He told them it was not his purpose to involve himself in the web of their own pettiness.  They could if they chose to, he told them, eliminate their differences through their willingness to look within themselves and examine their own motives and behavior.   Through sincere repentance to the God whom they were offending, he said they would find newness of life and purpose through the changing of their hearts.

They didn't like what he said to them; nor could they bear the way the directness of his comments went straight into their hearts.  They didn't like what he revealed about them, so they chose to rid themselves of him.  To cast out from their midst the reminder of all that they could be and weren't, rather than change themselves.

They even found that among themselves years of disunity seemed to melt away as they jointly focused on him and plotted his demise.  In fact, things seemed to be going better for everyone, now that he was out of the way.  They had found unity, at last, through projecting their own faults and failings onto their common enemy.

And what was Jesus' response?   He told them on the way to Golgotha, not in words, but through the pain in His blood streaked body, that He knew they could do so much better.   He showed them in vivid color that no matter what they had done to Him; He would always believe in them, always love them.

Even with his last breath, as he hung on the cross they had so eagerly provided for him; he showed them the only true way to achieve lasting unity with one another, and in their own hearts.