A Story Rewritten

Try not to forget what you have learned about the life of Jesus Christ on earth more than two thousand years ago. It was a story in which the forces of good and evil, of redemption and corruption, of hope and despair collided in perfect symmetry.

He was the babe in a manger who caused a despotic king to fear for his throne. He was the child who impressed the learned men of His time with His intelligence. He was the growing young boy who was an enigma to everyone except to His earthly parents. He was the man who – after fasting for forty days – was subjected to temptation by the devil but resolutely rejected the worldly offers of the devil.

He begun His ministry with a bold proclamation that He was the Messiah who was to come in order to save humanity – the Jews and the Gentiles – from sin and destruction. On a Sabbath in a synagogue in Nazareth, He stood up, unafraid, to read a text from the book of the prophet Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.” He went on to declare to the people: “Today, this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” He, then, proceeded to form His own group, a band of slow-witted fishermen and ordinary folks who were to become His witnesses. He walked the plains, trekked the valleys, climbed the mountains and sailed the sea with His apostles and disciples to preach the gospel of love and salvation to the poor, the sick, the burdened and the oppressed.

He was an uncompromising preacher who challenged the authorities of His time. He assailed them for the fraudulent practices and exposed them as a fraud. He argued with them about the laws to which they claimed they had a mastery and defeated them. He accused them as blind guides of the people and warned the people to beware of these blind guides.

He matched His words with His actions. He turned water into wine and fed thousands of people with a few pieces of bread and fish. He hushed the wind, calmed a storm on the sea and walked on the sea. He healed the sick, restored the eyesight of the blind, caused the mute to speak again, made the crippled walk, cured the demon-possessed and brought back to life the dead with just His words of command.

And when His ministry was over and His hour of death came, he accepted the will of God the Father humbly and with much heroism. He was sold by one of His disciples for thirty pieces of silver to the authorities. He was arrested and brought to a farcical trial that sentenced Him to death. He was mocked and humiliated, whipped, crowned with thorns and forced to carry His cross all the way to the Calvary. And there in Calvary, He was nailed to the cross, displayed as a man wounded, beaten, naked and destroyed.

Three days after he was buried, He rose from the dead.

Try not to forget the story of our Lord Jesus Christ. It was our story of fall and degradation rewritten in a glorious triumphant manner more two thousand years ago. Nothing has changed since then.

Note: Bible Verses Reference - NASB 2000