But I imagine that if you were a religious elite at the time, the movement—and how Jesus embarked upon it in the midst of a real walking-around life—was more infuriating than funny. After all, Jesus would say, “You have heard it said . . . but I say . . . ,” and then suddenly everything gets flipped into a newness of life and spirit, superseding the rules, fulfilling the law by transcending it, even. When Jesus first taught, “You have heard that it was said, “Eye for eye and tooth for tooth,” but I tell you . . . love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,”8 it was electrifying. It
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Jesus was frustrating to those people
