This started off with a claim to have found where Jesus was baptised as its the site of a 3rd century church which is interpreted as being part of a shrine as people would have remembered where John was baptising. Exposing and removing the corruption in the Temple was Jesus’s mission. So rather than an initial direct challenge he built a people power base from those on the margins of society which he then used to challenge the Temple priests. His main weapon was proclaiming ritual cleansing for those otherwise outcast. This outraged ordinary Jews but incensed the Priests as it removed their ‘skimming’ operations from the Temple cleansing process/practices. The Good Samaritan story is more political swipe than good neighbour!
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