Angela,
“Jesus’ words were either the biggest revelation in history or blasphemy which the Jews believed was one of the worst sins.”
Until the 19th and 20th centuries, rabbinic Judaism viewed Jesus as the quintessential arch-heretic because of his claims to Messiahship and Godhood. (The horrible mistreatment of Jews at the hands of Christians certainly contributed to that image, too.) The idea that Jesus was “a good Jewish teacher, but not the Messiah” did not come to prominence until the rise of ecumenism between Christians and Jews, since that is a much more tactful denial of Christ.
