My point is that the Jewish leaders killed him because they thought he was trying to be a political leader, when in the end he was never intent on conquering the Roman Empire, at least not militarily and certainly not immediately. One could argue, though, that his plan if there was such did eventually succeed in AD 380. Nonetheless I have no doubt that he was not in any way ignorant of the impact and implications of his message on his various audiences. If his plan was to eventually get himself killed, he certainly managed to achieve it by pissing off the right group of people. Here is as clear a declaration of messiahship as one needs to get:From Mark 14: "Again the high priest was questioning Him, and saying to Him, "Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?" 62And Jesus said, "I am; and you shall see THE SON OF MAN SITTING AT THE RIGHT HAND OF POWER, and COMING WITH THE CLOUDS OF HEAVEN." 63Tearing his clothes, the high priest said, "What further need do we have of witnesses? 64You have heard the blasphemy; how does it seem to you?" And they all condemned Him to be deserving of death."
Here are 3 terms "Christ" (i.e. Messiah), "Son of the Blessed One" (i.e. Son of God), and "Son of Man", all being used interchangeably, all in the same passage.
"1)Why should herod and the pharisees fear a preacher? Sublime moral teachings could hardly shake herod's kingship; the zealots saw great potential in jesus and rallied around him, thus a large threatening movement was formed."
The Zealots were separate from Jesus' movement, active in insurrections against Roman rule both before his birth and continuing after his death. There is no evidence to link any of their activities to his message. In fact if Judas was actually a Zealot I think it's entirely possible they could even have plotted to kill him once they realized he was not going to be a political leader they could use.
