Conversation with a Russian Orthodox Minister on t

Conversation with a Russian Orthodox Minister on the Crucifixion

Alex. Father, in Russia and the Russian Federation from far and until now people cannot stop blaming Jews for the death of Jesus. Why is that?

Father. Is not that so? The Gospels have said everything about that.

Alex. I am a Jew. I have read the Gospels and I have some questions. I ask you to help me understand if I interpret correctly the words of the evangelists and their meaning.

Father. I am glad to help you out, my son.

Alex. But firstly, I have a separate question. Tell me, if it were you who decided the fate of Jesus, would be he handed to Romans to be crucified?

Father. No way. I myself would take this death instead of him.

Alex. I read Mathew, 26: 1 – 2: When Jesus had finished saying all these things, he said to his disciples, As you know, the Passover is two days away—and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.” That means that Jesus knew ahead about the incoming execution, did he?

Father. Yes, he knew that.

Alex. Now, Mathew, 26: 38 – 39: “Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” Does that mean, that Jesus did not want to de exposed to the torture?

Father. Well, he wanted to avoid the predicament.

Alex. Now, I want to bring in some quotations from the Gospels, which say about Jesus’s fate and the reason for his execution. Here they are.
Romans, 3: 23 – 25: “… for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement,[i] through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished”.
John, 3: 16 – 17: “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 life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”
2 Corinthians, 5: 20 – 21: “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
1 John, 4: 9 – 10: “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”
1 John, 4: 14: “And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.”
Father, the evangelists state, that it was God, Who decided to send Jesus to die for the sake of the redemption of humanity from sin. Is it so?

Father. Yes, it is correct. Father sacrificed his son for the sake of humanity. As you noted above: John, 3: 16 – 17: “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 life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him”.

Alex. Here is Mathew, 27: 1: “Early in the morning, all the chief priests and the elders of the people made their plans on how to have Jesus executed”.
Returning back to your words that if the situation were in your power, then Jesus would have remained alive. Is this true?

Father. Of course, that would be true. However, angry and dishonest people surrounded Jesus then and there.

Alex. Imagine, Father, that all the people at the Calvary who were able to decide Jesus’s fate, such as the high priests, elders, common Jews, the Romans, and Pontius Pilate were you? Would be Jesus have betrayed to this cruel execution nonetheless.

Father. No question. In such hyperbolic situation, the execution would be canceled and Jesus would have been acquitted without reservation.

Alex. Father, are you stating that a human being can cancel the decision of God?
Numbers, 23:19: God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?

Father. I did not say that. It can never be like this.

Alex. But it was God's command to Jesus to die for the salvation of humanity, but you have said that, under your power, this would not have happened ever.

Father. You misunderstood me somehow.

Alex. Father, the command of God cannot but be fulfilled, is it not?

Father. Yes, of course.

Alex. So why are you Christians blaming the Jews? It does not matter who was at the Calvary, who decided this, who did that. The will of God must be fulfilled! So how can you blame Jews for God's decision? Tell me, sir?
Where are you going, father, I have more questions. Here they are.
Matthew, 16 : 21: "From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life”.
– Why do you, Christians, say that Jesus was killed if he came to life on the third day and lives in heaven to this day?
– Jesus knew that this was only a three-day affair. So wasn’t this execution a drama game?
– Millions of people would agree to such a test, knowing that in three days they would sit next to God in heaven, wouldn’t they?
– God has authority over all suffering. And if Jesus was God, then how to know that he was physically suffering on the cross?

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