Jesus Christ actually went against what the Jews - Pharisees-Saducees and such believed on several occasions. no work on the sabbath...His Father works, so He does too.
Because he
is his Father... Jesus
was God, after all. Jesus broke plenty of the traditional/ceremonial laws, and indeed, went out of his way to do so on several occasions... working on the Sabbath is a good example, as was his delay in resurrecting Lazarus (touching a body more than three days dead was considerd "unclean").
And why not? Such laws only applied to the
followers of a religion, not to the
deity.
He told them how sins were a lot easier to commit than what they thought, as you just need to think it in your heart/mind. To lust or hate/is like murder.
Because sin requires an evil
intent. One does not sin by accident; it's a choice. Once you've formed the intent to sin, you're already halfway there.
Had the forerunner of John the Baptist. He could not just show up on the earth without that part of Old Testament prophecy coming to pass first.
Could not? Being
God means doing what you want, when you want, how you want. Jesus
chose to act in fulfillment of the prophecies, and when he himself didn't point that out, the Gospel writers were sure to do it for him.
Matthew, in particular, was fond of the line "such-and-such was done in fulfillment of the Scriptures."
The Middle East area even has traditions as to the kings that came from the east to see the boy Jesus and bring Him gifts/and to worship Him.
kings - worship-the King of all kings!
Indeed -- Matthew again. His style throughout his entire Gospel was to draw comparisons between Jesus and the Jewish heroes of old -- Moses, Elijah, and Elisha at the top of the list -- and show Jesus as not merely
equal to them, but
topping them at every opportunity. Anythign they could do, he could do better.
Remember, after all -- Matthew was a Jew, as was Jesus. The intent at the time was not to start a new religion, but to establish a new covenant for the old one. Jesus had to be shown as the "new sheriff in town," so to speak.
