016: The Context of Jesus's Teachings

This is a history lesson to help understand the intersection of the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Zealots with one another as well as with the Roman government. It helps us see why each group had the concerns that they did about Jesus.  We will discuss how the disputes between the written Torah and the oral Torah would ignite the world's first religious war, the Maccabean Revolt.  The oppressive rule of the Greeks and Romans over the Jewish people led to the building of the magnificent Holy Temple and also its destruction less than 100 years later. I hope to show you more deeply why the peaceful message from Jesus was not what the people were looking for in a Messiah, and additionally, the signposts as to why listening to him at that time might have changed the world.  It still can.