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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.
A: 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?
A: 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.
A: Right. I think it helps to forgive people when you understand
that they are insane and they are really not responsible. (04-1983)
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