{"id":18095,"date":"2018-04-01T21:36:30","date_gmt":"2018-04-01T21:36:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/?p=18095"},"modified":"2018-04-01T21:36:30","modified_gmt":"2018-04-01T21:36:30","slug":"i-killed-jesus-by-christina-mead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/?p=18095","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;I KILLED JESUS&#8221;  by Christina Mead"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><code><script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<!-- www.deltanewsroom.com --><br \/>\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display: block;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-2163942495525027\" data-ad-slot=\"1411897411\" data-ad-format=\"auto\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<script>\n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n<\/script><\/code><\/p>\n<p>While I read the story of Christ\u2019s passion and death in the Gospel of Matthew, I was looking for myself in the story.<\/p>\n<p>Which character am I?<\/p>\n<p>What is God trying to teach me? Well\u2026.<br \/>\nI think that I am every character in the story of the passion and death of Christ. And I think that\u2019s the whole point.<\/p>\n<p>I am the Apostle<\/p>\n<p>I am an Apostle, sleeping in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:40). I\u2019m prone and give in to laziness in the presence of holiness. I don\u2019t put up a fight against the pull of distractions or sometimes even sleep.<\/p>\n<p>I am Judas<\/p>\n<p>I am Judas. Jesus has every right to call me both \u201cfriend\u201d and \u201cbetrayer\u201d barely 30 seconds apart (Matthew 26:46, 50). My heart is fickle and weak and sometimes my commitment to being Jesus\u2019 friend is blown off on the whim of an emotion.<\/p>\n<p>I am Caiaphas<\/p>\n<p>I am Caiaphas, the high priest. I want Jesus to prove Himself to me (Matthew 26:63). I want signs and wonders to know that I really can trust Him. I want my prayers answered in my way. I want concrete proof over humble faith.<\/p>\n<p>I am Peter<\/p>\n<p>I am Peter. Sometimes I deny Jesus (Matthew 26:72). I deny Him in the face of the homeless when I chose to look away. I deny Him when I am afraid of being judged and condemned by those around me.<\/p>\n<p>I am the Crowd<\/p>\n<p>I am in the crowd yelling, \u201ccrucify Him\u201d (Matthew 27:21-23). And I say it again and again every time I knowingly choose to sin.<\/p>\n<p>I am Barabbas<\/p>\n<p>I am Barabbas. I am chained in sin and holed up in the prison of my own pride. And instead of remorse for the sins for which I&#8217;m guilty of, I ignorantly impose it on the Lord Christ to bear. (Matthew 27:26).<\/p>\n<p><code><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.alternativeadvert.com\/show.php?z=30&amp;pl=15861&amp;ad_type=59&amp;rl=180\" width=\"300\" height=\"250\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<\/code><\/p>\n<p>I am Pilate<\/p>\n<p>I am Pilate. I want to give up when life is too challenging (Matthew 27:24). I\u2019m ready to wash my hands of Christianity when being a follower of Jesus means pursuing virtue over mediocrity, a life of prayer over a life of pleasure.<\/p>\n<p>I am Simon of Cyrene<\/p>\n<p>I am Simon of Cyrene (Matthew 27:32). I suffer reluctantly. I will take the cross but I won\u2019t seek it. I\u2019ll only take it if it\u2019s been placed on my shoulders\u2026 and I don\u2019t love it.<\/p>\n<p>I am passer-by<\/p>\n<p>I am a passer-by. These passers-by people mocked Jesus while He was hanging on the cross (Matthew 27:30). How quickly they had forgotten all the good works He had done among their cities and towns. When popular opinion about Jesus changed, they followed suit. How quickly I forget the good He\u2019s done for me. In a brief moment of pain all my gratitude is forgotten and replaced by resentment.<\/p>\n<p>I am one of the Roman soldiers<\/p>\n<p>I am one of the Roman soldiers (Matthew 27:35). I killed Jesus. My sins were the reason He was nailed to that cross. It was my fault and I know it.<\/p>\n<p>But sometimes\u2026<\/p>\n<p>I am the Centurion. My eyes are opened to who Jesus is in my life (Matthew 27:54). My heart swells with the truth that the love incarnate of the Almighty Father became man and died because of my foolishness and inadequacies. And this knowledge brings me disquietedness and a resignation to amend my life.<\/p>\n<p>I am one of the women standing by the Cross (Matthew 27:55-56). When I\u2019m open to God\u2019s grace, I can be a faithful and constant Christian. In the midst of pain and suffering, I can stay close to the cross. Jesus, my beloved, is my strength and He\u2019s all I need.<\/p>\n<p>I am Joseph of Arimathea (Matthew 27:59). Again, only by God\u2019s grace, I can be selflessly compassionate, putting others\u2019 needs before my own. Moved by the Lord, I will use what He has given me in the service of others. My time, talent, and treasure are all for Him.<\/p>\n<p>Sometimes I am every character in the story of the passion and death of Christ.<\/p>\n<p>We have to apply it to our lives today because the reality of it\u2019s events matter today.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/PASSION-OF-CHRIST.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-18096\" src=\"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/PASSION-OF-CHRIST.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"850\" height=\"850\" srcset=\"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/PASSION-OF-CHRIST.jpg 850w, http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/PASSION-OF-CHRIST-150x150.jpg 150w, http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/PASSION-OF-CHRIST-300x300.jpg 300w, http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/PASSION-OF-CHRIST-768x768.jpg 768w, http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/PASSION-OF-CHRIST-80x80.jpg 80w, http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/PASSION-OF-CHRIST-40x40.jpg 40w, http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/PASSION-OF-CHRIST-64x64.jpg 64w, http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/PASSION-OF-CHRIST-75x75.jpg 75w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>While I read the story of Christ\u2019s passion and death in the Gospel of Matthew, I was looking for myself in the story. Which character am I? What is God trying to teach me? Well\u2026. I think that I am every character in the story of the passion and death of Christ. And I think [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":18096,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18095","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-society"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/PASSION-OF-CHRIST.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4oswh-4HR","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18095","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18095"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18095\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18097,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18095\/revisions\/18097"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}