Jesus' teachings have not left any comfortable middle ground for those listening; his claims are so explicit that they are polarizing. The Festival of Booths was designed to represent the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at the coming of the Messiah. Jesus gets up to preach at this festival and claims he is the fulfillment of the prophecy about the Christ. As a result, the religious leaders rejected him, the disciples came to him, and Nicodemus sought to understand the truth.