Christianity - A Journey from Facts to Fiction — Page 75
Crucifixion 75 Could this incident not be a key to the enigma of Jonah as ? As it was a common practice for a condemned person to hang on the cross for three days and nights, this rings a bell indeed in one’s mind about the similitude between Jesus as and Jonah as , as men- tioned earlier. Jonah as is also supposed to have remained within the body of the fish for three days and three nights. Maybe he too was delivered alive by God’s design within three hours instead of three days. So what happened in the case of Jesus as becomes a mirror reflecting and replaying the tragic drama of Jonah as. Now we turn to the events during the Crucifixion. Even at the last moment Jesus as stood firm to his protestations: ‘Eli, Eli, la´ma sabach-tha´ni?’ How deeply tragic this is, and how painfully expressive of his disillusionment. This exclamation is subtly pointing at some earlier promise and assurance which God must have given him; otherwise, no sense whatsoever can be read in this exclamation. It is a denial both of his wish and willingness to carry, of his own volition, the load of other people’s sin and of the view that he was looking forward to that hour of death. Why this deep cry of anguish when the punishment was demanded by him in the first place? Why should he reproach God, or even pray for deliverance? Jesus’ as statement should be read in the context of what happened before. He was praying to God throughout to take the bitter cup off from him. We as Ahmadi Muslims believe that a pious and holy person that Jesus as was, made it impossible that God did not accept his prayer. He must have been told that the prayer had been ac- cepted. I do not believe that he gave up the ghost on the cross. With me there is no contradiction and everything is consistent.