After years of oppression by the Romans, Jews at the time of Christ were ripe for revolution. They were tired of slavery; ready to assume their destiny as free people.
Since within the Jewish doctrine fewer ideas are more entrenched than that of the coming Messiah, many sprang up claiming "I am the Messiah: Follow me!" and they drew a few followers by doing so. It was, for those alive at the time, a widely known cultural phenomenon. (Not unlike California in the 1960's, by the way.)
This is one reason why, as the ministry of Jesus grew and spread, the Roman leaders at first reacted by thinking "oh, we get it --- another one of those people." They thought of Jesus as yet another 'crazy person' with a Messiah complex, drawing followers out to the wilderness ---- or in some cases, actually plotting revolution. The Roman government was annoyed by these types, but didn't feel threatened. A few crazy people here and there, with or without followers, do not bring down an army and a government as organized as the Roman Empire.
There is a wide range of extra-Biblical material about the culture and its many Messiah wannabes; and the Scripture also comments. Gamaliel, a Jewish leader and teacher, mentions two of these "Messiah types" by name: Judas of Galilee (led a revolt, circa AD 6) and Theudas (led about 400 followers at his peak). Find Gamaliel's comments in Acts 5:35-39. Gamaliel's hearers 'got it' --- they had seen the same phenomenon.
Acts 21:38 refers to another of these leaders, who assembled a militia, four thousand strong, and led a failed revolt. This leader was Egyptian but is left unnamed. Later, circa AD 70 John of Giscala and Simon bar Gioras also led followers into battle. These are several of the more prominent persons, among many examples of the type.
Ultimately these revolutionaries failed, as did their movements. In part these leaders failed because the power of God did not support their 'ministry' --- that is, no blind people saw, no lame people walked, no dead people came back to life. The absence of God's presence left the followers uncertain, divided, and ultimately unsuccessful. These leaders were great at stirring up rumors, but couldn't produce the results!
In stark contract with these many wannabes, Christ's ministry was accompanied at all times by the kinds of 'signs and wonders' that drew crowds and made history. In public and on the record, miracles happened. People were amazed: anyone would be!
Christ could have capitalized on all of this free publicity and led a powerful revolt against Rome; many hoped He would do so. He could have had an impressive career in politics. Instead he maintained a steady humility that pointed His followers to God alone, and to God's Divine purposes. Christ humbled himself and walked the path of obedience all the way to death, His death on the cross (Philippians 2).
The story, beautiful and interesting as it was, might have ended there, except that God decided to vote again. God raised Christ to life; Christ then began appearing to His former followers --- who literally at first could not believe it was him. Would you? Dead people don't walk. In the days following His resurrection Christ appeared to more than 500 persons, "in the flesh" --- fully alive and very much Himself. (I Corinthians 15; see also Josephus among other historians.)
Many of these witnesses later died for their insistence that they had seen Christ alive after His resurrection. It would have been simpler (and a real life-saver) to simply admit that they were mistaken, or they had 'seen a ghost' or 'had a vision' or maybe even 'dreamed it all up.' Instead these witnesses told the truth --- and for their faithful witness they were tortured in horrible ways, and killed --- as were many later, also.
Good people live and die. Some of them attract followers. Some of them leave us their best ideas in printed books; many do not. What transforms the history of humanity is something unique and much more powerful: a dead man walking.
When you greet one another on Easter Sunday with a simple "He is Risen!" and its response "He is Risen Indeed!" you are continuing a witness that has carried down through 20 centuries of oppression, persecution, and hostility, staying faithful to the 'facts on the ground' at Golgotha. It is the Resurrection which establishes Christian faith as an enduring cultural phenomenon to this day, and which will do so tomorrow.
