{"id":6285,"date":"2015-03-30T00:08:51","date_gmt":"2015-03-30T00:08:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/?p=6285"},"modified":"2015-03-30T00:08:51","modified_gmt":"2015-03-30T00:08:51","slug":"not-a-victim-easter-series-part-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/?p=6285","title":{"rendered":"Not a victim\u2014Easter Series Part 7"},"content":{"rendered":"

He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, so He did not open His mouth.<\/em> Isaiah 53:7<\/p>\n

Way back toward the beginning of His ministry,\u00a0Jesus stirred the ire of religious strategists and the leadership of His day. Multiple references describe the wrath consuming these men when confronted by His power, teaching, authority, and independence from their control. (See Matthew 12:14 and 22:15; Mark 3:6 and 12:12-13; Luke 11:53-54, 20:20, and 20:26; and John 11:53.) They sought to entrap Him and plotted His death. Eventually, they had their way.<\/p>\n

But this Man was not a victim.<\/p>\n

When they converged upon Him in the Garden of Gethsemane, He did not resist them. Peter sought to\u00a0protect Him and sliced off the ear of one of the servants apprehending the Lord. Jesus responded, \u201cPut the sword into the sheath; the cup which the Father has given Me, shall I not drink it?<\/em>\u201d (see John 18:10-11). He did not\u00a0want to be defended.<\/p>\n

He was brought before the Sanhedrin. False accusers were a dime a dozen, but none of their accusations were able to stick (see Matthew 26:60). Two witnesses then accused Him of declaring that He could destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days. When He was confronted\u00a0about this, He did not open His mouth. Then the high priest said to him, \u201cI charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God<\/em>\u201d (see Matthew 26:63).<\/p>\n

And then Jesus replied, \u201cYou have said so. But I say to all of you: From now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven<\/em>\u201d (see verse 64).<\/p>\n

At this, the high priest tore his robes and said, \u201cHe has blasphemed! What further need do we have of witnesses? Behold, you have now heard the blasphemy; what do you think?\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n

His colleagues answered, \u201cHe deserves death!\u201d\u00a0 <\/em>Then they spat in His face and beat Him with their fists; and others slapped Him, and said, \u201cProphesy to us, You Christ; who is the one who hit You?\u201d<\/em> (See verses 65-68.)<\/p>\n

Neverthless, this Man was not a victim.<\/p>\n

He was sent to the governor. Pilate questioned Him, demanding to understand His crime. Jesus remained silent (see Matthew 27:14). Uncomfortable with the prospect of condemning an innocent Man, Pilate gave the gathering mob a choice: Release Jesus or the notorious prisoner Barabbas. They chose Barabbas.<\/p>\n

Pilate washed his hands of the blood of this Man before the crowd, saying, \u201cI am innocent of this Man\u2019s blood<\/em>\u201d (see Matthew 27:24); however, the crowd shouted in response, \u201cHis blood shall be on us and on our children!<\/em>\u201d (see verse 25).<\/p>\n

Yet this Man was not a victim.<\/p>\n

Matthew 27:27-30 describes what happened next.<\/p>\n

27<\/sup><\/em>Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole Roman cohort around Him. 28\u00a0<\/sup>They stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him. 29\u00a0<\/sup>And after twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand; and they knelt down before Him and mocked Him, saying, \u201cHail, King of the Jews!\u201d 30\u00a0<\/sup>They spat on Him, and took the reed and began to beat Him on the head.<\/em><\/p>\n

But this Man was not a victim.<\/p>\n

\u201cBehold the Man,<\/em>\u201d Pilate announced\u00a0to the throng as the Son of Man stood, crowned with thorns, His naked, battered, and bleeding body draped by a robe (see John 19:5). After this, they took the robe off Him and put His own garments back on Him, and led Him away to crucify Him (see Matthew 27:31).<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, this Man was not a victim.<\/p>\n

He bore His own cross until another, Simon the Cyrene, was pressed into carrying it for Him (see John 19:17; Luke 23:26) until they came to Golgotha. There they\u00a0nailed His hands and feet to the cross and raised Him up on it, crucifying Him between two thieves.<\/p>\n

Yet this Man was not a victim.<\/p>\n

Jesus had undergone false accusations, mockery, public humiliation, mob mentality, beatings, flesh-tearing scourging, and then, crucifixion, but like a lamb that is led to slaughter, He did not utter one\u00a0word in defense. He did\u00a0so on purpose: to pay the penalty for man\u2019s sin, thus satisfying justice, and to redeem lost humanity\u00a0back to\u00a0a holy God. This\u00a0was why\u00a0He came.<\/p>\n

He was not a victim; on the contrary,\u00a0He accomplished the mission He came to fulfill.<\/p>\n

And because of Him, Heaven’s gates have been opened wide.<\/p>\n

Dorothy<\/p>\n

I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.<\/em> John 10:11<\/p>\n

No one takes\u00a0<\/em>[My life]\u00a0from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.<\/em> John 10:18, NIV<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, so He did not open His mouth. Isaiah 53:7 Way back toward the beginning of His ministry,\u00a0Jesus stirred the ire of religious strategists […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[103,100,101,102,104],"class_list":["post-6285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-suffering-servant","tag-he-did-not-open-his-mouth","tag-he-was-oppressed-and-afficted","tag-like-a-lamb-led-to-slaughter","tag-sheep-silent-before-shearers","tag-victimizing-jesus"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6285"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6285\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6288,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6285\/revisions\/6288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}