Jesus In India — Page 25
J e s u s i n I n d i a 25 spare his life, the punishment already undergone being considered sufficient. If he was meant to be killed, he was kept on the cross, was denied food and water and left in this condition under the sun for at least three days, after which his bones were broken and he would expire under the torture. But by the grace of God Almighty, Jesus was spared the agony which would otherwise have meant certain death. A close scrutiny of the Gospels would reveal that neither did Jesus remain on the cross for three days, nor did he have to suffer hunger or thirst, nor were his bones broken. On the contrary, he remained on the cross only for about two hours, and it so happened, by the grace of the Almighty, that he was placed on the cross in the latter part of the day, which was a Friday, sometime before sunset, the next day being the Sabbath, the Jewish feast of Fasah. Now, according to Jewish custom, it was unlawful and a cognizable offence to let anyone remain on the cross on the Sabbath, or the night before. Jews, like Muslims, followed the lunar calendar, according to which the day began with the sunset. On the one hand was this welcome circumstance which was born of earthly causes, and, on the other, divine scheme intervened. When the sixth hour had struck, a severe dust storm began to blow which enveloped the world in darkness and persisted for at least three hours. See Mark 15:33. The sixth hour was after twelve o’clock and was close to evening. Now, the Jews got worried at the deep darkness and feared lest the night of the Sabbath should overtake them and lest, having violated the sanctity of the Sabbath, they should be deservedly punished. Therefore, they hurriedly removed Jesus and the two thieves from their crosses. In addition to this, there was another heavenly