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Why Did Christ Have to
Suffer on the Cross?
Q: Well, this
is the part related to Easter. I think I have always felt a little bit
uncomfortable that Christ died and suffered. I like the idea very much that he
came as the Glorified Teacher and was very highly respected, just as it
should be, and that we are going to look forward to Him coming in that
capacity again in the future and we really will honor him instead of
crucifying him. That just appalls me that this happened to Him and I do
realize that he knew that was going to happen, of course. I am wondering what
His thinking was that would allow it to have occurred that way instead of
just coming back as the Glorified Teacher? Why choose this particular scenario
that he went through from beginning to end? It is just sad and depressing for
me and I hate to see it happen this way and I would much rather it was a real
nice relationship, of course.
RK: Well, he
needed some excuse to come back from the dead, which means that somehow he
had to die, and—
Q: Why was this
such an important lesson? Couldn’t He have demonstrated that some other way
as a teacher?
RK: Well, I am
in no position to second guess why He chose the things that He did or the way
He did so. It certainly would seem to be dramatic. To die of old age, when
one is in a state of decrepitude hardly seems to be the kind of thing that
would elicit people’s concern and interest and so forth. Here was a young,
presumably a young man in the very prime of life, who was an excellent
physical specimen—how could anybody have a better body than as had been
developed for Melchizedek to use while He was here? He came to give a certain
kind of message and I think it would probably have been very awkward if He
had stayed on as a ruler. So, He accomplished what He wanted to accomplish in
three years and then made what you would call the ultimate in glorious
comebacks. That, of course, was extremely dramatic and people really needed
something, not that they do today of course, but really needed something to
get off dead center in their belief structure. I do not have any quarrels
with him. Obviously, He was in control of everything that happened to Him at
any time. If He did not want to be taken prisoner He would, just as the Bible
mentioned several times, just disappear and confound everybody who was
looking for Him and they just could not see Him any more. But any really top
notched hypnotist can do that, too, to make himself invisible to people who
are pressing him. So He had every means of escape should He have chosen to do
so. And even the very last scenes of after the resurrection and He had come
back and He had taught for forty days, there were still many people who found
it hard to believe that He died, or that He was entitled to go to heaven or
something like that if He should choose to do so.
And then He staged, with
the assistance of Melchizedek, one of the greatest things which was really
not talked a great deal about, and that is the Ascension, which was quite a
show, for there He gave his blessings to all of them and told them all the
works they were going to have to do and the trials and tribulations they were
going to have to rise above and how much good they were going to do to carry
on His work. Then he rose several feet off the ground and just disappeared in
a blaze of glory. Apparently, even his disciples required still more even
after putting their fingers into open wounds in His side and putting their
fingers through the holes in His hands which He had sealed against infection
but were still present so that He could prove that indeed, He was the one who
had died on the cross.
We might require the same
thing, too, if somebody claims to come back from the dead. As a matter of fact,
that has probably been the most difficult thing for potential Christians to
swallow. Here, he had not only done so but had raised a few other people from
the dead beside before he went; Lazarus being one of them, As a matter of
fact, the Sanhedrin was very careful to consider getting rid of Lazarus as
well since he was further proof of this kind of miraculous happening that was
going on. So, apparently he though it was necessary, this whole process. And
He rose above the ultimate cruelty that they could give. Dying on the cross
was certainly one of the worst ways to go. It is long, slow, and torturous.
He showed He could forgive people in the last moments of even that, saying,
“Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do.” That was certainly a good
example to give to people—of forgiveness, and how lack of forgiveness chews
you up inside—give you an ulcer, if nothing else.
Q: I liked your
phrase particularly that “He rose above the ultimate cruelty.” I am assuming
that in the days ahead we are all going to be a witness to so much cruelty
amongst humans to each other before the end of the century to keep the
forgiving attitude to the end.
RK: Right. I
think it helps to forgive people when you understand that they are insane
and they are really not responsible.
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