What a good question!!

I think, rather amateurishly, that it was the Pharisees that actually led the charge for him to be crucified.

With that said, we are growing a culture based on Pharisaical rules and responses.

Do I believe their should be traditions? Yes. Do I believe there should be orderly worship? Yes. But, there was a spirit of arrogance and anti-unbeliever attitude in their midst. Notice also, most of the criticisms of Christ were mostly of his activities OUTSIDE the temple.

We find the same criticisms today about who you know, who you see, or where you go.

I guess I’d have to know what the prof meant by “his New Testament ministry”. If he’s talking about healing, casting out demons, proclaiming the Kingdom of God the mainstream church would probably label him a crank and let it go… unless he took his followers to Guiana or Waco.

If he meant getting in the face of the political establishment or religious rule makers we’d probably slam him on the 700 club, Focus on the Family and deride him in the media.

The issues I have with comments like this is:
1: We are living out 2000+ years of history that we can’t really ignore, so knowing what happened 33 AD colors what we might do today

2: There is more than one way to “crucify” someone. Killing someone makes them a martyr, making them ineffective, a laughing stock, a joke can be just as nasty, and deadly. In our nation, a very effective way of killing someone off is to simply and totally walk away from them and ignore them and what they say.

Having said that, I imagine the prof meant that we wouldn’t like the way Jesus stepped on our toes when he taught so we’d feel the need to get rid of Him.

My 2 cents worth.

Peace,
Alan

yeah, i agree w/ this. you see the pharisees were the “access to God” in their day, they were supposed to guide the people and be the ones to lead them into the Holy of Holies. they had knowledge but when it came to Christ…no wisdom and refused to see that God would choose to show himself in such a way that was not expected…b/c of their fear, selfishness and pride.

today, the church at large * and mainstream tend to put God in box- new ideas are not openly accepted- and men or women of faith who live a life that is not in “line” w/ the church’s rules and regulations are criticized. we are christ in the earth today, so WHY is the “access to God” refuse to see the depth and heart of Christ- and His intention to show the heart and love and grace and peace of the Father?

God is outside of time, outside our realm of thinking. is it beyond him to use or accept “non-religious” or “non conformist” resources for his purpose?

chaplinandrews said it well “Notice also, most of the criticisms of Christ were mostly of his activities OUTSIDE the temple.”

and that’s my 2 cents worth…

oh and just a quick note, i think it’s also important to remember we ALL put him on the cross, our sins and sorrows…jew, gentile, christian or non….but he did it b/c no matter who a person is, they were eligible and worth the torture he went through

what would he be doing that would concern us so much? i wonder if he would even hit the radar in today’s culture… would he blog? would someone post a bunch of Jesus’isms every day? would he plant yet another megachurch in Atlanta? jesus would probably be a children’s pastor.

Hebrews 13:8…Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Yep…many people are still upset that knowing and following Jesus requires a heart and life change today and makes them ‘uncomforable’.

I haven’t asked him what he meant by the quote, so I can’t answer those questions…your guess is as good as mine.

If I’m being honest, I’d say he’s indicting himself in a system designed to produce exactly the opposite of the kingdom. Oh well.

“we”?

Who is “we”?

I’m not Jewish. I’m not a Pharisee. I’m not part of a denominational structure.

I guess I’d need to know more context.

I think “we” in the quote refers to Christians today.

And I think his point is that Jesus is too radical for most Christians. He would offend us, as much as he offended the Pharisees. Obviously we know the message of Jesus today, but what if we didn’t? Then we probably would kill him.

I think based on that, this quote is a stretch.

There were people that didn’t think Jesus was a lunatic and there were people that did. I think it’s a stretch to say that “Christians” would kill him today. Maybe some would have that attitude. But, even if we didn’t have a knowledge of Jesus, how often do we go around killing lunatics in the US today?

Personally, I think his context is correct, but his example was a stretch.