Discuss the values and teaching of Jesus and why, given the context and expectations of the times and the different factions among the Jews in the Second Temple Era (which you identify in your answer), it is no surprise he generated controversy
             At the time of its genesis, Judaism was in a state of internal turmoil. "It [was]... during the time of the second temple up through the tenth century that [was] perhaps the most fertile period for the development of Jewish sects. The Roman occupation and the second Diaspora created an environment of great hardship, out of which people tried to escape their pain through religious zeal" (Yaron 2008: 2). The nation was occupied by the Romans, and fraught with doctrinal and leadership controversies. The Pharisees, Sadducees, and more marginalized Essene sects added to the societal destabilization of the era. Rather than unity against the Roman forces, the nation existed in a state of internal controversy.
             Jesus' doctrines, stressing the abandonment or at least the relative lack of importance of the observed 'letter' of the Mosaic Law and the need for poverty, chastity, and focus on the world to come rather than upon changing political institutions found a ready audience. His words also generated much resistance in the leadership of the Pharisees and Sadducees. The Pharisees a group of Jewish leaders who were unique in their belief in an oral law that was complementary to the Law of Moses in the Torah. This eventually evolved into the tradition rabbinic Judaism and its reverence for the Talmud. In contrast, the Sadducees were defined mainly by their strict adherence to the Law of Moses alone (Yaron 2008:2). The Essenes, the philosophical branch of Judaism that is said to have given birth to Jesus' following, were a world-denying sect who did not marry, and were highly ascetic in their practices (Yaron 2008:2). The polarized philosophies of these sects, combine...