Jesus challenged the Jews of his day to true, heart-based repentance and to follow him. This is in contrast to the religion of the religious leaders of the day, who called Jews to find God through the Temple and its rituals and ceremonies. In this context, it was easy to become complacent and go through the routines of worship.

But Jesus brought with him the prophetic expectation of the Old Testament. In Isaiah 40, we see that God declared he would bring an end to the people