Questions about the crucifixion
Having asked some questions about the birth narratives of Jesus, now is a good time to ask about Jesus’ final days and resurrection.
Ask. Pastor… Hebrews 9:22 says that almost everything is purified with blood and that without bloodshed there is no forgiveness of sins. Ewww… What’s with all the blood and why can’t God just say, “Okay, that sounds so sincere, I forgive you?”
Ask. Pastor… Why don’t Christians keep Passover instead of Passover? Doesn’t the New Testament make the death of Jesus a Passover event, like the Lamb of God? (I Corinthians 5:6-8), or was it the God Bunny? I don’t understand how to separate Easter by an equinox, a full moon, and the next Sunday after that is what was going on there. I mean Christ is our Easter, not our Easter Bunny, right?
Ask. Shepherd… When Jesus needed a donkey to get into Jerusalem, Mark 11:2-7 and Luke 19:30-35 say that Jesus instructed the disciples to bring an animal. In Matthew 21:2-6, they are told to bring two, and in John 12:14 Jesus doesn’t tell anyone to go get one, he does it himself. Which?
Ask. Shepherd… Mark 11:7, Luke 19:35 and John 12:14 have Jesus riding one animal, which is to be expected, but Matthew 21:7 has Jesus riding two at the same time! I think Matthew misread his OT prophecy about how this would work when he mistook the wording of Zechariah 9:9 for a description of two animals when it was just one to begin with. Wasn’t the Donkey a colt, the son of a donkey so to speak and not a donkey and a colt as Mateo thinks? Seems like a pretty big mistake to me. Of course, Matthew is prone to these overreaches as we’ve already mentioned and this one seems to catch up with it. Or I’m wrong?
Ask. Pastor… It is said that Jesus overturned the tables of the money changers in the temple. First, because? Money was required to be changed from dirty pagan money to temple money to preserve the purity of the place. What’s wrong with that? And wasn’t that a pretty suicidal stunt to begin with, I mean on Passover with already pretty high tensions over other issues of the Roman occupation?
Ask. Pastor… Mark 11:15-17, Matthew 21:12-13 and Luke 19:45-46 say that this event occurred at the end of Jesus’ ministry, just before he was arrested. But John 2:13-16 says that it happened much earlier, at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. That’s not a minor mistake, is it? Which? Was he on a practice run to see what would happen?
Ask. Shepherd… Around this same time, Jesus went to look for some figs to eat and did not find them, Jesus cursed the tree and it withered. John and Luke do not mention it, but Mark 11:20-21 says that the disciples did not notice that the tree had withered until the next day on a return trip. But Matthew 21:19-20 says that at that moment they saw it wither and were amazed. Well I would be! But both cannot be right. On top of that, he even admits that the reason there were no figs was that it wasn’t fig season. Isn’t it like me getting angry in a field of watermelons in winter? I know maybe the point was that just as fig trees without figs deserve to wither, temples without good fruit do too, but it’s still not fig time and two different stories mean it didn’t happen at all and it’s just one way to make a point, or if it happened, someone messed up. Of course, one could argue that fig trees that do not have figs because it is not fig season do not deserve to be withered. What happened to the manure and digging around him for three years to get a chance?
Ask. Shepherd… Jesus is then anointed on his feet or on his head, depending on the story. Mark 14:3 and Matthew 26:6-13 say that he went to the home of a leper named Simon in Bethany. Luke 7:36-38 says that he went to the house of a Pharisee in Galilee. That’s a long way from Bethany. Was this a leper Pharisee named Simon who had a summer home in Galilee? Both cannot be right unless he is anointed twice in different places. Also, Mark and Matthew say that Jesus was anointed with oil poured on his head, but Luke and John say that his feet. Which one was and please don’t tell me it was both and these men are like four people watching an accident!
Ask. Pastor… Why don’t Mark, Matthew, and Luke know who the woman was, but John 12:3 says she was Mary? And the reactions! Mark says that some were angry with the anonymous woman who anointed Jesus and Matthew 26:8 says that it was the disciples who were angry with the woman. Luke 7:3-9 says that some Pharisees get upset because the woman is a sinner, as they were not. John 12: 4-5 is the only one that says that it is Judas who gets angry, and then imputes the reason for him as the robber treasurer of the group. I know, all of the above, right? I guess it’s Judas we remember the most.
Some questions about the Last Supper
Ask. Pastor… In Mark 14:17-21, Matthew 26:20-25 and John 13:21-30 Jesus predicts to the disciples that he will be betrayed before they actually take communion. But in Luke 22:21-23 Jesus predicts this after communion. They can’t both be right, right?
Ask. Shepherd… Mark 14:30 tells us that Peter would deny Jesus before the rooster crowed twice. So why do Matthew 26:34, Luke 22:34, and John 13:38 tell us that Peter would deny Jesus before the rooster crowed? Since Jesus is the one making the prediction, what did he predict? When it finally happened, Mark 14:72 says that the rooster crowed twice. Matthew 26:74 says that it was once, and both Luke and John do not mention any cockcrow. What happened?
Ask. Pastor… I have a few questions about this notorious Judas whose name has become synonymous with treason in our culture. If Jesus had to die to be our Savior, why do we care who and how Jesus was betrayed to be crucified? It had to be so. Wasn’t Judas just helping things out?
Ask. Pastor… Why does Matthew 19:28 say that all the Twelve Disciples would sit on Thrones in the Kingdom of God and Judas was surely among this number? I mean, when Matthew wrote the book, he would know how Judas messed up and didn’t make it, wouldn’t he?
Ask. Pastor… Why did Paul write in I Corinthians 15:5 that Jesus appeared to “the Twelve” after his resurrection when Judas was said to have already committed suicide by then? If Jesus had appeared to him as well, why wouldn’t Jesus thank him for doing his part and forgive him? Did Paul know of the story told in the newly discovered “Book of Jude” which says that Jesus had Judas betray him according to plan and that Judas was one of his best disciples?
Ask. Pastor… When did Satan enter Judas to betray Judas? Was it before the Last Supper as Luke 22:3-6 says? Was it during the Supper, as John 13:27 says, or was it not at all, or at least nothing noteworthy in Matthew and Mark? And if Satan finally got him, could he even prevent him?
Ask. Pastor… About these thirty pieces of silver as payment to Judas for betraying Jesus. Did Judas throw it at the Priests as Matthew 27:6-8 says and walk away, or did he buy a piece of land as we read in Acts 1:18? And why didn’t Marcos, Lucas and Juan know this story? You might ask why Matthew’s “thus came to pass” in Matthew 27:9-10 was attributed to Jeremiah, but it’s actually from Zechariah 11:12-13, but we all know how Matthew now thinks about digging into the Old Testament for Find quotes that make up your story.
Ask. Pastor… Why does Mark 14:44-46 and Matthew 26:49-50 say that Jesus was betrayed with the kiss and arrested, but John 18:2-9 Jesus volunteers to identify himself and no name is mentioned? kiss? And while we’re at it… why the hell didn’t the Romans have a clue who Jesus was in the first place? I thought he had arrived in Jerusalem on the Triumph just a few days before and had been teaching thousands of people in Jerusalem doing amazing things for a year or three, does it depend? How not to know which Jesus was? Was it too dark?
Ask. Pastor… Why does Matthew 27:6-8 say that the Priests bought the land and it is called “field of blood” because it was bought with the blood money of Judas, which I assume is by the blood of Jesus, when Acts 1:18 says it is so called because Judas fell and his blood and entrails were shed on that property. Wouldn’t that be the “field of gills”? Just kidding, Pastor! How come Matthew is the only one to mention all this? Oh, and how does Judas die anyway? Of course he hangs himself according to Matthew 27:5, but according to Acts 1:18 he falls open. Mark, Luke and John don’t mention this either. I don’t think they left him hanging until the rope broke, did you? I mean, weren’t the Jews sensitive to that sort of thing?
Ask. Pastor… Why if Judas betrayed Jesus once, and Peter denied Jesus three times, Peter is pardoned, reinstated and made Pope, or whatever, and Judas goes to hell for all eternity or whatever? ? Is it just because Peter didn’t hang himself too, or did he fall so his guts would burst?
Ask. Pastor… Okay, enough about Judas. I would like to ask about Peter striking with a sword the servant of the High Priest who was also there when Jesus arrested and cut off his ear. Peter intended to kill the poor man and why not hit the High Priest or the Romans? I guess it was safer to cut off a nobody’s ear than someone?
Ask. Pastor… Mark 14:47, Matthew 36:51 and John 18:10 say the ear was cut off, which would be normal. . But Luke 22:50-51 says that Jesus put it back on him. One would think that the other three would have noticed this miracle. I can watch an accident and debate who came from which direction or how fast, but I think all witnesses would notice Peter trying to cut off the head of someone who ducked and Jesus replacing the injured ear. Or did the three who didn’t say anything about this just feel like they would let John report on this? I don’t think it works that way.
Ask. Pastor… Speaking of swords. Did Jesus, in Matthew 26:52, tell them that “he who lives by the sword will die by the sword” and get rid of things, or did Jesus tell them, as in Luke 22:36-38, to buy swords? And of course, Mark and John don’t seem to like guns at all.
Ask. Pastor… We all know the famous story of “Give us Barabbas.” (Mark 15:11) Don’t you think it’s a coincidence that Jesus is called the “King of the Jews” by the Romans? Or at least that’s what’s going to be on the sign over his head on the cross. And this name “Barabbas” means “Son of the Father”? Bar means “son” and “Abba” means “father”, so see what I mean? Is it possible that Barabbas and Jesus were the same person and Pilate was asking the crowd questions? , “do we crucify the King and the political threat to Rome and therefore you, or the religious guy and not a big threat to Rome, is it up to you?” Couldn’t Pilate be saying, “Choose carefully because your The answer depends on whether I crucify them all as well?” I don’t see the vapid Pilate of this account in the story. He was quite ruthless according to others besides Mark. Anyway, the crowd wants “Bar Abbas”, the Son, to be released. of God or the Son of the Father, and that seems to be no problem with Pilate. But Jesus, “King of the Jews,” since they have no king but Caesar, must be crucified, which is fine with them. Isn’t it? it’s more a story of people defining the Jesus they want to kill so Pilate won’t kill them for the insurrection? What do you think? Pretty cool, huh? Did you know that in early copies of Mark, Barabbas is called Jesus Barabbas? But maybe that was too obvious, so we don’t see it in later copies. That would make Barabbas, “Jesus Son of the Dad”. wow!
Ask. Pastor… Look, my other problem with the Barabbas story would be, so who was actually crucified and who was actually let go? If it was someone named Jesus, the son of the Father was let go, and another Jesus, the King of the Jews died, then the right savior died? Oh good. I can’t imagine they are two separate men, can you? Or a great time coincidence for sure!
END PART THREE