Jesus was born into a Jewish household, and Joseph presumably taught him everything he (Joseph) knew about God's word and God's plan. How do we know that he and Mary didn't raise Jesus with the expressed (or implied) plan to "play" Messiah? Jesus was obviously well-enough trained in the scriptures that he apparently knew more about it than the teachers did when he was twelve. One would expect that he had an even more intimate knowledge of it by the time his ministry began in his thirties. I hear all the evidences discussions that it would be a mathematical impossibility for all the prophecies to be fulfilled randomly. But what if they were influenced? -- George Degan
Ingenious! -- which is the downfall of this speculative objection. If Joseph and Mary played this game, then the biblical record is obviously highly defective. And if it is defective, then why should we believe what it says in the first place (that Jesus claimed to be the Messiah)? Why take part of it at face value and reject the rest? Your friend's approach entails special pleading.
One can't have it both ways. Reject the entire Bible or accept it -- and reject the notion that his parents were trying to raise a Messiah. (By the way, if they were, the scriptures do an excellent job of portraying their non-comprehension of what was going on!)
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