From: Michael Smith <>
Newsgroups: aus.religion.christian
Subject: Who killed Jesus?
Date: Tue, 02 Mar 1999 00:51:56 +0900

Les Brown wrote:
> 
>  (BeeEs3) wrote in aus.religion.christian:
> > If Christ were here you would kill Him all over again.  No doubt.
> 
> No, if Jesus should ever come back (don't hold your breath, 2000 years
> is a long time) he would tell you the same thing, then you gentiles
> would kill him, just like the Romans did.

Now I certainly don't want to be seen here as siding with Ben, I believe
that Jesus' death is more complex than either Les or Ben suggest.

According to the Gospels, Jesus was executed by Romans, at the
insistance of the Jewish leaders.

If we view the event from a purely historical point of view (which I
will suggest in a minute is a *bad* idea), we may make a few
observations:

 - We've often heard Jews accused of murdering Jesus, but never
Italians.  I'm not sure why that is.

 - It's highly unlikely that either the Jewish leaders or the Roman
authorities had any idea that they were killing God's son.  

 - I completely fail to see why we would blame modern Jews (or Italians)
for events which took place long before their birth.  It seems silly
even to blame first century Jews (as a whole) for the actions of their
leaders.  Does a nation inherit the guilt of a small number of people? 
Do we blame all Indonesians for Timorese masacres?  All Australians for
Port Arthur?  All Germans for Hitler's attrocities?  


However I think that there's more to the story than that.  Jesus' death
was predestined from the beginning.  It was necessary for the
forgiveness of sin.  It was the culmination of Jesus' victory over
Satan.  It had to happen.

If you want a culprit, blame Adam and Eve for bringing sin into this
world.  Better yet, blame yourself for every time you've lied, stolen or
lusted -- and blame me for the same.  It was your sin and mine that made
Jesus' death necessary.

So let's not start on "Jews killed Jesus".  Sinners killed Jesus. 
Jewish sinners, Gentile sinners, Ben, Les and Michael.  We are each
guilty of sin, and Jesus died for each of us.  Rather than blaming each
other, let's thank God that Jesus *did* die, to make salvation available
to all of us.

That's why they call it "Good Friday".

-- 
########################################################################
Michael Smith                                        
Emmenjay Consulting Pty Ltd             http://www.zip.com.au/~emmenjay/

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