Since we are speculating, here is another scenario for Jesus minus the magic.
We begin the story with an itinerant Jewish teacher, Jesus.
Just as he was taught by his teachers, he taught.
Mark 12:28-33
One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, Of all the commandments, which is the most important?
The most important one, answered Jesus, is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ (Deuteronomy 6:4-5) The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ (Leviticus 19:18) There is no commandment greater than these.
Well said, teacher, the man replied. You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.
Mark 1:14-15
After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. The time has come, he said. The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!
The good news, as preached by Jesus, was about the coming of the Kingdom of God on Earth.
According to the history of the Jews, the Messiah was expected to inaugurate a physical Kingdom of God on Earth. Even in 52-60 CE (History of the Jews, by Paul Johnson) about 4,000 people waited on the Mount of Olives expecting the walls of Jerusalem to fall like Jericho’s.
Judaism, just as in Christianity, had several sects even then as they do today. The various disagreements Jesus had with the Pharisees etc. appear to be nothing more than differing views on dogma and tradition, just as we have today. As I understand it the Jewish tradition encourages questions and debating.
Before 175 BCE intellectual Jewish reformists wanted to improve Judaism.
Excerpt from History of the Jews:
They embarked on the first Biblical criticism: the Law, as now written, was not very old and certainly did not go back to Moses. They argued that the original laws were far more universalistic. ...The reformers did not want to abolish the Law completely but to purge it of those elements which forbade participation in Greek culturefor instance, the ban on nudity, which kept pious Jews out of the gymnasium and stadiumand reduce it to its ethical core, so universalizing it.
Judaism was struggling with change long before Jesus.
Back to the Kingdom of God on Earth. The anointed one would be considered the son of God just as David, who was also an anointed one, was considered the son of God. The Messiah was to regain David’s throne. This would not make Jesus a threat to the Jews, but it would make him a threat to the Romans. Excerpt from the History of Christianity by Kenneth Scott Latourette 1953:
Various views of the Messiah were held, but all agreed that he was the anointedfor that is what the word meanta king who was to reign under divine commission. In the periods of subjugation to foreign rulers the Messiah was anticipated as the deliverer from the alien and as one who would set up the ideal realm in which God’s will would be perfectly done.
Although all the Jews may not have had a problem with Roman rule, there were groups that did as evidenced by the uprising in 6 CE by Judas of Gamala and 44 CE by Theudas. The uprisings reached large scale in 66 CE and 135 CE.
Given the political climate of the time, when Jesus preached that the Kingdom of God is at hand, I can understand the unsettling thoughts of the Jewish leaders. This type of preaching could be seen by the Romans as a prelude to another uprising. Would the Romans come against the source of the threat or the entire Jewish community?
Jesus expected God to use his awesome power, as in the days of old, and bring about the Kingdom of God on Earth. When he was hanging on the cross, he realized it wasn’t going to happen.
Mark 15:34
At the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, "ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI?" which is translated, "MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?"
No sacrifice for the sins of mankind.
Only right behavior and forgiveness can cleanse you.
NOTE: The lack of magic does not detract from the rational moral teachings of Jesus, the OT, or the epistles.
A gentle answer turns away wrath, But a harsh word stirs up anger.
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