|
TWICE
CRUCIFIED By: Dorothy Anne Seese Is there any doubt as to
what the world would do to Jesus, the Christ, if He were on earth
today? No. |
Because men's deed are evil,
they hate Jesus, who did no evil, who preached peace and reconciliation with God
the Father. Nothing has changed in the hearts of men in this world, in
Jesus' time on earth, in the world before Jesus' incarnation, or in the world
before the Flood.
Gibson has produced a film about the crucifixion of
Christ. It is a movie based on the biblical accounts of what occurred
between Maundy Thursday and Resurrection Sunday.
The Jewish
Anti-Defamation League and similar groups are protesting that the film is
"anti-Semitic." I have yet to figure out how Jews can be "Semitic" any
more than Arabs, since they are both the progeny of Abraham. But if they
wish to prove how much they hate Jesus of Nazareth, then and today, they are
doing a good job of it by persecuting Mel Gibson and attempting to alter the
film's content. The Bible records that when the Roman governor Pontius
Pilate attempted to release Jesus rather than the murderer Barabbas, the Jews
cried out for the release of Barabbas. Pilate, of course, was interested
in pleasing Rome more than a Jewish religious mob led by Caiphas and others, so
he symbolically washed his hands of the matter and turned Jesus over to be
crucified by the Roman soldiers, since the Jews could not legally execute anyone
-- Judea was a Roman province.
Since the film does not call for an
uprising against Semitic people (Jewish or Arab), it appears that the Jews are
overreacting to a biblical film in a manner that proves how hysterical they must
have been at the original trial of Christ, and have placed Him on trial again
and have symbolically crucified Him a second time. What else is there to
conclude with this overactive, hysterical response to a film that is largely the
business of Christians and might help many to understand the brutality of the
Roman methods of execution as well as what Jesus endured as the Lamb of
God? Why the open rebellion on the part of Jews? Is anyone going to
make a fuss about the life of Gandhi? Would the Jews even have such a
hissy-fit over a film about the life of Mohammed, whose religious offspring are
still killing Jews daily in Israel? Probably not.
Jesus is very
special, and His life and death evoke emotions as no other Man has ever
done. That says something about Jesus that true Christians understand
well, because it reveals the nature of our enemy and the invisible ruler of this
world system of sin and death.
Was Jesus a Gentile? No! Most
certainly not. He was born of the line of David, a Jew under the Mosaic
Law, He taught in the Temple, and preached the Kingdom of God. However, He
also preached that man was sinful and needed to repent. That doesn't set
too well with anyone ... Jew, Gentile or liberal Christians who like the
ecumenism of the new one-world religion.
For decades I have heard Jews
proclaim they would not crucify Christ were He on earth in this day and time.
They would ignore him, expel him from the Temple, whatever punishment was
suitable for his preaching against the evils of mankind and God's "chosen
people" in particular (not the common people but the religious leaders, who are
generally a politicized group in any religion). Man simply wants to
believe in his own goodness and acceptability to a holy God -- on his own terms
and not God's. That was the problem in Eden, it is the problem now, and
rather than just ignoring the film, the Jewish leaders of this day have popped a
brain cell over a film made by a professing Christian.
Jesus Christ, a
man of peace, exposes man's evil by the reaction He incites. That is what
occurred 2000 years ago and it is what is occurring now.
It is safe to
say that were the Lord Jesus Christ on earth today, He would not be honored as
King of King and Lord of Lords, He would be crucified again. Beware,
however, the day He returns to judge rather than to offer salvation!
For
a fact, Mel Gibson's movie "The Passion of the Christ" has drawn forth the wrath
of man as it comes out of the darkness of man's sinful nature. Not having
the flesh and blood body of Christ to nail to a cross, the Jews, Gentiles,
pagans and heathen have taken the next available course to vent their collective
spleen: they have verbally and politically "crucified" Mel Gibson for
making the film, and in so doing, have revealed through this agent of the
message what they would do to the Son of God on earth today.
Jesus was
once crucified for the sin of mankind for those who believe on Him, and once
resurrected for our justification, never again to be flesh and blood, and never
again to die.
Is there something about what Jesus did that incites
such hatred for doing good? Apparently so. He brings out the worst
in men and exposes it to the world, an embarrassment to the self-righteous and
condemnation to those who believe in their own goodness and good
works.
Since no other Man has ever evoked such hatred over centuries, it
is safe to assume that the power behind such hatred is far more powerful than
merely man's attitudes. That type of continuing hatred can only be
explained by Jesus' own words:
John 8:44-47 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of
your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in
the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh
of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell you
the truth, ye believe me not. Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say
the truth, why do ye not believe me? He that is of God heareth God's words: ye
therefore hear them not, because ye are not of
God.
Amen.
"Published originally at
EtherZone.com : republication allowed with
this notice and hyperlink intact."
|
|
|
|
Dorothy Anne Seese
is a freelance political writer for Patch Work papers and a regular columnist
for Ether Zone.
We invite you to visit her website at Flagship
Dorothy Anne Seese can be reached at [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Published in the February 24, 2004 issue
of Ether Zone.
Copyright © 1997 - 2004 Ether Zone.
