Hi BigJoeNobody –
... most of those who accepted Jesus as the Messiah, later went back to Judaism when they heard he had "died".
I see where you're coming from, but I really think these are unsupported claims made by the TV channels. We just don't have the figures, and the only evidence we have to work on is Scripture, so it depends whether one believes the testimonies or not.
Based on what we can reconstruct, Jesus founded his base at Capernaum, and was established there before beginning His peripatetic mission, culminating three years later in the third journey to Jerusalem where He was crucified.
We then have, to over-simplyify, three strata of materials:
Phase one: The Pauline literature. (c50-60AD)
This was the first strata, the insights of a Jew who had undergone a profound 'awakening' and who brought a staggeringly 'mystical' message. He had taken the Jewish idea of a 'chosen people' and carried it to its axial extremes – horizontally the 'chosen people' was not a particular tribe, but anyone and everyone, and vertically it wasn't 'the people and God' but 'the people
in God'.
(People who like to declare Paul a 'Hellenist' or whatever really don't get it. They read the letter, not the spirit ... )
Phase two: The Synoptic literature (c60-80AD).
The synoptics put the 'flesh and bones' on Paul's mystical message, addressing the particular issues faced by particular communities. Their testimonies are, in a sense, an
apologia that already assumes the mystical message of Paul as a given.
Phase three: the Johannine literature (c70-120AD).
John settled at Ephesus, a community founded by Paul, and came into contact with a community that was already back-sliding from Paul's holistic preaching into Hellenist duality. John, an eye-witness, re-asserted Paul's mystical teaching with a more thoroughly worked-out theology of mystical union, utilising events from the life of Christ, and underling their meaning – hence he uses the word 'sign' rather than 'miracle'.
But it is John who shows us, by his observations, that there was dissent in the community right from the very beginning. Even when Jesus was preaching at Capernaum, before He began His travels, there were many who found His teaching on the Eucharist just too much to stomach, and left.
+++
The 'problem' of the Cross was that many hoped and believed that Jesus would come again to Jerusalem and lead a popular uprising. He was welcomed like a king. He now had a considerable reputation, and the Sanhedrin took the pragmatic step of getting rid of him, because the Romans would stamp them flat if indeed a populist revolt kicked off.
When He didn't overthrow their oppressors, the people, who had welcomed Him one day, condemned Him the next.
The message of peace is the toughest message of the lot.
