How did they react?

[John_Paul_III]

How did the Jews react when Jesus died on the cross, and imeaditly the skies darkened and the jewish Temple was destroyed?

How did the Roman witness to His death react?

Jesus forgave them on the cross, because he pleaded to God his Father, that they did not know better?

 

[forthright]

I must believe that they were sincere in their reactions. No one would have linked Jesus’ death to the destruction of the temple and continued to deny Jesus’ authority. Most of the every-day Jews probably didn’t realize that Jesus was even up on the cross at the exact moment those events took place. Even few of the temple leaders probably made the connection. Those who did probably blamed the disasters on the Devil, since they thought Jesus was working for him. The Romans probably just chalked it up to coincidence. (Of course, I’m speaking in generalities - there may have been a few individuals that put 2 and 2 together.) It would take the evangelization of the apostles to get the masses to make the real connection between the end of the Old Covenant and the beginning of the New Covenant.