Islam - The Summit of Religious Evolution — Page 87
87 Therefore, when they were gathered together, Pilate said unto them, Whom will ye that I release unto you? Barabbas, or Jesus, which is called Christ? For he knew that for envy they had delivered him. 35 But the Chief priests and the elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask for Barabbas, and destroy Jesus. The Governor answered and said unto them, Whether of the twain will ye that I release unto you? They said, Barabbas. Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus, which is called Christ? They all say unto him, Let him be crucified. And the Governor said, Why, what evil hath he done? But they cried out the more, saying, Let him be crucified. When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it. Then answered all the people and said, His blood be on us, and on our children. 36 Thus, Jesus was condemned to be crucified and was taken to Golgotha, the place of execution. The multitude went on mocking him and reviling him from the sixth hour to the ninth hour. About the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? That is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? 37 Apparently, this exclamation was wrenched from him by the perplexity from which he began to suffer that so far as he could see there was no way of deliverance left open for him, and yet God had promised him deliverance and he wondered whether anything that he had done or had left undone since the divine promise had served to cause offence to God. Stretched, as he was, on the cross he might have felt that the strain of the proceedings of the day and the ill treatment that he had undergone at the hands of the multitude were about to overcome his physical senses. He could not, at the moment, have imagined that his loss of consciousness and his perception of his approaching end were the very means that God in His Wisdom, had designed for his deliverance. 38 After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scriptures might be fulfilled saith, I thirst. Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a spunge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth. When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost. It is noteworthy that all four Gospels use the same expression with regard to the termination of the tragedy upon the cross. It is not said that Jesus died, but that he yielded or gave up the ghost. Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost. 39 And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost. 40 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost. 41 Jesus’ clinical death on the cross has never been established with absolute certainty. In fact, Biblical evidence strongly implies that he did not die on the cross. This view is further corroborated by recently discovered documents authored by apostles like Thomas, Barnabas, Hermes and James, which deny the current belief about his supposed death on the cross. The exclusion of these