Thursdays Child John 19-28

Well, back to the book of John. I'm feeling a little better, and not quite so churchy, by allowing last weeks distraction. In case you aren't familar with this passage, this is the conversation between John the Baptist and the Temple Priests. They came to him and asked him if he is the Messiah. They told him they needed to know so they could go back and tell those who sent them. The ones that sent them were the Pharisees. I'm sure there are ways to break this passage down, but as I was reading it, what hit me about it was, were the Pharisees genuinely looking for the Messiah? Were they just skeptical because there were alot of people claiming to be the Messiah at that time? Or, was their motive like Herod's when Jesus was born? Were they already looking to kill him for whatever reason? I guess I don't ever remember learning whether the Pharisees were anxious for the Messiah. You always heard about them in a negative "religious" way, and Jesus was constantly opposing them. You just figure the animosity between them is why they eventually were able to have Him crucified. It makes me stop to think, He had to flee to Egypt just after he was born because people were looking to kill Him. When He was teaching at the temple at twelve years old were they already wondering about Him, and since we don't have any documentation on Him from then 'til now at 30, we don't know what He was doing. Was he on the run? Is that why they were wondering if John the Baptist was Him, because they hadn't seen Him for 18 years? We just assume he was learning carpentry from Joseph. What also makes this ironic is, this incident took place at Bethany. This is where He came to alot during the next three years to spend time with His good friends Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. Well, that's a Thursdays Child for sometime in the future. We've raised alot of questions today. Keep searching for those answers. Thanks for searching with me, Paul