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Background to Israel's rejection of Mary, Zachariah, John and Jesus.
| Mary: to Jews, Mary was impregnated by Jesus' father out of wedlock thus defiling the sanctity of their church. |
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Jews stigmatized Jesus an illegitimate. That means Mary was with child for a man who was not her husband. She was an unwedded mother. Also, to them, there was nothing about Mary that made her special, likewise her son, how she conceived and over how she gave birth to Jesus. Mary sinned and they had to cast her out. An outcast from then on. |
| Zacharias: he was murdered by the clergy innocently on the suspicion that Mary was impregnated by him |
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Why was it not rumored who was Jesus' father? Because Zacharias was the suspect. Why was not Zacharias placed on trial and if guilty stoned. Because the Church's hierarchy had already taken the law in their hands and in secrecy had him killed, later to be accused of having shed innocent blood. Lots were cast after there arose a contention among the elders and by it Zacharias' innocence was proven (3: 44). Now fearful, it was to their interest to have had the matter hushed. They thus bowed out of the impending action against Mary on the note that she was not a Jew. It was for the tribe of Imran to deal with Mary's misdemeanor. Mary and her unborn child were thus saved. |
| John: he was the other insurgent, considered impudent for his prediction of God's impending wrath on Israel's evil-doers. 'And the people were in expectation and all men mused in their hearts of John, whether he were the Christ or not'. |
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For his condemnation of the Priests, Scribes and Pharisees who sat in Moses' seat the rulers of the church kept watchful eyes on how to eliminate him. For fear of their people who counted John a prophet they resisted temptation. Their chance came. 'But Herod, the tetrarch, being reproved by him for Herodias his brother Philip's wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done, added this above all, that he shut up John in prison'. They conspired for John to be beheaded. 'And his head was brought in a charger, and given to the damsel' |
| Jesus: 'Herod heard of the fame of Jesus and said unto his servants, This is John the Baptist, he is risen from the dead; and therefore mighty works do shew forth themselves in him.' Matt. 14: 2 |
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He exposed the church's complicity in the betrayal of Israel to Roman masters in exchange for personal favors
He accused the church's hierarchy of having annulled the laws of God by the imposition of their tradition as yokes on the necks of their people.
He deemed them guilty of iniquities, covenant violations and of having persecuted and slain God's elects sent to them.
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Jesus' condemnation of Jewish Clergy - According to Matthew
| 23:1 Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples, |
| 23:2 Saying The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat: |
| 23:3 All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not. |
| 23:4 For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. |
| 23:5 But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments, |
| 23:6 And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, |
| 23:7 And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi. |
| 23:8 But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. |
| 23:9 And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. |
| 23:10 Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ. |
| 23:11 But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. |
| 23:12 And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted. |
| 23:13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. |
| 23:14 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation. |
| 23:15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. |
| 23:16 Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor! |
| 23:17 Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold? |
| 23:18 And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty. |
| 23:19 Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift? |
| 23:20 Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon. |
| 23:21 And whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein. |
| 23:22 And he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon. |
| 23:23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. |
| 23:24 Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. |
| 23:25 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. |
| 23:26 Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. |
| 23:27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. |
| 23:28 Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. |
| 23:29 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, |
| 23:30 And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. |
| 23:31 Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. |
| 23:32 Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. |
| 23:33 Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? |
| 23:34 Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: |
| 23:35 That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. |
| 23:36 Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation. |
| 23:37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! |
| 23:38 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. |
| 23:39 For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. |
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