Who Killed Jesus? When Mel Gibson started making his epic movie, "The Passion of the Christ," he stirred up passionate interest and concern. Record numbers of pre-release tickets were sold prior to the movie's opening on February 25. The cover of the February 16, 2004 Newsweek magazine asks the central question: "Who killed Jesus?" Was it the Romans, the Jews, Pontius Pilate, the mob, or someone else? According to the Bible on which the movie is carefully based, everyone shares the blame. According to the Scripture, your sins, my sins, and the sins of all humanity sent Jesus to the cross.
At His arrest, Jesus made it clear that he could stop the Romans, the Jews, Pontius Pilate, and the mob at anytime: "Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and He will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?" (Matthew 26: 53). That's a lot of angels. A single angel once killed 85,000 soldiers (2 Kings 19: 35).
If the first question is "who?" the second question is "why?" Why was Jesus killed for your sins? The Scripture provides the answer: "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5: 8). In the final analysis, the oft-quoted verse, John 3: 16 sums it up: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal live."
Who killed Jesus? Mel Gibson knows. In the movie, the hand holding the spike being nailed through Christ's wrist is Gibson's. In like manner, when Rembrandt painted "The Raising of the Cross" in 1633, the great artist embedded a self-portrait. The soldier pulling up the cross is Rembrandt himself. Who killed Jesus? Rembrandt van Rijn knows.
Links:
Christian Faculty Network (an officially recognized TAMU faculty organization)
Leadership University (news, events, excellent research articles, etc.)
Faculty Offices at Leadership U (including TAMU profs)
