I think there are really two questions that are relevant:
1. Did the Jewish people, as a whole, of the 1st century reject Jesus as their Messiah?
2. If not, at what point did the Jews, as a whole, begin to reject Jesus as the Messiah - and, why did this happen?
Obviously, in the 1st century, there were many Jews who DID accept Jesus as their Messiah. The church in Jerusalem was several thousand strong - all Jews. And, the Christian faith spread throughout the nation of Israel.
The Sanhedrin began persecuting the early church because of the huge inroads it was making and saw the Christians as a direct threat to their power and religion. But, on average, the everyday, common Jewish person did not seem to harbor an inate sense of hostility toward Jesus being the Messiah. The Jewish church was growing by leaps and bounds. Just read the book of Acts for confirmation of this.
Of course, the Christian gospel began to spread outside of Israel, and initially, there was resistence by the Jewish Christians to go outside of the Jewish family to the “gentiles”. It was a major issue that had to be resolved by the Apostles (also see Acts).
Some theologians theorize that it was after the Roman emperor Titus’s destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD that the all out rejection of the Christian faith began. The theory is that Jesus had given warning of a coming destruction of the Temple and told His disciples that that when they saw the city of Jerusalem surrounded by the “man of destruction” they were to flee for their lives. The theory goes on to speculate that it was this “fleeing” by the early Christians when the city faced imminent destruction by their enemies that caused Jewish opinion to turn against Christianity.
Now, whether that’s true I couldn’t say for sure.
My point is that the first church was thoroughly Jewish. The Apostles were Jewish, they continued to worship in the Temple in teach in the synogogues - at least until they were forcably thrown out by the authorities. There didn’t seem to be a problem for many Jews to accept Jesus as their Messiah.
As to why Jews today reject Jesus as Messiah, I think it is partly due to the anti-Jewish persecution perpetrated on the Jews by so-called “Christian” leaders and governments throughout the past 1500 years. I think there is also this cultural/family/historical Jewish foundational rejection of Christianity that makes it very difficult for Jews to accept Jesus as Messiah - this would, in their minds, deny their heritage and people.
The Apostle Paul lamented and struggled with the question as to why it appeared that his people, as a whole, were not all turning to Jesus. Even though there were many who did accept Him, Paul still saw that most Jews, though maybe not completely out and out hostile to Christianity, were not accepting Him as their Messiah on a complete national scale.
He looked for the day when the Jews would be “grafted” back into the “vine”. He obviously thought that that would happen one day.
The Evangelical Christian support for Israel goes back to at least the 1950’s after Israel’s re-emergence as a nation in 1947. This is because many Christians saw this as a fullfillment of prophecy that God would one day restore Israel and bring His people back to their land. God still has plans for His people and the promises He made to Abraham still hold true. Yes, the Christian church is the “new Israel” (as Paul mentions in one of his letters), but God is not done with the Jewish people either and has promised to restore them not only nationally and politically, but also ultimately restored with salvation through their true Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth.
How God will do this, I don’t know, but hey, He’s God and trust that what He says, He will do.
“As to why Jews today reject Jesus as Messiah, I think it is partly due to the anti-Jewish persecution perpetrated on the Jews by so-called “Christian” leaders and governments throughout the past 1500 years. I think there is also this cultural/family/historical Jewish foundational rejection of Christianity that makes it very difficult for Jews to accept Jesus as Messiah - this would, in their minds, deny their heritage and people.”
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Hi. Nope. Listen to the class or read a summary: Any would-be prophet or miracle worker (even one who rises from the dead...and by the way, all non-Jews, note well-— ALMOST ALL of the rabbis of the Mishnaic and Talmudic era (1st-7th centuries) could raise the dead-— (see Talmud tractate Avodah Zara, an excerpt: A secret cave led from the palace of Antoninus to the house of Rabbi Yehudah. Daily Antoninus would visit Rabbi Yehudah and study Torah with him, but he wanted this to be secret. He would bring two servants with him, killing one at the entrance to the house of Rabbi Yehudah, and another on return. Antoninus told Rabbi Yehudah that nobody should be present at their meeting, but one day Rabbi Chanina bar Chama was there.
Antoninus was upset, but Rabbi Yehudah told Antoninus, “It is not a man, but an angel.” To verify this, Antoninus told Rabbi Chanina, “Go and wake my servant, sleeping at the door.” Rabbi Chanina found the servant dead. Not wanting to either come back with the bad news, or to flee, Rabbi Chanina revived the servant. Antoninus said, “I know that the least among you can resurrect the dead, but please next time nobody should be with you.”
.... Jews don’t care about miracles if the performer of the miracles purports to change the Torah. We are so stubborn now and they were stubborn then when the “least amoung us could resurrect the dead...”
I will tell you this, Christianity is ‘easier’ than the (heavy yoke of the laws of) Judaism (/sarc) so sure, with centuries of exile and horrific persecution one can win a few converts.
Jews ask nothing of non-Jews but to obey the 7 laws that G-d obliges them to follow. You don’t know (most Jews don’t) that in our code of Jewish law it’s an OBLIGATION to promote these laws (http://www.chabad.org/therebbe/article_cdo/aid/62221/jewish/Universal-Morality.htm) when one’s life wouldn’t be rubbed out by a Cossack by doing so.
The Jewish version of Hell isn’t fire and brimstone, that is actually lifted from Kabbalistic sources of Jewish ‘purgatory.’ The real Hell is knowing that one had the chance to connect with one’s Creator and failed to do so. There is nothing better than objective commandments. We love it. (we have 613 of them, positive and negative, and their offshoots. You have 7...)
Sorry I chose your post to free-style a little bit. I’ve been popping in and out all day and still see only one response from someone who listened to the class.
Furthermore, lest anyone would think otherwise, Jews don’t hate non-Jews, G-d forbid. We are all created by G-d in his image. And to challenge yourselves with more mistranslations, go read what it means to be (as Ezekiel reports) “...This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. ...” What the heck is the appearance of a likeness of glory? It means nothing in English! And how do you have a form or figure of the formless/figureless G-d? And how do Jews accept this prophecy but not a man-god?! Because we do. You have to learn all our sources and traditions before bringing any other proof. And if you have a few thousand/million converts from the faith... see my point above. It’s hard to be a Jew.
Final point of the rant. “It’s hard to be a Jew” was the mantra of new immigrants to their assimilating children. These children said, “If it’s hard...then I’ll do something easier!” The Chassidic outlook on Judaism, and indeed, every Jew’s outlook, is that it’s GREAT to be a Jew. We don’t only call ourselves chosen...we call ourselves the only son born to parents in their old age. So when our Father in Heaven gives us a Torah and commandments to follow, we love them. In fact, if He says, “dig me a hole then refill it” we dance for joy at having been commanded by our Father and King.
Seriously, I should set up a separate rant. Whoever posted about “Jewish worship through academics” or something like that...would you read my rant-blog if I set it up? ;)