Timo, if you are saying that my argument is just as compelling as that of the gospels, well, that's good enough for me.

Paul, in the stanza in question, the holy people said it was a shame that Jesus danced on the sabbath. I'm sorry, I can't read that as a reference to the Anglicans who didn't stand up to fascism, etc.

Grab, assuming that the Bible is an accurate representation of events, it's blindingly obvious that the universe was created in six days. This is one of many reasons why some people suspect that the Bible is not an accurate representation of events.

"Jesus's aim as a fellow-Jew was to move Judaism from empty sophistry back to an appreciation of the basic principles behind the religion." Grab, I think the revered Jewish thinkers of the time, Hillel and Shammai and that crowd, had a pretty good appreciation of the basic principles behind the religion. I'm sorry, but I don't take the gospels as a credible source on the history of Jewish religious thought.

Howard, I did take the position that "the holy people" meant "the Jewish people," but I have elsewhere in this thread noted that there is still a problem if "the holy people" is interpreted as the priests, or as the Pharisees, or as the Jewish religious or political or legal authorities of the day. You'll note that Jerry also says that interpreting it to mean the priests does not remove the difficulty. The holy people, in the stanza in question, are the ones who were upset at what they viewed as the desecration of the sabbath, and, in the stanza in question, they are the ones who crucified Jesus. Who would be upset at the possible desecration of the sabbath, other than (a faction of) the Jews?