Keep The Flame

“Jesus took the twelve aside and told them ‘we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. He will be handed over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him, spit on him, flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again.” Luke 18:31-33, NIV

Jesus already knew how he would die. He would be tortured and be killed in broad daylight. His brief life was but a fulfillment of what was written in the scriptures. His life was not filled with “what if’s” but one patterned from the very beginning. It was patterned to the will of God the Father.

His death, according to his predictions, would include the following: handed over to the Gentiles, mocking, spitting, insulting, and flogging. All these came true. He was handed over (the death sentence was metted to him by a non-jew: pontius pilate) to the Gentiles, this is because the Sanhedrin (the jewish High Court) had no power to impose a death penalty on grounds no found in the statutes of the Romans. The Chief priest needed the death sentence from Pontius Pilate (Gentile) in order to carry out their plan of murder.

He was mocked, spat upon, insulted and flogged severly by the Roman soldiers. Pilate at first hesitated to hand down a death penalty for he found nothing wrong with Jesus. He thought that Jesus was just a hopeless dreamer. A penalty of flogging would serve the purpose to appease the hungry mob. He understimated the mob; they crave for more, they crave for the death of Christ. Little did Pilate know that with his decision, his name will forever be remembered through all generations.

Knowing all these in advance, Jesus felt everything as far as human feelings are concerned. He felt more alone knowing that through this death, He would be separated with the Father. This is why he said on the cross “Father, Father, why has thous forsaken me”. At the garden of Gethsemane, he poured his sweat like blood, yet his dedication to the Father’s will was unshaken – “let your will be done, not mine”.

Jesus knew how he would die – tortured and humiliated, nevertheless, he persisted in going to Jerusalem to fulfilled the what was written about him. This was the very purpose why he exist. For many of us, we immediately loose faith when something bad happens to us. We asks God why and turn cold to Him. We always expect that since we follow God, we are always safe. Life on the journey with Christ is not a bed of roses as they say. It is in fact a sharing in his suffering on the cross.