Jesus made it plain that John the Baptist was the very Elijah whom the people were so anxiously awaiting, while on the contrary, John the Baptist himself flatly negated this claim.
Whose words were the Jewish people to believe? This matter obviously depended on which of the two, Jesus or John, appeared more credible and respectable in the eyes of the people of that time.
Let us examine how Jesus must have appeared to the Jewish people.
Jesus was an uneducated young man who grew up in the poor and lowly home of a carpenter. This unknown young man suddenly appeared and called himself the “Lord of the Sabbath” while apparently defiling the Sabbath, which pious Jews kept with utmost reverence (Matt. 12:1-8).
Jesus thus gained the reputation of one who wanted to abolish the Law, which for the Jews was the basis of salvation (Matt. 5:17). Therefore, the leaders of the Jewish community persecuted Jesus. Jesus was compelled to gather disciples from among simple fishermen and to befriend tax collectors, prostitutes and sinners, with whom he would eat and drink (Matt. 11:19). Even worse from the standpoint of the Jewish leaders, Jesus asserted that the tax collectors and prostitutes would enter the Kingdom of Heaven ahead of them (Matt. 21:31).
On one occasion, a prostitute came to Jesus, weeping, and began to wet his feet with her tears, wipe them with her hair, kiss them, and anoint them with a flask of precious ointment (Luke 7:37-38). To accept such ministrations from a prostitute would be unseemly even in modern society; it was surely scandalous in Jewish society, with its austere ethical code wherein an adulterous woman would have been stoned to death. Yet Jesus not only approved of her lavish attendance; he even praised her and chastised his disciples when they rebuked the woman (Luke 7:44-50).
Moreover, Jesus seemed to place himself on an equal footing with God (John 14:9) and asserted that no one could enter God’s Kingdom except through him (John 14:6). He insisted that people should love him more than they love their own parents, brothers and sisters, spouses or children (Matt. 10:37), (Luke 14:26).
Thus, to many, Jesus’ words and deeds appeared blasphemous. Hence, it is not surprising that the Jewish leadership rebuked and mocked him, accusing him of being one possessed by Beelzebul, the prince of demons (Matt. 12:24). From all this, we can gather that Jesus was far from credible in the eyes of the Jewish people of his time.
How did John the Baptist appear to the Jewish people of that time?
John the Baptist was born to a prominent family; he was the son of Zechariah, a priest. The miracles and signs surrounding John’s conception and birth surprised all the hill country of Judea.
One day, when Zechariah was burning incense in the Temple, an angel appeared before him and announced that his wife, who was old and barren, would soon conceive a son. When he did not believe the angel’s words, he was struck dumb, and his tongue was loosed only upon the birth of the child (Luke 1:9-66).
Furthermore, John led an exemplary life of faith and discipline in the wilderness, surviving on locusts and wild honey. For these reasons, many Jewish people wondered whether perhaps he was the Christ, and a delegation of priests and Levites came to him and asked him this directly (Luke 3:15), (John 1:20). The Jewish people respected John to this extent.
Considering these circumstances, when the Jewish people of Jesus’ day compared Jesus and John the Baptist, who appeared more credible to them? Without a doubt, John’s words had more credibility. Therefore, they naturally believed John the Baptist when he denied being Elijah more than they believed Jesus’ testimony that John was Elijah. Since the people believed John, they considered Jesus’ words to be a fabrication concocted to support his dubious claim to be the Messiah. Consequently, Jesus was condemned as an impostor.
Once Jesus was condemned as an impostor, the people’s disbelief in him intensified daily. They found his deeds and words more and more offensive. Since they believed John’s words over Jesus’ words, they could only think that Elijah had not yet come. Accordingly, they could not even imagine that the Messiah had already come.
As long as the Jewish people kept their faith in the prophecy of Malachi, they had to reject Jesus, who claimed to be the Messiah, because from their viewpoint Elijah had not yet come.
On the other hand, to believe in Jesus, they would have had to deny the biblical prophecy which asserted that the Messiah would come only after the return of Elijah. Since pious Jews would not even consider denying the prophecies of Scripture, they were left with no other choice but to disbelieve in Jesus.
Sun Myung Moon