How Could You?! A Different Perspective on the Crucifiction

This morning I was reading the gospel accounts of Jesus' arrest, death, and resurrection.  Each account told the same basic story, but in each story there was a different revelation of what Jesus said and did on those final days.  Many of us, including me, have looked at the priests of that time and Judas the betrayor and said "How could you?!" As I read this morning I realized that they had no choice in the matter.  It was the will of God, and none of it could have happened without the permission and the initiation of the LORD. 

As I looked at the different gospels, I noticed that everything that happened to Jesus was prompted by his own words.  All of what happened was the will of God. According to the gospel of Mathew it wasn't until after Jesus declared that he would be betrayed and crucified that the chief priests began to conspire to kill him and Judas made a pact to deliever him.  According to the gospel of John, before Jesus was taken in the garden of Gethsemane he approached the men and told them he was the one that they were looking for and they fell back.  According to three of the gospels, it wasn't until Jesus declared that the scriptures must be fulfilled that the soldiers took him away.  According to the gospel of Mark, when the priests were gathering witnesses against Jesus it wasn't working because none of the false witnesses were in agreement with their stories.  Jesus had to say speak to condemn himself. In the end, before he died, Jesus declared in John 19:30 "it is finished".  Everything that happened to Jesus was preceeded by his own words. 

Nothing could have happened to Jesus without his agreement and nothing could have been stopped that was his will.  Therefore I am not angry with the men who yelled crucify him or even Judas Iscariot who betrayed him.  If it had been us in their place, we would have done the same thing because it was the will of God.  No one took the life of Jesus; he layed his life down willingly. 

John 10:17-18 Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.  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.

The only question left to ask then is "Jesus, how could you do this?"  The answer to that is LOVE.
John 15:13 greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.



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