.gif)
is for dying upon
Posted on 03/16/2002 6:42:19 AM PST by LarryLied
It's the most familiar symbol you can imagine, but ponder for a moment how odd it is that Christians display an "emblem of suffering and shame," as the hymn says.
The cross reminds us that Jesus was executed as a common criminal, hardly the upbeat message a publicist might choose.
Yet two decades after Calvary, the Apostle Paul wrote, "Far be it from me to glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Galatians 6:14). Under this mysterious emblem, the early Christians vanquished the empire that had crucified Jesus.
The symbol holds 21st-century power. Two days after the World Trade Center attack, a rescue worker wept as he discovered a 20-foot cross -- two fused metal beams buried in the rubble. This cross provided comfort to impromptu worshippers amid the mourning.
Yet the cross is spurned by Christian liberals Rita Nakashima Brock and Rebecca Ann Parker. They find belief in Jesus' saving death repellent, saying this sanctifies violence and submission to evil.
"To say that Jesus' executioners did what was historically necessary for salvation is to say that state terrorism is a good thing, that torture and murder are the will of God," they say in their book Proverbs of Ashes (Beacon).
Brock, a Harvard Divinity researcher, has chaired the joint global ministries board of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and United Church of Christ, and was a theology speaker at the Disciples's national assembly last year. Parker is a United Methodist Church minister and president of the Unitarian Universalist seminary in Berkeley, Calif.
Roman Catholic leftist John Dominic Crossan has joined in, hailing the authors' attack upon what he considers "the most unfortunately successful idea in the history of Christian thought." And the current Unitarian Universalist magazine features Brock and Parker in a cover story headlined "Violence and Doctrine: How Christianity Twists the Meaning of Jesus' Death."
"Perfect . . . sacrifice"
By contrast, another current author joins Paul in glorying in the cross. Fleming Rutledge, a traveling Episcopal preacher who lives in Port Chester, N.Y., embraces the Book of Common Prayer's Communion affirmation that Jesus Christ made "a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation and satisfaction, for the sins of the whole world."
Rutledge has collected seasonal meditations in her book The Undoing of Death (Eerdmans). Though sermons often fall flat on the printed page, this book is unusually readable devotional fare.
She believes the cross is misunderstood if we forget that Jesus the Son is equally God along with the Father (which liberal Christians and Unitarians deny). And some conservatives portray "a wrathful Father piling condemnation on an innocent, victimized Son. This mistake must be strenuously resisted," she writes.
The heart of the atoning sacrifice on the cross, Rutledge insists, is "the fact that the Father's will and the Son's will are one. This is an action that the Father and the Son are taking together." They are "accomplishing our redemption together," acting in united love for humanity.
However, her Good Friday sermons worry less about such liberal or conservative theories than about people's inclination to pretend their sins aren't all that bad so they have no need of a Savior.
"We do not like to believe that we deserve condemnation," she says.
Some seek to justify themselves by the kind of people they like to think they are -- more moral, sensitive, loving, intelligent, thoughtful, patriotic, fashionable or socially aware than others. Then there's the opposite, people who tell themselves they're more misunderstood, long-suffering and deserving than anyone else.
But Christianity says we're all sinners in the light of God's holiness. Despite sin, Rutledge believes, when Christ looks at someone "he sees a person that he loves more than life, more than glory, more than power, more than riches, more than divinity itself."
She also contends that the cross shows us Christianity is true. The reason? Mere human imagination or wishful thinking would never have concocted "a despised and rejected Messiah."
Well, I'm sure that this is exactly what Satan and his servants must have thought. Your statement is so wierd in so many ways.
As for me, I bear the mark of Christ with pride for when I looked on the Cross, the only defeat I saw was my sin being crushed under the eternal wrath of Almighty God. I see a great and awesome victory that brought me to my knees in fear and wonder.
So you say about everyone who leaves your God denying faith.
You did not read that in Genesis, or anywhere else in the bible. It was Luzifer who wanted to be God and not Eve
Hold up. The night before the crucifixion was when Christ prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. Yes, he prayed so hard that his sweat was Bloody. But he didn't suffer that night.
He suffered the day of His Death. And for you to say that anything is worse than the crucifixion only proves that you haven't studied what the process of being crucified entails.
It ain't pretty.
That sounds interesting but is not scripitual
Jhn 10:17 Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.
18 No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.
Jesus was obedient to His death on the cross..
Satan shared his lire with eve and she ate..She did indeed want to be as God
Gen 3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree [was] good for food, and that it [was] pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make [one] wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
About a decade ago, reading Jim Bishop's The Day Christ Died, I realized that I had for years taken the Crucifixion more or less for granted -- that I had grown callous to its horror by a too easy familiarity with the grim details and a too distant friendship with our Lord. It finally occurred to me that, though a physician, I didn't even know the actual immediate cause of death. The Gospel writers don't help us much on this point, because crucifixion and scourging were so common during their lifetime that they apparently considered a detailed description unnecessary. So we have only the concise words of the Evangelists: "Pilate, having scourged Jesus, delivered Him to them to be crucified -- and they crucified Him."
I have no competence to discuss the infinite psychic and spiritual suffering of the Incarnate God atoning for the sins of fallen man. But it seemed to me that as a physician I might pursue the physiological and anatomical aspects of our Lord's passonate some detail. What did the body of Jesus of Nazareth actually endure during those hours of torture?
This led me first to a study of the practice of crucifixion itself; that is, torture and execution by fixation to a cross. I am indebted to many who have studied this subject in the past, and especially to a contemporary colleague, Dr. Pierre Barbet, a French surgeon who has done exhaustive historical and experimental research and has written extensively on the subject.
Apparently, the first known practice of crucifixion was by the Persians. Alexander and his generals brought it back to the Mediterranean world -- to Egypt and to Carthage. The Romans apparently learned the practice from the Carthaginians and (as with almost everything the Romans did) rapidly developed a very high degree of efficiency and skill at it. A number of Roman authors (Livy, Cicer, Tacitus) comment on crucifixion, and several innovations, modifications, and variations are described in the ancient literature.
For instance, the upright portion of the cross (or stipes) could have the cross-arm (or patibulum) attached two or three feet below its top in what we commonly think of as the Latin cross. The most common form used in our Lord's day, however, was the Tau cross, shaped like our T. In this cross the patibulum was placed in a notch at the top of the stipes. There is archeological evidence that it was on this type of cross that Jesus was crucified.
Without any historical or biblical proof, Medieval and Renaissance painters have given us our picture of Christ carrying the entire cross. But the upright post, or stipes, was generally fixed permanently in the ground at the site of execution and the condemned man was forced to carry the patibulum, weighing about 110 pounds, from the prison to the place of execution.
Many of the painters and most of the sculptors of crucifixion, also show the nails through the palms. Historical Roman accounts and experimental work have established that the nails were driven between the small bones of the wrists (radial and ulna) and not through the palms. Nails driven through the palms will strip out between the fingers when made to support the weight of the human body. The misconception may have come about through a misunderstanding of Jesus' words to Thomas, "Observe my hands." Anatomists, both modern and ancient, have always considered the wrist as part of the hand.
A titulus, or small sign, stating the victim's crime was usually placed on a staff, carried at the front of the procession from the prison, and later nailed to the cross so that it extended above the head. This sign with its staff nailed to the top of the cross would have given it somewhat the characteristic form of the Latin cross.
But, of course, the physical passion of the Christ began in Gethsemane. Of the many aspects of this initial suffering, the one of greatest physiological interest is the bloody sweat. It is interesting that St. Luke, the physician, is the only one to mention this. He says, "And being in Agony, He prayed the longer. And His sweat became as drops of blood, trickling down upon the ground."
Every ruse (trick) imaginable has been used by modern scholars to explain away this description, apparently under the mistaken impression that this just doesn't happen. A great deal of effort could have been saved had the doubters consulted the medical literature. Though very rare, the phenomenon of Hematidrosis, or bloody sweat, is well documented. Under great emotional stress of the kind our Lord suffered, tiny capillaries in the sweat glands can break, thus mixing blood with sweat. This process might well have produced marked weakness and possible shock. (Note: Jesus was both Man and God, so this is entirely plausible).
After the arrest in the middle of the night, Jesus was next brought before the Sanhedrin and Caiphus, the High Priest; it is here that the first physical trauma was inflicted. A soldier struck Jesus across the face for remaining silent when questioned by Caiphus. The palace guards then blind-folded Him and mockingly taunted Him to identify them as they each passed by, spat upon Him, and struck Him in the face.
In the early morning, battered and bruised, dehydrated, and exhausted from a sleepless night, Jesus is taken across the Praetorium of the Fortress Antonia, the seat of government of the Procurator of Judea, Pontius Pilate. You are, of course, familiar with Pilate's action in attempting to pass responsibility to Herod Antipas, the Tetrarch of Judea. Jesus apparently suffered no physical mistreatment at the hands of Herod and was returned to Pilate. It was in response to the cries of the mob, that Pilate ordered Bar-Abbas released and condemned Jesus to scourging and crucifixion.
There is much disagreement among authorities about the unusual scourging as a prelude to crucifixion. Most Roman writers from this period do not associate the two. Many scholars believe that Pilate originally ordered Jesus scourged as his full punishment and that the death sentence by crucifixion came only in response to the taunt by the mob that the Procurator was not properly defending Caesar against this pretender who allegedly claimed to be the King of the Jews.
Preparations for the scourging were carried out when the Prisoner was stripped of His clothing and His hands tied to a post above His head. It is doubtful the Romans would have made any attempt to follow the Jewish law in this matter, but the Jews had an ancient law prohibiting more than forty lashes.
The Roman legionnaire steps forward with the flagrum (or flagellum) in his hand. This is a short whip consisting of several heavy, leather thongs with two small balls of lead attached near the ends of each. The heavy whip is brought down with full force again and again across Jesus' shoulders, back, and legs. At first the thongs cut through the skin only. Then, as the blows continue, they cut deeper into the subcutaneous tissues, producing first an oozing of blood from the capillaries and veins of the skin, and finally spurting arterial bleeding from vessels in the underlying muscles.
The small balls of lead first produce large, deep bruises which are broken open by subsequent blows. Finally the skin of the back is hanging in long ribbons and the entire area is an unrecognizable mass of torn, bleeding tissue. When it is determined by the centurion in charge that the prisoner is near death, the beating is finally stopped.
The half-fainting Jesus is then untied and allowed to slump to the stone pavement, wet with His own blood. The Roman soldiers see a great joke in this provincial Jew claiming to be king. They throw a robe across His shoulders and place a stick in His hand for a scepter. They still need a crown to make their travesty complete. Flexible branches covered with long thorns (commonly used in bundles for firewood) are plaited into the shape of a crown and this is pressed into His scalp. Again there is copious bleeding, the scalp being one of the most vascular areas of the body.
After mocking Him and striking Him across the face, the soldiers take the stick from His hand and strike Him across the head, driving the thorns deeper into His scalp. Finally, they tire of their sadistic sport and the robe is torn from His back. Already having adhered to the clots of blood and serum in the wounds, its removal causes excruciating pain just as in the careless removal of a surgical bandage, and almost as though He were again being whipped the wounds once more begin to bleed.
In deference to Jewish custom, the Romans return His garments. The heavy patibulum of the cross is tied across His shoulders, and the procession of the condemned Christ, two thieves, and the execution detail of Roman soldiers headed by a centurion begins its slow journey along the Via Dolorosa. In spite of His efforts to walk erect, the weight of the heavy wooden beam, together with the shock produced by copious blood loss, is too much. He stumbles and falls. The rough wood of the beam gouges into the lacerated skin and muscles of the shoulders. He tries to rise, but human muscles have been pushed beyond their endurance.
The centurion, anxious to get on with the crucifixion, selects a stalwart North African onlooker, Simon of Cyrene, to carry the cross. Jesus follows, still bleeding and sweating the cold, clammy sweat of shock, until the 650 yard journey from the fortress Antonia to Golgotha is finally completed.
Jesus is offered wine mixed with myrrh, a mild analgesic mixture. He refuses to drink. Simon is ordered to place the patibulum on the ground and Jesus quickly thrown backward with His shoulders against the wood. The legionnaire feels for the depression at the front of the wrist. He drives a heavy, square, wrought-iron nail through the wrist and deep into the wood. Quickly, he moves to the other side and repeats the action being careful not to pull the arms to tightly, but to allow some flexion and movement. The patibulum is then lifted in place at the top of the stipes and the titulus reading "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews" is nailed in place.
The left foot is now pressed backward against the right foot, and with both feet extended, toes down, a nail is driven through the arch of each, leaving the knees moderately flexed. The Victim is now crucified. As He slowly sags down with more weight on the nails in the wrists excruciating pain shoots along the fingers and up the arms to explode in the brain -- the nails in the wrists are putting pressure on the median nerves. As He pushes Himself upward to avoid this stretching torment, He places His full weight on the nail through His feet. Again there is the searing agony of the nail tearing through the nerves between the metatarsal bones of the feet.
At this point, as the arms fatigue, great waves of cramps sweep over the muscles, knotting them in deep, relentless, throbbing pain. With these cramps comes the inability to push Himself upward. Hanging by his arms, the pectoral muscles are paralyzed and the intercostal muscles are unable to act. Air can be drawn into the lungs, but cannot be exhaled. Jesus fights to raise Himself in order to get even one short breath. Finally, carbon dioxide builds up in the lungs and in the blood stream and the cramps partially subside. Spasmodically, he is able to push Himself upward to exhale and bring in the life-giving oxygen. It was undoubtedly during these periods that He uttered the seven short sentences recorded:
The first, looking down at the Roman soldiers throwing dice for His seamless garment, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do."
The second, to the penitent thief, "Today thou shalt be with me in Paradise."
The third, looking down at the terrified, grief-stricken adolescent John -- the beloved Apostle -- he said, "Behold thy mother." Then, looking to His mother Mary, "Woman behold thy son."
The fourth cry is from the beginning of the 22nd Psalm, "My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?"
Hours of limitless pain, cycles of twisting, joint-rending cramps, intermittent partial asphyxiation, searing pain where tissue is torn from His lacerated back as He moves up and down against the rough timber. Then another agony begins...A terrible crushing pain deep in the chest as the pericardium slowly fills with serum and begins to compress the heart.
One remembers again the 22nd Psalm, the 14th verse: "I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels."
It is now almost over. The loss of tissue fluids has reached a critical level; the compressed heart is struggling to pump heavy, thick, sluggish blood into the tissue; the tortured lungs are making a frantic effort to gasp in small gulps of air. The markedly dehydrated tissues send their flood of stimuli to the brain.
Jesus gasps His fifth cry, "I thirst."
One remembers another verse from the prophetic 22nd Psalm: "My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou has brought me into the dust of death."
A sponge soaked in posca, the cheap, sour wine which is the staple drink of the Roman legionaries, is lifted to His lips. He apparently doesn't take any of the liquid. The body of Jesus is now in extremes, and He can feel the chill of death creeping through His tissues. This realization brings out His sixth words, possibly little more than a tortured whisper, "It is finished."
His mission of atonement has completed. Finally He can allow his body to die.
With one last surge of strength, he once again presses His torn feet against the nail, straightens His legs, takes a deeper breath, and utters His seventh and last cry, "Father! Into thy hands I commit my spirit."
The rest you know. In order that the Sabbath not be profaned, the Jews asked that the condemned men be dispatched and removed from the crosses. The common method of ending a crucifixion was by crurifracture, the breaking of the bones of the legs. This prevented the victim from pushing himself upward; thus the tension could not be relieved from the muscles of the chest and rapid suffocation occurred. The legs of the two thieves were broken, but when the soldiers came to Jesus they saw that this was unnecessary.
Apparently to make doubly sure of death, the legionnaire drove his lance through the fifth interspace between the ribs, upward through the pericardium and into the heart. The 34th verse of the 19th chapter of the Gospel according to St. John reports: "And immediately there came out blood and water." That is, there was an escape of water fluid from the sac surrounding the heart, giving postmortem evidence that Our Lord died not the usual crucifixion death by suffocation, but of heart failure (a broken heart) due to shock and constriction of the heart by fluid in the pericardium.
Thus we have had our glimpse -- including the medical evidence -- of that epitome of evil which man has exhibited toward Man and toward God. It has been a terrible sight, and more than enough to leave us despondent and depressed. How grateful we can be that we have the great sequel in the infinite mercy of God toward man -- at once the miracle of the atonement (at one ment) and the expectation of the triumphant Easter morning.
My Lord and my God. No love is greater than this. He was under no obligation to suffer. Yet He did it, for me.
is for dying upon
We (you and I) have almost nothing in common doctrinally actually I share probably between 80 to 90% with the others even the RC's with whom I would hold the greatest diffence ..now you said a "permament hell" so you have a purgatory type hell too?
I once asked if Jesus due to his obedience would have his own planet at some point..but he was never married...what kind of doctrinal stance do you hold on the eternal fate of Jesus?
He did it because of ME I nailed Him to that cross
Actually, according to their beliefs in order for one to be a "god" one must be married. Care to guess who Jesus' wives (3 if I remember) are and when the Bible "records" the marriage?
But, I'm sure some Mormon (WM) will be along to straighten me out about this. Besides, this is not normally a topic which I discuss, but it is an interesting one.
The Word of God addresses all these issues with such profound clarity.
Let us raise the Banner of the Lord and stand therefore in the Mighty victory that He has given us. Let us stand in plain sight in front of all those who hate Him arrayed in the glorious spendor of the Son with the Truth and Righteousness and Salvation and our feet ready to give the gospel of peace and holding our faith and our Swords.
He is Risen!
Photo Essay from Gethsemane to the Garden Tomb
by Maurine and Scot Proctor
Excerpted from Source of the Light, A Witness and Testimony of Jesus Christ, the Savior and Redeemer of All
With the light of a nearly full moon illuminating the way, Jesus Christ and his apostles climbed the Mount of Olives to the Garden of Gethsemane, a place where they had often retreated together. This garden was actually an olive vineyard, its name Gethsemane meaning "place of the olive press," and in this hour there would be inconceivable, heartrending pressing for the Lord. Taking only Peter, James, and John beyond the garden entrance, He "began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy," (1) saying to them, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death; tarry ye here, and watch with me." Then removing Himself about a stone's throw, in the depths of anguish He "fell on his face, and prayed saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me," (2) "nevertheless not my will, but thine be done." (3) "Abba," (4) He called, using the intimate personal word for "Father" used particularly in family circles.
The intense agony Jesus faced in the garden was not from fear of death of the pain of crucifixion. As the Son of an eternal Father, no one could take His life from Him. But in these midnight hours, He would face the ultimate contest with all the powers of darkness as He took upon Himself the pain, sin, infirmities, and anguish of a corrupted world. "It was not physical pain, nor mental anguish alone, that caused Him to suffer such torture as to produce an extrusion of blood from every pore; but a spiritual agony of soul such as only God was capable of experiencing. No other man, however great his powers of physical or mental endurance, could have suffered so; for his human organism would have succumbed, and...produced unconsciousness and welcome oblivion. In that hour of anguish, Christ met and overcame all the horrors that Satan, 'the prince of this world' could inflict." (5)
In modern revelation, Jesus says of the event, "I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent; but if they would not repent, they must suffer even as I; which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit-and would that I might not drink the bitter cup and shrink." (6)
In complete anguish of body and spirit, Christ endured the unendurable, "and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground." There appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony, he prayed more earnestly." (7) This obedient Son whose communication with His Father was so perfect that He could say, "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father," (8) prayed yet more earnestly. What words He must have said in that impassioned prayer, as He in some way incomprehensible to mortal minds took upon Himself the punishment for all the sins of the world, however loathsome, paying the price, the incalculable debt for our weakness that we could not pay. He paid the price, with an infinite atonement, for all who would repent in His name and be at one again with the Lord. Since all things past, present, and future are continually before the Lord, (9) in some way we cannot understand, even the sins we will yet commit added to the agony Christ faced in Gethsemane.
Without this bitter cup, the drinking of whose dregs was the weightiest task in all the universe, we would be spiritually dead. Once having sinned, we would be unclean, unable to return to our Heavenly Father, debtors faced with an impossible debt. Without repentance, the day will come when with absolute clarity we will stand before the bar of God and "shall have a perfect knowledge of all our guilt, and our uncleanness, and our nakedness." (10) With repentance, made possible by a perfect Son, a sacrificial Lamb, paying a price that was not His, our staggering burdens of sin and guilt can be lifted, and we can be given new life. Who in this heartbreaking world of self-disappointment does not need this gift? When in the sorrow of our hearts we cry out, "O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me, who am in the gall of bitterness," (11) there is One who hears with mercy because of this night in Gethsemane.
Orson F. Whitney's Vision
Orson F. Whitney saw this scene in vision and recorded, "I seemed to be in the Garden of Gethsemane, a witness of the Savior's agony. I saw Him as plainly as ever I have seen anyone. Standing behind a tree in the foreground, I beheld Jesus, with Peter, James and John, as they came through a little wicket gate at my right...As He prayed, the tears streamed down his face, which was toward me. I was so moved at the sight that I also wept, out of pure sympathy. My whole heart went out to him: I loved him with all my soul, and longed to be with him as I longed for nothing else...The Savior, with the three Apostles,...were about to depart...I could endure it no longer. I ran from behind the tree, fell at his feet, clasped Him around the knees, and begged him to take me with him. I shall never forget the kind and gentle manner in which He stopped, raised me up, and embraced me...I felt the very warmth of his body, as he held me in his arms and said in tenderest tones: 'No my son, these have finished their work; they can go with me; but you must stay and finish yours.' Still I clung to him. Gazing up into his face-for he was taller than I-I besought him fervently: 'Well, promise me that I will come to you at the last.' Smiling sweetly, He said, 'That will depend entire upon yourself.'" (12)
The Meaning of Olive Oil
As all things were created to bear record of the Savior, so Gethsemane, the oil press, bears silent testimony of that grueling night. Olive oil was the very essence of life for Israel. Light came in a dark night because olive oil filled the lamps. Balm and healing came because olive oil was poured into wounds. Olive mash was fuel. But olive oil was obtained from the olives only by subjecting them to extraordinary pressure, crushing them under a stone press. Under this relentless weight, the olive, which is bitter, produced oil, which is sweet. So it is with the atonement. >From the bitterness of that night came all that is precious and sweet about life, all that gives light in the darkness. When we are anointed with consecrated oil, it is through Christ's sacrifice that we are healed, given balm from the olive press He faced for our wounds.
He had asked His apostles, Peter, James, and John to watch with Him, but twice when He arose from prayer He found them "sleeping for sorrow." (13) Jesus said, "What, could ye not watch with me one hour?" Then He added in sympathy, "The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." (14) Finally, the third He came and found them asleep, He said, "Sleep on now, and take your rest: it is enough...behold, the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners." (15)
The Betrayal
Perhaps even at that minute He could already see the string of torchlights coming up the mount, a multitude of armed soldiers led by Judas. "Mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me." (16)
Approaching Jesus, Judas greeted Him and "not only kissed [him], but covered Him with kisses, kissed Him repeatedly, loudly, effusively." (17) Defending Jesus against the arrest, Peter raised his sword and cut off the right ear of Malchus, the high priest's servant. Touching the ear, Jesus healed it, saying, "Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?" (18) But now was the time for divine restrains as He allowed Himself to be taken captive that the scripture might be fulfilled.
A Night of Inquisition
As the soldiers took Jesus, "they saw before them nothing but a weary unarmed man, whom one of His own most intimate followers had betrayed, and whose arrest was simply watched in helpless agony by a few terrified Galileans" (19)
who finally fled in panic. This was the beginning of a long and terrible night of inquisition. First, He was led to degenerate Annas, the former High Priest for seven years, the money-hungry usurper of Jewish power. One of the abominable men of the earth, He appointed and controlled the High Priest, who would have slavishly followed his word.
Next, in exhaustion, He was led bound to Caiaphas, the legal High Priest in whose palace at least a quorum of the Sanhedrin was gathered. They had before them a prisoner innocent of any crime. "Their dilemma was real, for themselves were sharply divided on all major issues save one-that the man Jesus must die." However, since they needed to find a charge, they sought false witnesses. Many were eager to bare false witness, but "their testimony was so false, so shadowy, so self-congratulatory, that it all melted to nothing." Through all their hopeless argument, Jesus listened in majestic silence, which only confounded them more and Caiaphas, enraged, hurled this question: "Answerest thou nothing?...I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God." Jesus answered, for it had never been a secret, "Thou hast said."... (20)
More Trials
After the Savior's interview with Caiaphas, Christ's captors spit in His face and buffeted Him and made up a cruel game. Blindfolding Him, they slapped Him with the palms of their hands and then taunted, "Prophesy, who is it that smote thee?" When, at last, the lingering hours of the night had passed, Jesus was brought before the Sanhedrin for the sham of a trial, which would be a flagrant violation of their own laws. The charge was blasphemy against the only one who could not commit blasphemy-the Lord Himself. "What need we any further witness?" (21)
They were, however, bent on His death, and being subject to Roman overlords, they could not impose it themselves. So, followed by a riotous mob, they led Him bound to Herod's magnificent palace, where Pilate, the Roman procurator, was keeping a wary watch over the Passover rabble. This being a Gentile house with leavened bread, the fastidious Jewish leaders would not defile themselves and enter, though ironically then found no defilement in seeking to kill the innocent. Thus it was that Pilate came out to them asking, "What accusation bring ye against this man?" It was a hard question from a practical politician, and they had searched for and found the charge-not blasphemy, which would mean nothing to a Roman. No, this time they charged Him with sedition. He is a traitor to Caesar. He calls Himself the king of the Jews! Of all those who examined Jesus, Pilate was the least guilty of malice towards Him. Something about the Lord touched the man, and after questioning Him he said frankly, "I find in him no fault at all." (22) To this the chief priests responded in a clamor of accusations, among which a single word stood out: out ".Galilee" Pilate thought he saw a way out. With relief, he sent the Savior on to Herod, whose jurisdiction included the green hills of Galilee.
Herod had killed John the Baptist, so before the cruel and insolent questioning of the despot, Jesus said not a word. For the weak, the sick, the child, the sinner, Christ had soothing, loving tones, but for the tyrant He had only silence, all the more infuriating to Herod, for he longed to see a miracle performed.
Before Pilate
The chief priests and rulers of the people were assembled, and the mocked, spat-upon, exhausted Jesus was once again brought before Pilate. Word of His arrest had spread through the streets of the city, and a mob of onlookers had gathered. To these Pilate made his pronouncement: "Ye have brought this man unto me, as one that perverteth the people: and behold I, having examined him before you, have found no fault in this man." (23) This could have been enough; the Roman leader had spoken. But the pack of fanatics before him thirsted for blood. Pilate's pity for the Lord was crushed under his cowardice, for Pilate had that most inconvenient of burdens, a guilty past. Several times before, he had ignited Jewish fury against Him. One time, for instance, he had confiscated money from the sacred treasury to build an aqueduct and then had sent soldiers in Jewish costume among the people carrying hidden daggers to punish those who had opposed him. Now he was caught; for past sins, he would sin again, violating his own best instincts.
So he tried another kind of appeasement. It was the custom of the Passover to release a criminal. Here were two men, perhaps even standing before the mob as Pilate spoke. One was Barabbas, the leader of an insurrection, a murderer. The other was Jesus, the proclaimer of peace, who raised the dead. "Whom will ye that I release unto you? Barabbas, or Jesus which is called Christ?" (24) Some in that crowd had been healed by the Lord; some had heard His healing words, but the chief priests moved among the people stirring them up until they shouted, "Barabbas. Release Barrabas."
Pilate would have released Jesus, and his feelings were even more stirred when his wife came to him pleading, "Have thou nothing to do with that just man; for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him." (25) Whatever these flickerings of conscience, Pilate sent Jesus to be scourged. The soldiers wove a crown of thorns and jammed it on that tired head; they placed a purple robe on His shoulders and then, gloating and leering, they smote Him and spit upon Him saying, "Hail, king of the Jews." (26) Consider this humiliation, this stinging injustice, and know that He who has suffered all things can succor us in every hour.
Now Pilate brought the bleeding wounded Jesus again before the crowd. "Behold the man!" he said. Was there even now no stirrings of pity for Him? Where was the man or woman who would speak up? Where were all those who were waving palms just five days before? Their hosannas had vanished on a fickle wind. No, there was only Pilate's corrupt voice repeating, "I find no fault in Him." It was still early morning when Pilate gave in: "Shall I crucify your King?" and the people answered "Away with him, crucify him...We have no king but Caesar." (27)
"When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person." And the people shouted, "His blood be on us, and on our children." (28) So Jesus, numbered with the transgressors, carried His cross to the place of the skull, Golgatha, until He collapsed under the weight and mounting misery. The men along the road were silent; some women wept. The cross was raised between two thieves, and at noon the earth turned dark in shame.
The Crucifixion
For capital punishment, the Jews stoned, burned, beheaded, or strangled, but the Romans chose the cruelest punishment of all-crucifixion. It was a lingering death for its tortured victims. "The unnatural position made every moment painful; the lacerated veins and crushed tendons throbbed with incessant anguish; the wounds, inflamed by exposure, gradually gangrened;...there was added to them the intolerable pang of a burning and raging thirst," (29) dizziness, cramp, starvation, sleeplessness, and shame. In Jerusalem, a charitable women's group administered a mixture of wine and drugs to dull the pain as the victim was stretched on the ground and nailed to the crossbeam, but this Jesus refused.
Stripped, He was raised on the cross with a mocking sign over His head: "JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS." (30) As the soldiers beneath Him cast lots for what was probably His only material possession, a coat without seam, He asked in their behalf, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." As He hung in anguish, the rulers and people gaped and cursed and condemned Him, taunting, "He saved others; let him save himself." (31) Through the anguish, He had only loving words. To His mother, Mary, who must have felt the pangs of near-death in her own body, it was concern that she be cared for. To the beloved John, He said, "Behold thy mother," (32) and from that hour John took her into his own home. To the thief who would repent, He gave hope. At noon the heavens grew black for three hours, as if the universe itself were weeping for the agony of the Creator. In that time all the infinite agonies and merciless pains of Gethsemane returned, and His Father's spirit itself withdrew that the victory might be His. At the ninth hour, 3:00 p.m., "Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying...My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" In that eerie midafternoon darkness, someone ran and filled a sponge with vinegar. Having received the vinegar, Jesus said, "Father, it is finished. Thy will is done." As He died, the veil of the temple was rent, and the earth quaked and rocks were rent as it to say with a nearby centurion, "Truly this man was the Son of God." (33)
Joyous Resurrection
While it was yet dark on the morning of Sunday after the crucifixion, Mary Magdalene and other women arrived at the tomb of Jesus to mourn and anoint with spices the hastily entombed body. To their utter surprise and sadness, when they looked in the tomb Jesus' body was not there. Mary immediately ran to tell Peter and John of their findings: "They have taken the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him." This news caused the disciples to run speedily to the tomb to see for themselves, "for as yet they knew not the scripture that he must rise again from the dead." As they looked in the tomb, something in John leaped with joy, and he "believed." (34) Yet he and Peter returned to their residences. As Mary and other women lingered by the tomb, "behold two men stood by them in shining garments," and "they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead?" (35) Fear not ye; for we know that ye seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here for he is risen, as he said; "Come, see the place where the Lord lay." (36)
Mary's Moment
As yet, Mary Magdalene did not understand the words of the angels, for her sorrow at the loss of her beloved Lord was so stinging. Mary turned herself away from the tomb and saw someone in the garden whom she did not recognize. He asked her, "Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou?" Supposing Him to be the gardener, she boldly said, "Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away." Mary's love for the Lord was so powerful that she offered to physically take the body by herself and see to his proper burial. Now came one of the greatest moments in all of history, for this man was not the gardener-it was Jesus Christ with a resurrected body of flesh and bone. And He made Himself known by simply calling her by name in tones so familiar: "Mary." Now she saw, becoming the first witness of the risen Lord. Her tears of sorrow turned to joy as she exclaimed, "Rabboni," (37) which means "My beloved master."
What joy to this woman and to all humanity! "But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept...For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." (38) Mary Magdalene reached forward to worship and love the Lord. Jesus said to her, "Hold me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father." Whether this meant for her not to keep Him long or whether she was not to physically touch the Lord is unknown. Perhaps the Lord was reserving His first embrace as a glorified and perfected being for His own Father in Heaven, also a glorified and perfected being.
When Mary told the apostles that she had seen the living Lord, her "words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not." Later Jesus appeared to Peter, His chief apostle, who perhaps may have wondered that the Master would ever again call him His servant. This was a day never to be forgotten. Ancient witnesses declare its truth in the holy records, and witnesses today have it borne to their souls by the power of the Holy Ghost. "He is risen! He is risen! Tell it out with joyful voice. He has burst his three days' prison; Let the whole wide earth rejoice. Death is conquered; man is free. Christ has won the victory." (39)
Notes
1. Mark 14:33 2. Matthew 26:38,39 3. Luke 22:42 4. Mark 14:36 5. James E. Talmage, Jesus the Christ (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1982) p. 568-69. 6. D&C 19:16-18 7. Luke 22:43-44 8. John 14:9 9. See D&C 130:7 10. 2 Nephi 9:14 11. Alma 36:18 12. Orson F. Whitney, Through Memory's Halls. (Independence, Mo.; Zion's Printing and Publishing Co. 1930), pp. 82-83.) 13. Luke 22:45 14. Matthew 26:40-41 15. Mark 14:41 16. Psalm 41:9 17. Alfred Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah (Iowan Falls, Iowa: World Bible Publishers, 1971) 1:132. 18. Matthew 26:53 19. Frederic W. Farrar, The Life of Christ (Portland: Fountain Publications, 1964), p. 61 20. Matthew 26:62-63,64 21. Luke 22:64,71 22. John 18:29,38 23. Luke 23:14 24. Matthew 27:17 25. Matthew 27:19 26. John 19:3 27. John 19: 5, 4,15 28. Matthew 27:24-25 29. Farrar, Life of Christ, p. 619 30. John 19:19 31. Luke 23: 34,35, Matthew 27:43 32. John 19:27 33. Mark 15:39 34. John 20, 2,9,8 35. Luke 24: 4,5 36. JST Matthew 28:4-5 37. John 20: 15,16 38. 1 Corinthians 15: 20,22 39. Hymns, No. 199
Of course, I am not bothered by what you say as you are among the ones who DENY Almighty God because you do not worship the Ancient of Days. It is funny really because you turn around and claim to be a denomination of Christianity. But we [real Christians] don't deny Almighty God.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is not a break off of any denomination of man churches.
It is the restored Church of Jesus Christ.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is not a break off of any denomination of man churches.
It is the restored Church of Jesus Christ.
I'd be laughing if this wasn't so heretical.
How long has it been with the Mormons that they believed the curse was lifted off of dark-skinned people? You think I dont' know that history about the LDS church?
Ha!
Guess again.
Any faith that changes was never perfect to begin with.
What restoration? You DENY Almighty God because you will not worship the Ancient of Days.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.