I concluded it was not Jesus' so-called ministry which excited such hopes, but rather circumstances leading to his execution as "the king of the Jews": http://historical-jesus.info/digest.htmlMoreover, Ehrman argues (again, rightly in my view), that the early claim that Jesus is Messiah, requires us to conclude also that Jesus had excited such hopes about himself during his own ministry.
I would basically agree with that. But much more important than Jesus' ministry were Pilate's blunder, the phenomenal John the Baptist, Jesus being perceived as a healer through some flukes, the expectations of some activist Jews from Jerusalem & the diaspora and the ruckus in the temple as the reasons why he was crucified as "the king of the Jews" => Christ & Lord (more acceptable for Gentiles and less provocative against the Romans).Indeed, this was likely the reason that the Roman authority moved against him and crucified him. (“Messiah” = typically a divinely appointed ruler/deliverer, a claim that would have been seen as sedition against Rome.)
NOT Jesus' followers from Galilee but those who acclaimed him as king near Jerusalem. And belief in resurrection most likely started as:As Ehrman observes, resurrection by itself would not have connoted that Jesus is Messiah. But, if Jesus’ followers had held such a hope during his ministry, then Jesus’ resurrection would quite readily have been taken as God’s validation of Jesus as Messiah. (This, by the way, is basically the argument made by the great Yale NT scholar, Nils Dahl, decades ago.)
The king could not have died before having ruled. Consequently, he had to be saved in heaven in order to come back (at the advent on earth of the Kingdom of God). Supporting cherry picking out-of-context quotes from the OT could be found. And Philo of Alexandria wrote about the terrific proto-Jew, Abraham, and a superlative Jew, Moses, went to heaven after death: why not the future King of the Jews?
I am not denying that later "proof" of resurrection such as in dreams, or light (Ac 9:3, 22:7, 26:13), or a stranger on the road (Lk 24:13-16), or "internal voice" (Ac 22:9) or "I don't know how" (2 Cor 12:1-6) were strengthening the belief of resurrection.
Cordially, Bernard