Throughout the ages, God has always sent His Prophets to guide mankind to lead upright lives and to carry out specific assignments. Some of these prophets are Jonah, Samuel, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Amos and Baba Mohammed (Peace Be Unto Them). The birth of our Lord Jesus Christ was announced in the Old Testament, where His mission was clearly spelt out.
His mission included healing the sick, delivering the oppressed and teaching mankind to practice love and Godliness.
When Jesus Christ (PBUH) started his work, He entered the Synagogue and picked a scroll from which he read (Isaiah 61: 1-3). During his ministry, he fed the hungry, healed the sick, raised the dead, set captives free, comforted the sad and preached the Gospel. His ministry portrayed righteous living, love for one another and maintaining a meaningful relationship with God.
Indeed, His name Emmanuel demonstrated that God has truly sent Him. The Lord Jesus Christ (PBUH) came to fulfill the Ten Commandments: He did not come to change them. He summed it all up when He proclaimed that Love your God with all your heart, mind and soul; and love your neighbour as yourself.
Even before Jesus Christ (PBUH) was born, there had been calculated attempts to have Him murdered. God, knowing this, protected Him till He was born. Not long after he was born, attempts were made to eliminate Him. This was when King Herod ordered the killing of all male children below two years.
During the period before which He started His mission, Jesus Christ (PBUH) was tested by Lucifer in various ways but was able to overcome all the trials and proved beyond all reasonable doubt what God has sent Him to do. The mission of our Lord Jesus Christ (PBUH) was crystal clear: God sent Him to come to the earth to enlighten mankind through the word of God and bring peace and unity to the peoples of the world. More specifically, Jesus (PBUH) was sent to help man to draw closer to God; hence, His name, Emmanuel. Throughout His mission, Our Lord Jesus Christ (PBUH) performed good deeds.
While this God–sent mission was underway, some personalities felt threatened and continually sought to foment rebellion against Him (Matthew 26: 14-16;59-66; Matthew 27: 1-7). Though the detractors were consistent in their zeal to perpetrate evil, they never succeeded. Hence, they took advantage of the Jewish festival of the Passover to prefer charges against Jesus Christ ((PBUH) and have Him killed.
A careful examination of the charges preferred against our Lord Jesus Christ and the trial that was hastily arranged to sentence Him to death reveals the stark truth; He was INNOCENT. A few instances would attest to this. Caiaphas could not bring himself to try our Lord Jesus Christ for fear of incurring the wrath of the people. This also meant that he had no reasons to have our Lord Jesus Christ arrested (John 18: 28-31). That explains why he sent Him to Pontius Pilate.
He made it clear in certain terms that he did not find our Lord Jesus Christ guilty of any wrongdoing. Despite Pontius Pilate’s opinion, the high priests insisted that Pontius Pilate should pronounce Him guilty, which he did to prevent his governance of Judah from being threatened.
The Sanhedrin held a meeting at which Caiaphas made it plain that it is better for one man to die than for the entire community to perish (John 18: 13-14). One wonders why our Lord Jesus Christ (PBUH), who has been sent to perform only good deeds to bring peace to mankind should be chosen as a sacrifice and for no crime at all.
The Old Testament had indicated long ago that one man should not kill another. God made this clear when He demonstrated His displeasure at the killing of Abel by his brother Cain. Secondly, Abraham was deterred from sacrificing Isaac. The Sixth Commandment was explicit: you must not kill (Exodus 20:13).
The notion that our Lord Jesus Christ was sent to come and die for the remission of sins raises many questions to which answers cannot be provided. For example, when did God state that this should be the case? Who had been offended? Plus, where on earth do the offended rather suffer injustice for the offender? The turn of events did not enable us to appreciate the mission of our Lord Jesus Christ (PBUH) and therefore, listen and practice what He taught us.
Blinded by envy, jealousy, sheer hatred, wickedness and misunderstanding, we deliberately committed the worst crime that was ever perpetrated. Indeed records have it that the earth trembled and the Heavens wept because of this heinous crime (Ezekiel 18:4; 20). Now, the onerous task is how to undo the great wrong we did. We cannot undo it, but we can pray for forgiveness (Ezekiel 18:21; Isaiah 55:6-7).
First of all, we have to accept the fact that we committed a great error in doing what we did. Secondly, we should show remorse deep in our hearts for what we did. The period of the mistaken crucifixion is not one to be celebrated. We also need to fast and pray and live by God’s word to be at peace with God.
This article was written by the Editorial Team of the Zetahir Mission, Laterbiokorshie, Accra, Ghana.
BY ZETAHIR MISSION
