Before Jesus was born, many years before Mary and Joseph were born, the Jewish nation was looking for Messiah to come. They were looking for a king. The Jewish nation had been taken over by an opressive Roman government. They levied heavy taxes which were collected by dishonest men who padded the amount they charged to include money for themselves. Roman soldiers demanded people to stop what they were doing at any time and help carry heavy equipment. The
The Pharisees were the religious in-crowd of Jesus’ day. They were the authority figures in the synagogues. Their teachings had been handed down from the time of Moses, but the Pharisees had added knit-picky rules and adapted them to suit themselves over the centuries. Jesus came with teachings that reflected the original intent of God’s laws. His teachings embarrassed the Pharisees by exposing their hypocrisy. The people flocked to hear Jesus teachings and to see the miracles he performed. Meanwhile the Pharisees