They didn't need to lie. They didn't believe a word of it: their promised messiah was supposed to Make Judea Great Again, not plunge it into more internal crises.
They had a religion that was doing okay, and, what with Roman occupation, foreign governors, compliant local place-holders, imperial tithes, laws and taxes, insurgent factions destabilizing the region, getting people into trouble and staging doomed rebellions where everybody gets killed, the very last thing they needed was a Reformation.
They had a religion that was doing okay, and, what with Roman occupation, foreign governors, compliant local place-holders, imperial tithes, laws and taxes, insurgent factions destabilizing the region, getting people into trouble and staging doomed rebellions where everybody gets killed, the very last thing they needed was a Reformation.