How did a Jewish Rabbi respond when told Jesus had already come and would come again?
The Rabbi rejected the claim outright, saying Jesus had never been there. After arguing back and forth, he proposed that they wait until He arrives and then ask Him whether He had been there before. This reflects the Jewish belief that the Messiah has not yet come.
Les explains that an Evangelical and an old Jewish Rabbi were arguing the point of Jesus' Messiahship. The Evangelical claimed Jesus had already been here, had been crucified, had gone back to glory, and was waiting for Him to come the second time. The Rabbi responded, "Oh no way, He's never been here." They argued back and forth, and finally the old Rabbi said, "Tell you what, we'll just wait until He gets here, and then I'm going to ask Him, have you been here before?" Les says that captures the Jewish thinking: that He has not yet come. He also notes that most Jews even today share Saul of Tarsus's mentality—they think Jesus was an imposter and a blasphemer—and that an Orthodox Jewish guide in Israel knew the Gospel accounts of Christ's earthly ministry but still denied being a Christian.