Crucify Him!! ... (Yikes! Did that come from me??)

But they cried, saying, Crucify him, crucify him … - Luke 23:21 (KJV)

My friend Scott and I have been studying a video/Bible study series presented by Ray Vander Laan for several months. It’s a very enriching experience, because Mr. Vander Laan does a very good job of illuminating the historical/social/physical conditions at the time each passage of the Bible was put in writing. Scott and I have attempted to dwell in that past, and allow our minds to be where and what they would be under the conditions that were prevalent when the Scriptures were written. It has mostly been an enjoyable, edifying experience; but every now and again, it gets a bit disturbing.

Since being saved (and actually reading the Bible), I have up to now read the scripture quoted above and related text with an air of Christian haughtiness. “What fools! After all the miracles and wonders this man-god performed, how could these blind bozos crucify Him?”

But, lately I have come to understand the conditions during the time Jesus was crucified; the expectations of a military god-man who would lead them from the cruelty, injustice, and persecution of the Roman invaders and occupiers of their land and homes and lives. Jesus offered freedom and eternal life and riches beyond imagination – but not the freedom, life and riches that the Jews were expecting in their mortal-bound minds. These “evil” Jews were ordinary Joes, just like you and I. Most were living under unbearable conditions – just like you and I. They were facing some awful, life and life-quality-threatening conditions – just like you and I. But they didn’t have the benefit of knowing the end of the story -- like you and I.

I have often tried to imagine what I would have been like had this cancer happened during my many years as an atheist … without knowing the end of the story like I do now. I think I would have been bitter and desperate. I would have felt cheated. Like the Jews felt when they cried, “Crucify him!”

I’m now grateful that I’m privileged to know the end of the story. To hear the soft whisper of peace that now graces my life. I no longer look down on the Jews who crucified the Christ, I only thank my Lord that I am here, now and not there, then.