I saw a disturbing picture posted on Face Book recently. The background was a painting of Jesus on the cross and the crowd gathered around. In the foreground was a photo of the back of a young man with a crew cut, pale skin and an American flag on the back of his t-shirt with a thin blue line on it indicating his support for police. He was pointing at Jesus and shouting, “He shouldn’t have broken the law.” It was an obvious political statement about the George Floyd murder trial. I refuse to get into politics on this blog, but comparing the crucifixion with anyone else’s death made me cringe.
When I commented that it was a bad and objectionable analogy, he replied, “It’s a great analogy. Yeshua obey the Spiritual Laws, but not the societal laws. These societal laws created in a unholy alliance of the Pharisees (Religious Right) and Sadducees (Liberal Left) enforced by the temple police. Sentence to death by Roman Pilot (Civil Law) due to political pressure and not wanting to lose support therefore power in Jerusalem.” That response confirmed my first impression about his post and reminded me of the people from my youth who blamed Jews for killing Jesus, while ignoring the fact that He is one.
I prayed and then responded, “You and I disagree completely about this my friend. Jesus (Yeshua) was not ‘killed’. He gave His life freely. If you want to assign blame for His death on the cross to a person or group of people; first look in the mirror, then look at me and then at every person you know. He could have called ten thousand angels to set him free or just walked right through the angry crowd as He did several times earlier. It wasn’t Roman spikes that nailed Him to the cross, or even the envy and hatred of religious leaders; it was our sins and His infinite, unfailing love for us that caused Him to take on our sins and our punishment on that cross.”
Why am I sharing this with you? It is because we must never be tempted to humanize Jesus to the point that His deity becomes a footnote. To compare Him to any other man is misleading and futile. Calling Him by the Hebrew name (Yeshua) that His mother (Miriam) used to call him to supper doesn’t make Him less God and more man. (I’ve written about that before.) He is 100% God and 100% human. As C.S. Lewis so aptly put it, “The Son of God became a man so that men could become the sons of God.”
If you need to be reminded of Jesus’ deity, read the first chapter of the Gospel of John; then read the accounts of His resurrection in the four gospels. If you still need more proof, read the red letters in the book of Revelation and the description of His triumphant return to Earth in the near future. Anytime you want to blame someone for Jesus’ crucifixion; look in the mirror. He died for you, me and everyone who accepts His sacrifice for their sins and follows Him.