Mystery of Jesus’ Crucifixion - Its Solution May Unite Abrahamic Religions

 retrospect. Neither they support him nor G-d, since
Ancient Jews of Jesus’ period, were in fact in aG-d supported miraculously Jesus, the first true
very bad shape. They had been invaded by theclaimant chosen by him and sent by him.
Romans, who destroyed their sacred places, 
humiliated them and occupied Jerusalem andThe Christians should avoid deifying Jesus and would
appointed a Governor to rule over them. The moralebecome close to Jews and Jews identify and accept
of the Jewish people of that time was at theirJesus their Moshiach, both religions get reconciled.
lowest ebb. It was a difficult time for the Jews. TheyThis is done in the roots of the faith and not done
were in abject misery.politically or diplomatically. End of two thousands
 years of religious hostilities.
They had vivid memories of King David and King 
Solomon when they had ruled their part of the world.Rambam’s thirteen principles followed by Jews
They had lost everything. Their entire solace waswere not revealed by G-d on Moses or on any other
now in their scriptures where they had beenprophet. Present day Christian’s principles were
promised advent of Moshiach or Messiah from thenot revealed on Jesus, if both stick to the original
lineage of King David and before Moshiach return ofword of G-d the strife ends.
Elijah as a prelude to Moshiach. They were waiting 
for him.Lately the Jewish people have shown some relief in
 the questions they used to ask for the claimants of
The scriptures always only prophesize about thethe office of Moshiach. They are not now asking the
spiritual and religious reformers but the Jews had tiedquestion they asked to Jesus which was well
their hopes on him in despair and held that he wouldanswered. The question; Where is Elijah who
be a warrior, siding with whom they would fight withascended to the skies with his chariot and who was
their enemies. Moshiach, they thought, would releaseto descend before the Moshiach to pave way for his
them from the shackles of slavery of the Romansarrival?
and improve their material lot and they would rule 
their part of the world like they had ruled before inThe Jews are not asking this question anymore and
the times of David and Solomon.have excluded it from their list of the signs of the
 Moshiach. In fact logically, to be sincere, they should
The Jewish people were waiting for Messiah or whathave prayed for the arrival of the Elijah first because
they call Moshiach and they according to OT believedhe was to come first and when they would have
that Elijah would descend from the heavens andaccepted him upon his arrival then they should have
would pave way for the advent of the Messiah.prayed for the advent of Moshiach. They have now
 a circular argument as pointed out earlier. God is not
“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet beforeto match and fulfill their desired signs of an ambitious
the coming of the great and dreadful day of God.and warring Moshiach, however and how-much they
(Festivals (3:23)-Shabat HaGadol),“Christians maypray or wail. The Jewish people have to match to
refer to Malachi 4:5 or in some versions 3:24.”G-d’s will and accept the truthful, humble, loving
 and loved by G-d, Jesus of Nazareth.
When Jesus announced his prophet-hood from one 
God and started criticizing Jewish people of theJesus when visited the temple in Jerusalem, he did
malpractices they had indulged in, their religious clergynot violate any code of civil liberties or human rights
started strongly opposing him. Jesus spoke withas understood by the present man. We are living in
wisdom and he was supported by God; a lot ofan age where we have to analyze things as per
people among the Jews started accepting him to thepresent requirement of time. The present human
anguish of the Jewish priesthood, rather theyrights speak of the conscience of the humans the
became his deadly enemy.world over, and we judge things from the vantage
 point of present times. We cannot afford to be day
To prove that he was a false prophet as per theirdreamers living in the past and the unreal animosities
scriptures :-of the past. We have to live in the present age and
“If there arise in the midst of thee a prophet, orhave to forget the unwise acts of the past and the
a dreamer of dreams--and he give thee a sign or apast people.
wonder” 
“And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams,We can pray for them but we only follow if they did
shall be put to death;” (Book of Deuteronomythings rightly and we should not insist on doing what
Chapter 13:2, 6 Jewish Bible: Christian OT 13: 1, 5)they did wrongly. We cannot be their descendants in
 mistakes. If we are sincere to them we shall have to
They, the Jewish priesthood of that period hatched aaccept the truth with open heart and open mind. If
conspiracy resulting to kill him on the cross. Nowthey were wrong and it is proved they were wrong
what happened to Jesus on the cross is verywe leave their footsteps. In fact there was no case
important for three Abrahamic Religions i.e. Jews,against Jesus of aggressively assaulting in the temple;
Christians and Muslims. If a true unity is to be broughtif they had had it they would have registered with
about among these religions, solution of this mysterythe authorities accordingly. Instead they registered a
is very essential. To every body's surprise sufficientcase that he was a rebel of the Roman Empire by
evidence is even now (after 2000 years of thevirtue of being claimant of the office of Moshiach,
incident!) available, on the internet.King of the Jews. They were jealous of him as to
 why he has been chosen by G-d instead of one
Moshiach did arrive from G-d in the shape of Jesus ofamong themselves who were high priests of the
Nazareth, chosen by G-d and sent by Him fortemple.
reformation of the Jewish people but to their utter 
disappointment he was not as carved by them inJesus did not violate any of these principles. He was
their emotional thinking.himself a Jew, from the lineage of David. He did not
 pronounce a new religion. He only announced himself
Jesus was by far a humble and righteous person, aafter a word of God as Moshiach which was well
man of G-d, a teacher reformer docile with thewithin the concept of Judaism then; and even now
ordinary downtrodden people who loved them. Hethe Jewish People pray for the advent of Moshiach.
was taught spirit of the Holy Scriptures by G-d. G-dHe did not create any commotion, strife or fight
accepted his prayers and as such he healed theirthere in the temple. He only professed his own faith.
diseases and with His support he showed many signsHe did criticize the religious establishment, the
and miracles. He taught them the inners of thedecadent priesthood as he said they leave the
scriptures.injunctions of the Book (Torah) and more adhere to
 the self made tradition.
People started flocking around him. His reputation as 
a prophet started spreading around. He criticized theActually the hollow and shallow priesthood became
clergy of the prevalent Jews whom he described asjealous of his pronouncement of being Moshiach, a
seeing only the outer side of the scriptures,very high office of the Jewish thought, perhaps the
materialistic and not spiritualists, they were not actinghighest office in the Jewish religion after Moses. They
on the Book and disregarded it and instead of thatbecame jealous that G-d made an ordinary and
they preferred on acting on the man-made traditionshumble, popular among the people, pious man a
of their elders (Mark 7:6-10) .Moshiach. If at all the office was to be given it should
 have been given to somebody amongst them. In
“ 9 ye reject the commandment of God, that yefact every body amongst them thought for himself
may keep your own tradition.”deserving for the post.
 
Jesus was a Jew and like other Jews he was entitledJealousy of office made them an enemy of Jesus. If
to enter the Jewish Temple, pray there and washe were a Moshiach, then all of them had to become
free to deliver a religious lecture to the audience as aa subordinate of him. Their stiff necks could not bow
free man, which he did. He did not man-handlebefore him, tolerate this situation. Jesus made no
anybody or say anything abusive against any personaggression, the priesthood made aggression and
specifically. He was not aggressive even as per theassaulted. When Jesus noticed that priesthood had
present human rights of the modern time.become jealous of him and they were not agreed to
 have any tolerance towards his teachings and
The Jewish rabbis, Pharisees and Sadducees couldpreachings, he shifted to suburban town to defuse
not like this. Jesus was openly denouncing andthe tension. “54Jesus therefore walked no more
demolishing the edifice of their hollow religiousopenly among the Jews; but went thence unto a
hierarchy. Instead of accepting him with humility theycountry near to the wilderness, into a city called
turned violently against him and his poor, humble andEphraim, and there continued with his
peaceful followers.disciples”.(John 11:54)
 
The Jewish priests of the time tried to stop him andThis is a research article. There is no compulsion in
they opposed his teachings, ridiculed him, startedaccepting it. Any body disagreeing with it can
calling him a false prophet, and in fact issued an edictdisagree and send me his arguments and reasoning
to this effect. Jesus far excelled them in reason,and it is welcome. I will revise the essay accordingly,
arguments and character. Their opposition miserablythere is no ill will or hatred intended against anybody
failed against him. The clergy then decided to dealbelonging to any race, religion, creed or color.
with the matter politically.Everyone is at liberty to believe in any thing
 whatsoever true or untrue, fact or myth and nobody
Firstly, to ridicule him and to prove him a falseelse can harm him physically or discriminate against
prophet, they asked him a pertinent question: Youhim; God has given choice to man which cannot be
claim to be a Moshiach and as per scriptures Elijahdenied to him.
was to descend before Moshiach/Messiah to pave 
way for him and as a sign for him; where is thatHuman beings are to be honored and loved whatever
Elijah? The answer was reasonable and alright buttheir belief, nobody can interfere with them. It is
they rejected it and said this confirms that you are aanother thing that every person is responsible to God
false claimant.for whatever he believes in or whatever he acts
 upon and would be judged, accounted for and
Secondly: Jesus had announced of a heavenlyrewarded accordingly. That is why every person
kingdom of which he was a truthful representative,should purify one’s beliefs and actions with facts
so the Jewish priesthood of the time plannedand reasoning and find out the truth and leave false
secretly and informed the Roman rulers that this manbeliefs and actions not based on reality, others can
Jesus is a very dangerous person, he claims to be aonly help and assist one to come out from the
King of the Jews and he is amassing people aroundwrong beliefs and myths and would be rewarded
him that would culminate as revolt against the romanaccordingly. One should keep in mind that blind faith is
rule. Jesus should be arrested, tried for the offenceof no avail and is not acceptable to God and is
of treason and put on cross and killed.against human dignity and honor. Only truth could
 generate permanent peace and love among human
As per injunctions of their scriptures (referbeings; myths and false beliefs create hatred and
Deuteronomy 13:1-11), what they could not dodifferences make them fall apart.
themselves now they tried to accomplish it by hands 
of the Roman officials, and thus emerge triumphant.The Jews believe in oneness of God that is alright
(John 11:47-54) “47Then gathered the chiefand is appreciable. But how oneness was revealed to
priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, What doJews, it was through Moses, a prophet of God.
we? for this man doeth many miracles.”Whenever belief in unity of God gets obscured, God
 “53Then from that day forth they took counselsends a prophet to revive it and to establish it. Belief
together for to put him to death.”in unity of God is not lost by only in being idolatrous
that is worship of idols but also when one becomes
They took out processions and pressurized thematerialistic and one absorbs oneself too much in
Romans officials to issue verdict against Jesus, whoworldly matters and does not bow before God and
was a peaceful and law abiding citizen and had donethinks that he is complete in himself and does not
nothing against the Romans or their rule. Romanneed God or His help in his affairs. One is proud and
Officials knew and were convinced of this. The Jewsarrogant and thinks downward on other human being.
threatened that if the Official would not accede to 
their demand they would report against his person toGod chose Israel among the people and promised
the Roman capital that he is supporting the revolt.Holy Lands to him, alright but only when they are
The New Testament is full of the account of thethemselves holy, humble and loving mankind like
incident. Pilate did not believe that Jesus hadprophets Abraham, Moses, Jacob and Joseph etc.,
committed any offence against the Romanand not when they are arrogant and haughty; If
Government and as can be discerned from thethey do not follow in the footsteps of these great
events narrated in the New Testament, if intentlyprophets, they themselves deny the Holy Land and
read, Pilate considered Jesus an innocent man, beingthere is no promise to them, rather they incite the
a weak Official himself, he secretly tried to help himindignation of God. The prophets are a test from
out and save him from the death on the cross,God. With them true oneness of God and true
though prima facie he succumbed to their pressurecharacter of man is established in the world. If people
and could not save him from injures.don’t accept a prophet and don’t go with
 him they fail in the test and invite wrath of God.
It does not at all necessarily mean that all Jews in 
Judea participated in putting Christ on cross to kill himSo, the Jews have to accept Jesus as Moshiach or a
mercilessly. But any number of them who practicedprophet of God to become a chosen people as they
Judaism and who considered him a false Moshiach,became when they accepted Abraham, Moses and
who had not fulfilled their worldly aspirations, theyJoseph and accepted their character as a model. On
considered him a false prophet and must have mostone hand claiming lands from the mouth of God and
likely participated in that secret planning as they werethen leaving Him and not obeying his wills, this would
enjoined in Torah, Deuteronomy chapter 13; it wasmean that their own hearts are devoid of love of
their individual duty to try him in the court of LawGod and they are not God-fearing and loving the
and put his hand on a false prophet and get himfellow human beings, so their hearts are not a resort
executed. (Mathew 26:47-68). “57And they thatof love of G-d or the love of human being. One
had laid hold on Jesus led him away to Caiaphas thebecomes higher in nobility when one is higher in
high priest, where the scribes and the elders werecharacter and not in race, color or mere outward
assembled.59Now the chief priests, and elders, and allfaith. By denying a true prophet of God all these
the council, sought false witness against Jesus, to putattributes are lost and then those who accept the
him to death; 67Then did they spit in his face”prophets become chosen People and Chosen Land
belongs to them  and hand of God is on them i.e.
If somebody was ignorant of Jesus’ claim, hethey are assisted and helped by God.
was naturally absolved of the responsibility. Anyway 
G-d is the best judge and we are not to issue anyThe simple and common Christian thinks as if behind
verdict in this connection. But it is plausible that allthe cover of atonement they could do any sinful
those who opposed him in the city of Jerusalem,acts they like and have a license to live sinful life as
secretly planned it,(Mathew 27:1-5) devised thisthey please. This is not the case, like with every
strategy, humiliated Jesus, rebuked him, put a crownprophet of God, in the Christ Era also whoever
made of straw and thorns on his head,  thenaccepted him for the first time he had a new birth in
taunted on him as being a King of the Judea, spittedbelief and hence deserved that his previous sins
( Mathew 27:27-35) on him, took out a processionshould be forgiven by God being very kind to them.
,shouted and demanded of the Roman Official toThis atonement is observed in the era of every
execute him, made it sure that they are present onprophet to the believers for the first time. This does
the scene to see him being put on the  cross ornot require any sort of dying of Jesus on cross.
were jubilant on his being executed; they cannot be 
absolved of this crime.Every Christian has to do good deeds to earn and
 attain real forgiveness of God and he has to abstain
It should also be noted that Jerusalem was a centerhimself from evil deeds. If a Christian tells a lie or
of the Judea and the Jewish high priests  and grandmakes a false statement in the court or steals or
temple was located there and priesthood hierarchymakes a dacoit in a house there is no atonement
lived their and centered there and in fact they wereavailable for him, he has to cease doing evil deeds
the leaders of the entire planning and those whoand to earn atonement and mercy of God, he has to
followed them  all such mischievous people wereshow firm resolve for not repeating the crime he has
certainly involved in it. But now it is a matter ofdone .So there is no unusual thing in this regard with
history, we leave it to G-d to judge them.Jesus, only a myth has been formed by shallow
“1When the morning was come, all the chiefbelievers to please the ordinary people and win their
priests and elders of the people took counsel againstsupport.
Jesus to put him to death: 2And when they had 
bound him, they led him away, and delivered him toThe essence or lesson of the incident of crucifixion
Pontius Pilate the governor. (Mathew 27:1-2)of Jesus is that the believers shall have to prepare
 themselves for all sort of hardships in the way of
Pilate was a weak personality; he washed his handsGod like Jesus has suffered and have to be
before the Jews to show them and express that hesteadfast and then God will give their faith conquest
was not involved in their scheme and was notover all the religions and success in life and hereafter.
agreed to crucify Jesus, and he considered him 
innocent in the matter.(For conduct of the priesthoodSo, the fact is that Jesus never died on cross. Jews
and Pilate refer Mathew 27:11-26). “20But theof his time just to prove that he was not a true
chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude thatprophet and as per Jewish scriptures God always
they should ask Barabbas, and destroy Jesus.causes an untrue prophet to be killed .They secretly
24When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, butplanned and  tried to kill him by putting him on cross,
that rather a tumult was made, he took water, andbut they did not succeed in their attempt to kill him .
washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I amJesus did not die on cross, he was delivered from
innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye tothe cross unconscious but alive, was treated in the
it. 25Then answered all the people, and said, Hisroom-like tomb by his close disciples, thus he survived
blood be on us, and on our children.”from death, migrated to 10 tribes of the Israel exiled
to far off lands as already hinted by Jesus and died
After all Jesus was a peaceful, law abiding citizen oflater at some point in the history.
the Roman Empire and had done nothing to invoke 
their anger.The topic is very important and needs to be
 discussed in detail. The Bible contains sufficient
So, it was the Jews of that time who did it and onusevidence to prove this truth if read intently and
of this cruelty and inhuman act falls on them and notbetween the lines. Consequently the idea that
that much on Pilate. But that is a matter of historyJesus’ crucifixion was essential for salvation of
now and the Jews of the present time have nothingthe sinners is not correct and needs to be revised
to do with it. Many of the moderate and balancedaccordingly. Jesus’ crucifixion and salvation
Jews, not under influence of the corrupt clergy haddependent on this is just a myth created out of
already accepted him and when Christian Movementdoubts and not facts of the incident.
after this grave incident in the city had to go 
underground, many must have among the JewsIt may be noted that the present Jewish people are
accepted him later on.in no way responsible for crucifixion of Jesus. The
 responsibility lies on the corrupt clergy of the time.
And if the present time Jews can’t be blamedThe present Jewish people are enlightened people; I
for crucifying Jesus, they must now have no excusebelieve they could discern the facts and modify their
of not accepting him when it has become very clearstance. They have already suffered a lot for not
that Jesus did not die on cross and he miraculouslyaccepting their truthful Moshiach and they had been
survived the collective attempt of the Jews presentforced into an eternal waiting position for Moshiach.
on the scene  to kill him. His status as their belovedThey daily pray for advent of the Moshiach and it is
Moshiach hence becomes ratified and also as a truetheir cardinal belief that he would come. Just for a
prophet of G-d.misunderstanding they have been kept away from
 acknowledging him. They could forge unity of belief
When Jesus last departed from his followers theywith the Christians by accepting him a truthful
saw him going up the hills disappearing in the clouds,Moshiach.
which scene is common in the hill sides and 
mountainous regions where clouds are very low,The fact as to what happened at cross needs to be
some followers might have resorted to think thatinvestigated as it is very important for bringing unity
Jesus has risen to the skies while he disappeared upin the Abrahamic religions i.e. Jews, Christians and the
the hills above the clouds and went to accomplish hisMuslims or if not possible at least for an
mission assigned by God to the lost sheep of Israelunderstanding among the three.
(Matthew 15:23-25). 
 Similarly, the poor ordinary followers of Jesus were
The situation was very tense that generated all sortsforced due to the course of events, they could not
of doubts, stories and alibis. The Jews were in doubt,openly announce that Jesus’ life has been saved
due to the storm which followed soon after Jesusfrom death, lest the Jewish people follow him and
was crucified, they absented from the scene andtorture him again. For face saving they told the Jews
when the storm subsided they were not sure whatwhen asked that Jesus has resurrected and gone to
took place during their absence.heavens. One could though observe that all the close
 and trustworthy followers secretly got absented
When queries were made Jews were told that Jesusfrom the scene (city of Jerusalem, the centre of the
had got resurrected from the dead and raised toJews) and joined Jesus at far off lands to spread the
heavens and hence the weak Christians resorted togospel.
deify him as God or son of God. This has nothing to 
do with Jesus who only believed in one G-d as JewsImportance for the Jews
believed; rather he was sent by G-d to strengthen
unity of God, which faith had been obscured by theIt is to be investigated as to why they tried to kill
priesthood. The stance of present day Jews thatJesus Christ or put him on the cross. Were they
Jesus becoming God or son of God is an alien beliefpolitically motivated or due to some personal enmity
to the Jewry, they were not waiting for a personor due to religious injunctions? Since they believed in
proclaiming these notions and hence they denyTorah or the Old Testament as named by the
identifying such person. On the other hand theChristians, and the Muslims also believe in Torah to an
Christians resorted to such beliefs when Jesus and hisextant. The motive and the incidence of putting
close confidantes secretly disappeared from theJesus on cross should therefore be discussed with
scene and as history reveals reappeared in other partthe Jews .
of the world. 
 Anybody could take part in the discussion but
The Christians in Jerusalem; those of them whoreferences if any should be mainly from Torah the
knew where Jesus had gone could not disclose lestreligious book of the Jews, not from the New
his persecutors may follow him and harm him andTestament or Quran as Jews don’t believe in
those who did not know this kept telling the peoplethese books and reference to these books will be of
that he had resurrected and gone to heavens. Suchno significance for them. The Jews have to state as
beliefs were in fact product of the period ofto why they (or their elders in history) tried to kill an
persecution of the weak Christians and which at ainnocent person called Jesus. They should clear off
very later stage got formally adopted, modified ortheir position in this respect.
added by St. Paul and his epistles under no express 
instructions of Jesus. Others did not do that andImportance for the Christians
remained on the pristine teachings of Jesus and later
most of them accepted Islam. This is the reasonThe incident of crucifixion and the events related to
why the Jews even after several thousands yearsit should be discussed with the Christians and the
are so small in numbers than the Christians andarguments should be primarily based with reference
Muslims.to the testimony of the New Testament and the
 historic evidences if any. Giving arguments from
Now the time is changed. Christians of day don’tQuran would be of little significance for Christians
have to compromise any alibi or any negotiatedunless somebody first convinces Christians of
religious belief. When it is proved that their belovedauthenticity of Quran.
Jesus did not die on Cross and after healing of his 
wounds, migrated to far off lands. Christians atImportance for the Muslims
present must revive their faith based on this
revealed truth and follow no myth so that JewsThis is also very important for the Muslims. All Muslims
could identify Jesus clearly and accept him. This woulddo not believe that Jesus (or Essa) died on cross or
culminate in merging of the two Abrahamic Religions.even he was put on cross, there are different
 interpretations and beliefs among the Muslims
This would benefit the Jews more as once theysupposedly based on Quran or tradition. Resolving this
have denied Jesus; they are daily for the last twoissue could unite the Muslims also.
thousands years have been praying to G-d to send 
the Moshiach but to no avail. They could not evenThis mystery has been solved by Mirza Ghulam
believe a dozen claimants of this office later amongAhmad and arguments on the issue have been amply
themselves. They have developed a circularprovided for the point of views of Jews, Christians
argument belief for rejection. If a claimant ofand Muslims.
Moshiach does not succeed he is not a Moshiach in