What if there is proof that Jesus was the Jewish messiah?

I think it's fair to say that most Church going Christians understand something of the Jewish history, as least as far as the Old Testament goes, and the tension that Christ, or the Messiah brought. I think most people understand that at the time of Christ, the Jewish people were looking for their Messiah to come. Christ's coming was foretold in the old testament which was studied as a core part of the culture and recognized to be coming, prompting the wise men to visit Christ at his birth. I think it's fair to say that 'the coming Messiah' was pretty much common knowledge.

I've heard it explained that under the oppression of the Romans many Jewish faithful were focused on (doomed to fail) incremental political change and were simply wanting to be freed from political oppression. That of course is a huge misunderstanding of what Christ was trying to do. Christ wasn't here to control, he was here to give his life away. I've even heard it suggested that Judas' motivation for betrayal might have been to spur on Christ to make His move to politically set the Jewish people free. Ooops.

If Jesus really was the Messiah, why did the people of the day have such a hard time changing gears and ended up 'missing it'? I'm afraid it's just the same struggle that we all face: It's just really hard for anyone to realize that things around you don't need to change: what needs to change is inside us.

I would be fascinated to read about anyone in the Jewish community that has wrestled with this and wondered in retrospect if Christ was it. With all the weight of 2000 years of Jewish tradition, this would be very hard to even contemplate, perhaps not even possible if for no other reason than there is no hard proof documentation linking Jesus Christ to the long awaited Messiah.

Until now, perhaps.

A tablet said to date back to the first century BC could redefine links between the Christian and Jewish religions by predicting a messiah who would rise again after three days.

Israel Knohl, a biblical studies professor at Jerusalem's Hebrew University, said his interpretation of the Hebrew text on the tablet could "overturn the vision we have of the historic personality of Jesus" Christ.

"This text could be the missing link between Judaism and Christianity in so far as it roots the Christian belief in the resurrection of the messiah in Jewish tradition," he told AFP.

The amazing thing here is the fact that the text pre-dates Christ, but clearly points out the 3 days of death then resurrection. Historically, there is nothing directly linking Jesus as the Messiah, other than Christ's claims and the witness of others, which is has been discounted. This text as part of the Jewish tradition links the messiah with 3 days of death and resurrection before Jesus comes. Wow.