Tamara: Why did people in Mark's Gospel have such a hard time grasping Jesus' unique identity?

People expected not a lamb of God but warrior-king coming to free the Jewish people by sword and fire. When Jesus preached about forgiveness, a new covenant, and turning the other cheek they did not know what to make of it and therefore denied him as Christ. It may have also been the fact that his progression was reminiscent of the Matriarchal Cult which ended, as most of the cults did, with the sacrifice, or descent to the underworld by the hero-king, and later resurrection, or rebirth. Interesting similarities, no?