| Who
Killed Jesus?
The Error of Political or Cultural Correctness
Recently, in an effort to minimize the negative
feedback that came from critics of the film, “The Passion
of the Christ,” a subtle mistake was made and too frequently
repeated by many who believe and present the gospel of Christ. The
pressure to be politically or culturally correct at times causes
even some of the best to waffle in their presentation of “the
whole counsel of God.” It played out recently in the following
manner.
The mistake came as
a result of an effort to defend the film and in actuality defend
the presentation of the sacrifice of Christ; and while seeking to
convince those skeptics that the above was not in any fashion anti-Semitic.
In so doing, on many occasions those defending the presentation
countered the argument that the Jews killed Jesus with the idea
that no one killed Jesus. Using the words of the Lord Jesus about
no man taking his life from Him and about how willing that He was
to lay His life down for sinful mankind, many commentators made
the conclusion that no one killed Christ. In a major monthly Christian
trade periodical the editor left his usual genre of material and
delving into the controversy taught that humanity did not put Christ
to death, but that He Himself did it to Himself. To our discredit
we Christians let our culture back us into a corner, and not wanting
to offend Jews, we instead did disservice to our Lord by our weak
presentations. Some went so far as to teach that it wasn’t
the common Jew that was party to the execution of Christ, only those
in the Sanhedrin, those religious leaders of the nation of Israel;
therefore taking the heat off of the common Jew for the rejection
of the Messiah. Some explanations came very close to the point of
making Jesus suicidal, since they explained that in a sense only
He was responsible for putting Himself to death.
While we understand that no man could have
ever taken Jesus’ life from Him, that He was God incarnate
and actually was life itself; there is an interesting paradox to
the message of His death on the Cross-that we must not fail to comprehend.
While He did willingly lay down His life, the truth also is that
we (mankind) did kill the Christ. Peter never fell into the subtle
trap of attempting to be politically or culturally correct. Reading
the account of Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost sheds
great insight on this fact. Peter confronts a huge crowd of Jews
(not just the religious leaders), and in the course of his sermon
states:
“this Man, delivered up by the
predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross
by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.” Acts
2:23 NASB
Some days later Peter had opportunity
to preach a second sermon following the healing of a lame man,
and in this sermon he again stated, “But you disowned the
Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted
to you, but put to death the Prince of life, the one whom God
raised from the dead, a fact to which we are witnesses.”
Acts 3:15 NASB
Without apology for making anyone
feel uncomfortable, Peter repeatedly hammered out the following
sobering truth; that is that the fallen sons of Adam, and in particular
the nation of Israel, the Jews, put Jesus to death.
The mistake well meaning Gospel presenters
made all to frequently was to minimize the Jews, and in fact all
mankind’s part, in the crucifixion of Christ in an effort
to make it more palpable to people. The problem with that is not
only is it watered down soteriology (theology dealing with salvation
especially as effected by Jesus Christ); it actually works against
the very passion of the Christ of which they were seeking to defend.
Jesus came to die for sinners, not good people just making poor
decisions. Rebellion ferments in the heart of the lost like rotting
grain left standing in old silage bins year after year. The odor
that emanates from death smells so foul and its taste is so rancid
no one in his or her right senses attempts to consume the rot. We
know better, we know the putrid stench comes from decomposition,
and that which is living does not dwell with that which is decaying.
Yet we error when we try to make sinners comfortable in their rebellion
of Christ. Not until we once again make the offense of the Cross-extremely
offensive will we see true, heartfelt repentance. It wasn’t
about a bland and benevolent Deity passively providing universal
atonement for mankind simply because He exists for no other purpose
but to serve humanity. It was about a God of love who wanted to
redeem His rebellious creation the only way that could be done,
by offering His only begotten Son to die in the place of each and
every one of those sinners. It was about His offer of the perfect
One and of our rejection of Him. It was about the fact that both
Jews and Gentiles, in an awful solidarity of sinfulness, said no
to God’s gift of love.
The truth is that in undivided unity all of
mankind did “put to death” the Prince of Peace. While
we couldn’t have extinguished the life that existed in His
body unless He had allowed it to be done, we didn’t know that
and we didn’t care. “Let Him be crucified” was
our mantra, the expression of our hatred that became our legacy
to future generations. Just as Adam touched and ate the fruit in
defiance to God, so we touched and abused Christ in our distain
for the Holy One. We rejected Christ, we abused Christ, we handled
Him with disrespect and we tortured His innocent body, mind and
soul as we killed Him. That is what the Word of God teaches.
It is only when the awfulness of these willful
actions of malice towards God and Christ becomes apparent to us
that we (by the quickening power of the Holy Spirit) have an opportunity
to express remorse, regret, sorrow and repentance. It is wrong to
rob Jews and Gentiles alike of the sobering reality of our rejection,
of what our sins did to Christ. Who killed Jesus? We did. We put
Him to death and yet He still loves us. What a Savior.
|
