doing.
You realize what C.S. Lewis said. This guy, he’s either a liar, a lunatic, or he is the Lord God of creation come in the flesh. And the Catholic Church is the same way. Yeah, we say a lot of stuff that appears to be absolutely crazy. But guess what? You got another decision to make. And I did as a Protestant, so I just give thanks to God for the gift of faith that I have.
Cy: You might not be surprised to hear this. That answer is better than the one that I gave.
Tim: All right, we’ll take a quick break.
Cy: It’s Ask Me Anything. All lines full except one…