Messianic Figures and How They Work

This is a response to Kaz's recent post. He points out the universal quality of the concept of a Messiah, given how many stories in so many cultures include the idea of a single person who will come along and make everything better.

Not only do I agree with this observation -- that we, as human beings, want figures like this to show up and fix the world -- I would also hypothesize that we want messiahs so badly that we might see them where they aren't, and we may even become upset when the person/s onto whom we are projecting our messianic ideals turns out to be just another ordinary human, or otherwise does not fit the mold.

I think this would help explain booth why and how Jesus's followers, after his death through to the present, began not just reinterpreting him as a divine figure, but reinterpreting his message; instead of appearing and fixing the world, he'd shown up and told us that we need to fix the world, and that wasn't sufficiently messianic for us.