By Staff
Jesus Christ was killed, publicly executed and crucified on a cross.
The Jewish leaders were incensed by his provocative claims and his disrespectful attitude to the law.
The Romans were angry that he challenged the authority of Caesar and was proclaiming himself King of the Jews.
Christ disturbed the status quo and both powers, Jewish and Roman, determined to do away with him. In the Jewish court he was charged with blasphemy. In the Roman court he was charged with rebellion against lawful authority. Christ was seen as an enemy of God (religion) and of Caesar (state). His threat to "law and order" would not be tolerated. He was a law-breaker. He had to die, these powers reasoned and they conspired and carried out their evil.
But the gospel writers contend the prisoner was not guilty of the charges. The witnesses were false and the sentence of death was a gross miscarriage of justice. Fallen and fallible human beings with selfish motives ruling killed the Christ. The evil cousins, envy and pride, killed him. That this man would demand our allegiance and expect our obedience could not and would not be tolerated. No answer was offered to Pilate's provoking question to the mobs, "What crime has he committed?" And no answer has ever been satisfactorily offered up to this day. But Jesus'