The first reading of the day offers us a glimpse of why and on what basis was Jesus' coming as messiah read - or misinterpreted - by the people of His time. That he was looked upon as a saviour, a political liberator of the Jews from the rule of the Romans should not come as a surprise given the history of what the Jews have all along been fed.
The reading from the book of Judges tells of the circumstances in which Samson is born and what the angel tells his mother prior to his conception and birth...
"As for the son you will conceive and bear, no razor shall touch his head, for this boy is to be consecrated to God from the womb. It is he who will begin the deliverance of Israel from the power of the Philistines."
Moreover I do understand the angst of the Jews, especially those who felt burdened by the yoke of the Romans - and perhaps their own religious elders. One would naturally want to be delivered and saved from such an existential risk and danger, than seek spiritual emancipation. Given this situation, spiritual emancipation appears more of a luxury in comparison to the basic question of survival posed by other existential circumstances. To a person on the brink of starvation, if one were to offer a choice between food and the Eucharist, what would the person choose? I certainly would choose food. That the Eucharist is also food, and all that theology comes only later. Not at that moment of extreme hunger and need.
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