I have a Jewish friend who says that the Jews rejected Jesus because when he came the Messianic age of peace and prosperity didn't begin.  He seems to have a point.

Please comment,

Lester Ghettalong

May I call you Les?

Your friend is resting his whole argument on certain assumptions.  One, that the Jews rejected Jesus and two, that the Messianic age will immediately follow the coming of the messiah.

I would like to recommend a book by Roy Schoeman titled Salvation is from the Jews published by Ignatius Press.  He makes the point that there is a tradition mentioned in the Talmud of two messiahs, the first is the son of Joseph a suffering messiah and the second son of David the glorious messiah.  It is this second messiah who ushers in the messianic kingdom.

We Christians believe that the Messiah son of Joseph and Messiah son of David are the same person.

Also refer to Fr. Richard John Neuhaus’s article in First Things Magazine (February 2005), he suggests that the Jews didn't reject Jesus as the Christ.  He makes the point that there were perhaps five million or six million Jews in the Roman Empire at the time of Christ.  A few centuries later there were less than 1 million, so what happened to the rest?  They probably accepted Jesus as Messiah and blended into the Greek speaking population of the empire.  Even taking into account the great slaughter of the Jewish wars in the first and second centuries, a large number, perhaps a majority  of Jews became Christians. 

One more thing. 

According to the Talmud (Rosh Hashana 31b) the temple sacrifices on the day of atonement failed from about 30 AD on.  What else happened in 30 AD?  Jesus died on the cross.  Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

Yes, Les, I believe that Jesus was and is the Jewish Messiah, a savior for the whole world.

Have a good Holy week and Easter.

Yours faithfully,

Rev. Know-It-All