Imagine that you know the Bible fairly well; you're standing at a bus-stop when a dissheveled man shambles up to you. "Have you heard; Jesus just came again and his name is Joe and he lives in the Bellevue apartments." You know the scriptures so you immediately counter with; "No chance, when Jesus comes again he will come in all power and glory and every eye will see him." "Uh, uh." The cultist replies, "According to 1 Thessalonians 5:2 The Lord will come like a thief in the night and Joe used to be a thief who worked at night." "Look, he's not Jesus, he doesn't fulfill the requirements, peddle your cult somewhere else" you reply, done with the little brainwashed cultist.
This was the attitude of the learned, Biblically literate Jews at the time. These people saw straight-out that Jesus fulfilled nothing out of the Old Testaments and was just another Messiah-wanna-be. Christians are well aquainted with the apocalyptic scriptures of the New Testament and would never, for a second believe that Jesus would come again without signs, powers and glory. The same could be said of 1st century Judaism. This is a standard Messianic prophecy - see if it sounds ANYTHING like Jesus:
Isaiah 11:1-16
Out of the stump of David's family will grow a shoot – yes, a new Branch bearing fruit from the old root. 2 And the Spirit of the LORD will rest on him – the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. 3 He will delight in obeying the LORD. He will never judge by appearance, false evidence, or hearsay. 4 He will defend the poor and the exploited. He will rule against the wicked and destroy them with the breath of his mouth. 5 He will be clothed with fairness and truth. 6 In that day the wolf and the lamb will live together; the leopard and the goat will be at peace. Calves and yearlings will be safe among lions, and a little child will lead them all. 7 The cattle will graze among bears. Cubs and calves will lie down together. And lions will eat grass as the livestock do. 8 Babies will crawl safely among poisonous snakes. Yes, a little child will put its hand in a nest of deadly snakes and pull it out unharmed. 9 Nothing will hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain. And as the waters fill the sea, so the earth will be filled with people who know the LORD.
10 In that day the heir to David's throne will be a banner of salvation to all the world. The nations will rally to him, for the land where he lives will be a glorious place. 11 In that day the Lord will bring back a remnant of his people for the second time, returning them to the land of Israel from Assyria, Lower Egypt, Upper Egypt, Ethiopia, Elam, Babylonia, Hamath, and all the distant coastlands. 12 He will raise a flag among the nations for Israel to rally around. He will gather the scattered people of Judah from the ends of the earth. 13 Then at last the jealousy between Israel and Judah will end. They will not fight against each other anymore. 14 They will join forces to swoop down on Philistia to the west. Together they will attack and plunder the nations to the east. They will occupy all the lands of Edom, Moab, and Ammon. 15 The LORD will make a dry path through the Red Sea. He will wave his hand over the Euphrates River, sending a mighty wind to divide it into seven streams that can easily be crossed. 16 He will make a highway from Assyria for the remnant there, just as he did for Israel long ago when they returned from Egypt.
The whole idea of the Messiah showing up and then getting tortured to death for sins was completely alien to the ancient Jews. This is just like Christians having trouble accepting that Joe from the Bellevue apartments was the 2nd coming of Jesus, sent to defeat the Devil by having sex with 666 different women. Joe fulfills no coherent NT prophecy (though he could probably sliver one together like Christians do) and Jesus fulfills no coherent OT prophecy. You are too smart to accept that Joe is Jesus - he has to make-do with illiterate followers from the lower echelons. First century Jews were too smart to accept that Jesus was the Messiah - he had to make-do with illiterate followers from the lower echelons. Joe does not come in power and glory as the NT scriptures prophesy and Jesus does not come in power and glory as the OT scriptures prophesy.
Oh, I just looked up some scriptures from Joe's New, New Testament. "Joe will make the wisemen fools and the fools wise for only the fool has said that Joe is NOT Jesus." Here's another: "Though the wise may mock you, and the learned laugh, they are cursed, evil and stupid. Do not follow in their footsteps lest ye taste the licorice whip of justice with them."