Christianity teaches that Jesus was divine. To admit that he was not
divine is to give up Christianity. In the light of this teaching let us
look at Jesus on the cross. After a brief, but rather peaceful career,
Jesus is arrested, tried and convicted as a blasphemer, and sentenced to
be put to death. It is said that he died on a cross. How did he die? It is
said by Christians “like a God.”
There have been brave deaths on the gallows and at the stake. Men have
died sublimely whom society has condemned as criminals. In our day there
has been as lofty heroism evinced in the face of the most terrible of
deaths as ever martyr of old manifested when dying for his faith. We know
that men have walked into the arms of an ignominious death without a
tremor, and with magnificent courage shining in their faces.
Brave dying proves less than brave living. The sacrifice of a lifetime
shows the courage that commands our deepest admiration. Some mother, some
sister, or daughter who has offered herself for years upon the hidden
altar of duty has performed a deed beside which a moment’s suffering is as
naught. But the average mind fails to discern heroism, except where the
suffering is apparent.
We will admit for the moment that Jesus died upon the cross. We will allow
all the pain and agony of such a cruel and terrible death. We will let
every picture of his suffering that has drawn tears from the eyes of women
be accepted as true. We would not rob the manner of his death of a single
pang. It was merciless, pitiless, devilish. Crucifixion is the essence of
cruelty, the refinement of torture, the invention of brutality. We
acknowledge all the horrors of the cross. We do not wonder that a man
should shrink from being nailed to its arms, but we do wonder that a God
should. We are not surprised that human weakness should cry out of its
breaking heart for sympathy and help, but we cannot understand why divine
strength should ask for pity or aid. If Jesus was God he should have died
in divine silence. The record of the last hours of Jesus shows that he
died disappointed. The cross proves that Jesus was human. When he cried
out: "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me," a keener anguish pierced
his heart than when the cruel iron was driven through his flesh.
The dogma of the divinity of Jesus should have died on the cross, when the
man of Nazareth gave up the ghost.
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The man who does no thinking before he acts does twice as much afterwards.
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Adam may not have been so perfect after the “fall,” but he was not so big
a fool.