Picture this scenario with me, an international flight that has about 300 passengers on it from all over the world. You have your American, Canadian, Native American, Latin American, French, and Italian, Polish, English, German, Irish, Indian, Pakistani, Thai, Korean, Cambodian, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Filipino, African, Israeli, Arab, and so forth. No two people came from the exact location. They are all different ages, have different cultures, and are from different time frames. Each one has a story and each one has chosen to be on this the plane for a specific destination where they will all be witnesses of a criminal court case, all 300 passengers have agreed to take the stand.
When the plane arrives at the destination, the passengers get off the plane and are escorted to the courtroom. They have few minutes to freshen up before their names will be called to testify against their offender. Within the minutes, the case is announced and everyone stands while the Judge takes his chair. “We now will hear the case of ‘The People vs. Jesus Christ’ case number 666666.”
The attorney of the 300 passenger stands and tells the peanut gallery, “This Jesus Christ is going to stand trial for premeditated negligence, usurping his authority, creation abuse, manslaughter, perjury, wastefulness, and destruction of innocent lives. He has broken the Ten Commandments and he has broken the Golden Rule. Therefore, Jesus Christ is not fit to be the Judge of anyone nor does He have the right to condemn anyone. He has broken his own moral code and we will hear the witnesses testify against his moral character that Jesus is not all that he claims to be – a just and pure God. He is a heretic and he should be removed from his royal position as God.”
One by one, the witnesses are called. The Israeli condemn Jesus for not saving his family from the holocaust. He had been beaten several times and showed his scars on his back. This Israeli had suffered hunger, pain, and loss and Jesus didn’t do anything about it. He had watched thousands of people go into the gas chambers, heard repeatedly from the Nazi soldier, “It is your Jesus that is telling me to beat you.”
Next witness, the Cambodian, who watched a vicious Communist leader, Khmer Rouge, come in command of his country. This leader annihilated all those who had intelligence and took the farmers to experiment on those who were sick by regime. The Cambodian watched in horror, his children being raped and his wife murdered. There was blood all over the prisons walls, where his comrades were tortured to entertain the soldiers. Where was God in all this? Why didn’t he put a stop to this nightmare?
The African witness came forward and testified that all in command of his country sold the pheasants into slavery not only in his country but also sold the people to different countries. He couldn’t stop crying when he mentioned watching his family all shackled up and taken on ships that sailed to different ports. The loss of his family was so unbearable, where was God? Did God love slavery? Did he enjoy seen his people in chains, beaten, bruised, raped, torn apart from their loved ones?
The attorney called for the next witness, a German gladiator. With anger in his tone and scowl on his face, the German man told about when the Romans came and destroyed his city. They raped the German school girls; they pillaged the land, set fire to their homes, and took all the young warriors to be gladiators in their coliseum. The German shared about his lonely nights in the prison cells, training hard, only to be treated like a barbarian and an animal. He testified to the gruesome horrors that took place inside the arena. Hearing the Romans cheering, laughing, looting to his mistreatment, they relished this sport of humans killing humans for entertainment. The blood, the gore, the screams, the audience loved every minute of his pain.
On and on, one witness after another witness came forth to testify against this Jesus. The Indian testified about the British taking over their land and repressing their rights to be above the caste system. The Arab testified to the fact that everybody hated them because they were the descendants of Ishmael and not Isaac, which meant they never truly had a home, they were wanderers looking for a place of their own. They had to fight to keep the peace with the neighboring nations. The Irish testified about the Catholics and the Protestants not coming to peace so they had to have their own holy wars. Why couldn’t God reveal the truth to them about that was right? The Chinese woman talked about being tortured by the communists because she wanted to educate herself on democracy. She had watched a communist soldier kill her newborn baby with a sword. The Native American testified to the fact that the white man stole his land, and he had nowhere to go and eventually his tribe had died off to diseases, hunger, and annihilation at the white man’s hands. A teenage Thai girl testified to the fact that her father sold her into human trafficking because he was unable to take care of her anymore.
As each witness came forward, their stories were getting dark and grim. There was abuse of every kind within the family to the highest level of governmental positions. There was no hope, no peace, no joy, and there was no resolution to their heartbreaking stories. All the fingers pointed at Jesus, it was his fault for all the injustice that took place in their lives.
Finally it was Jesus turn to take the stand. Everyone was looking at him, believing that he had no memory of what was going on in their lives because he lived in the heavens far, far away from their pain, misery, and unspeakable acts done to them. One could sense the tension and anger in the atmosphere. If the Judge didn’t know any better, he would have surrounded Jesus with his heavy guards. The witnesses were ready to throw a stone party that they had brought in their pockets. Rather than sitting in the chair, Jesus stood up and stood in front of his accusers and all those present in the courtroom. There was something about his disposition, it was calm and peaceful but his eyes showed sorrow.
“I want you to know that when you took that bitter cup of pain and suffering, I took it as well. Look at my tortured and mutilated body on the cross. I have never asked you to do something that I have never done. I asked you to walk the extra mile because I have walked the extra mile. I asked you to forgive, because I have forgiven you. I have asked you to love your enemies, because I have loved my enemies. I extended my love and grace to you in the most difficult times of your life because without it your spirit would have perished. You can have peace in the midst of the storm. You can have unconditional love in the midst of being tortured but the key is to keep your eyes only on me, not on your suffering or on your enemy. Life is full of choices and in my love for you; I allowed you to have freewill and granted you permission to make your own choices in how you wanted to live your life. Choose the good things in life: have a relationship with God; know him personally; love one another; be kind to each other; and take care of each other. That is my will for each one of you. I will not make you or anyone choose to do the right thing in life. You have to choose for yourself. When someone chooses to do wrong, you will get hurt because you live in a fallen world that is corrupted by greed, power, and the iron fist of sin.
I may live in the Heavens but I can also live inside of you helping you through the difficulties. Even though it seems I am miles away, I have not forgotten you. I came to the Earth, to experience your humanity, to show you the way to live your lives in the midst of suffering. Even in the midst of being beaten, whipped, humiliated, slandered against, my own disciples left me to face the crucifixion alone. While hanging on the cross, my own Heavenly Father forsook me because I had become your sin, your sickness, your weakness, and your shame. I have known losses, rejections, homelessness, loneliness, thirst, hunger, racism, and betrayal. I went to the cross so that my Father in Heaven could have a relationship with you, and show you how much we love you.
If you lose your faith in your pain, misery, unbearable heartache and torture remember that there is justice and there is healing. Vengeance is mine and I will repay all those who have hurt you. I will come to your rescue. But the timing of the rescue is not up to you, it is up to me. Don’t pass judgment on those who have done you wrong. I have seen, I have heard, and I will deliver you from your sorrows. Your suffering isn’t wasted. You have sown tears, brokenness, pain, and death; but you will reap a new life of joy, gladness, love, and blessings. I will redeem your losses. All the suffering you have gone through will be used for God’s glory. Don’t shut out or silence the only one who can help you. Earth maybe your beginning but it is not the ending I have planned for you. Heaven awaits you, your rewards awaits you, all that you need to be fulfilled in life will be there for you once you have stepped over the threshhold of darkness and walked into my light.”
The King of kings and Lord of lords had spoken. Jesus Christ had taken his own medicine and he knew sufferings in ways that humanity would never know from experience. He had emptied himself of divine rights on Earth and humbled himself to servitude and even to the point of death. Everyone in the courtroom knew this as well. How could they blame him? He had faced evil head on and conquered it in the process of living a sinless life. How dare us to critique, judge, slander, question the method of the very one who knew the facets of life’s tapestry. Who better to judge mankind of its evil deeds and righteous act than the God who lived, breathed sin’s nasty smell, and sacrified himself to save mankind from eternal destruction. What other God has done that for you and for me?
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