Who Did Jesus Curse – Praise?

✦ The primary source of Jewish resistance to Roman authority was their religious culture firmly embedded in beliefs developed over many centuries.

Regarding the Jewish Religious Orders:

✦ Jesus publicly and frequently criticized Jewish religious authority:

Those who copied the holy manuscripts – the scribes.[1]
Those who studied and maintained the only written form of the Jewish faith and the Mosaic Law.[2]
Those who guided the faith of the Jewish masses – the chief priests.[3]
The Pharisees[4]
The Sadducees[5]
And when an unknown number of people (a few, all?) from Jewish communities expressed skepticism over Jesus’ works, Matthew 11:21-24 quotes Jesus as saying:
Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Beht-sai-da! And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You shall be brought down to Hades.

✦ All of the above, including Jewish elders, are documented numerous times (too many to list here) as being highly critical of Jesus – even seeking his death. The Gospel of John extends disdain for Jesus to Jews in general.

✦ Jesus’ criticism of the Jewish religious orders would have been consistent with Roman goals of breaking down competition to their authority.

Regarding Roman Authority:

✦ In one of only two written accounts where Jesus makes reference to Roman authority, Jesus states, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s".[6]

✦ In the second (Matthew 8:10-13, Luke 7:9), Jesus publicly announces a centurion has the greatest faith in all of Israel.

✦ In turn, Roman centurions refer to Jesus as “Lord”[7] and in another case as “[a or the] Son of God.”[8]

✦ Jesus is never documented criticizing Roman authority and Roman authority is never documented in first century texts as being critical of Jesus.

[1] Matthew 15:1-7 23:2-3 23:13-29, Mark 12:38-40, Luke 20:46

[2] Luke 11:45-47 11:52

[3] Matthew 21:23 21:31

[4] Matthew 15:1-7 16:6 16:11-12 23:2-3 23:13-29, Mark 8:15, Luke 11:42-44 12:1

[5] Matthew 16:6 16:11-12 22:23-29

[6] Matthew 22:21, Mark 12:17, Luke 20:25

[7] Matthew 8:8, Luke 7:6

[8] Matthew 27:54, Mark 15:39