Reply #8: It has noting to do with being smart.

[zeemike]

Reading for understanding can only be accomplished if the mind is open and not cluttered with biases one way or the other.
and it is helpful if you have some understating of Eastern mysticism and other works on spirituality....
The knowledgeable Buddhist would understand what Jesus said...because they have the understanding that Spirit is in everything and that spirit is the creator of all...And so Jesus would not have had to explain himself when he called himself the Son of God and the Son of Man to them, or other cultures like Native Americans that held similar beliefes...
But with the Jews and the Pharisees it was not about God but about this upstart gathering a following and pointing out all their evils, and so even if they could have understood they would have chosen not to.

The God that Jesus was referring to sent us all here....the creator... And many have a hard time grasping that concept.