Crucifixion politics

Fri May 2, 2014

Editor: Now that we have just come to the end of the crucifixion memorial season let us look back at the crucifixion politics.{{more}}Strange as it may sound, but it is true, Jesus’ gospel message was about government: ….”The government shall be upon his shoulder.” Isa 9:6-7. In his proclamation in Mark 1:14-15, Jesus declared that the prophecy of Daniel 2:44 was fulfilled: the kingdom of God is at hand (and a kingdom is a government).

Matthew claimed that the central theme of Jesus was the Kingdom (4:32). He was so diplomatic in his mission that the religions and political leaders knew that his message was political, but found it difficult to accuse him until the betrayal by Judas, one of his own disciples.

After his arrest and imprisonment, he was out on trial on several charges and two trials. 1) He was charged with being a revolutionary who posed as a threat to the Roman Empire. 2) He incited people not to pay taxes, therefore undermining the prosperity of the Roman Empire. 3) He claimed to be a King, therefore threatening the power and position of the emperor, also blasphemy. Jesus was first tried by the High Priests and elders in front of Caiaphas (Matt 26:57) and then turned over to Pilate, who knowing Jesus’s innocence and was warned by his wife not to have anything to do with the death of Jesus, washed his hands from the blood of the innocent. But no water can, in history, deny the gravest, miscarriage of justice. The motive behind the death of the Messiah was religious grievances, but religious grievance had no weight in the Roman Court, so they had to take a political charge against him to Pilate (Lk 23).

The final question his apostles asked him was a political one: Acts 1:6.

Christian Democrat