Crucify Him!

“Suppose there are prophets among you or those who dream dreams about the future, and they promise you signs or miracles, and the predicted signs or miracles occur. If they then say, ‘Come, let us worship other gods’—gods you have not known before— do not listen to them. The LORD your God is testing you to see if you truly love him with all your heart and soul. Serve only the LORD your God and fear him alone. Obey his commands, listen to his voice, and cling to him. The false prophets or visionaries who try to lead you astray must be put to death, for they encourage rebellion against the LORD your God, who redeemed you from slavery and brought you out of the land of Egypt. Since they try to lead you astray from the way the LORD your God commanded you to live, you must put them to death. In this way you will purge the evil from among you. [Deuteronomy 13.1-5]

Let's just be very clear here. The religious leaders who were responsible for Jesus' crucifixion were undoubtedly operating off this very passage of Scripture.

Isn't it interesting then, in light of this passage in Deuteronomy, that Jesus actually referred to "heart and soul" in each of the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, & Luke)?

Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ [Matthew 22.37]

And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ [Mark 12.30]

Jesus replied, “What does the law of Moses say? How do you read it?” The man answered, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” “Right!” Jesus told him. “Do this and you will live!” [Luke 10.26-28]

The problem for the religious leaders in Jesus' time was that they simply did not recognize that Jesus' Father and their "scriptural Father" were one and the same. I say "scriptural Father" because their actual father was not the same as Jesus:

Jesus told them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, because I have come to you from God. I am not here on my own, but he sent me. Why can’t you understand what I am saying? It’s because you can’t even hear me! For you are the children of your father the devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies. So when I tell the truth, you just naturally don’t believe me! Which of you can truthfully accuse me of sin? And since I am telling you the truth, why don’t you believe me? Anyone who belongs to God listens gladly to the words of God. But you don’t listen because you don’t belong to God.” [John 8.42-47]

The problem lay in the fact that the religious leaders knew the Scriptures, but did so without genuinely identifying and recognizing Messiah. This was due to the fact that they had ignored (for whatever reason) any Scripture that defined Messiah as a "sheep led to slaughter" and, instead, they expected a political ruler. It was their religious pride that could not accept Jesus not having come from the ranks of their own elite religious status. Therefore, the religious leaders naturally only saw Jesus as just a miracle worker claiming a "Father" they could not know or actually recognize because they had no genuine relationship with Him themselves. Thus, the only solution: "Crucify him!"

The bottom line is this: we must know God relationally. Otherwise, this will be our story:

“Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’ [Matthew 7.21-23]

Father, help me to get past all the noise of religion, doctrine, and theology and simply be found in relationship with You and Your Word, Jesus.