New Truth In The Last Days - True Parents Organization

Jesus Christ: Crucifixion or Execution? 29
In the Old Testament we see how God had labored in anguish to prepare a
fertile soil for the coming of the Messiah. That is the reason why He established
the chosen people and sent many prophets to them. The prophets
would warn and chastise them, and at other times they would encourage and
comfort them, all in the hope of preparing them to receive the Lord, the coming
Messiah. God wanted His people to accept the Messiah, His Son, not to
reject him. Jesus had the same purpose throughout his three years of public
ministry: acceptance. Jesus could not fulfill his mission without the people
uniting with and accepting him.
When Jesus was with the crowds of people seeking to be healed by him,
they asked him, “What must we do to be doing the works of God?” “Jesus
answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he
has sent.” (John 6:28–29) He did not begin his mission by proclaiming something
absurd, such as, “My crucifixion is at hand. Repent and believe the good
news of my upcoming atoning death” No! He pleaded with the people while
he was on earth to accept him and follow him. Tragically, Israel did the very
thing God had worked to prevent—they rejected the One He had sent and,
without offering any protection or recourse, allowed him to be crucified.
Many modern-day Christians point to Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane
as proof that Jesus was predestined to go to the cross:
Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to
his disciples, “Sit here while I go yonder and pray.…My soul is very sorrowful,
even to death; remain here, and watch with me.”…And going a little
farther he fell on his face and prayed, “My Father, if it be possible, let
this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt.” (Matthew
26:38–39)
This agonizing and tragic prayer would never have been prayed if Jesus’
death had really been the plan of God. Jesus cried with tears of sweat and blood
and pleaded that God spare him the fate of drinking from the cup of death.
He prayed this prayer not just once but three times. If the crucifixion were
really the divinely ordained will of God, how could the Son of God pray three
times not to do His Father’s will?
Rev. Moon has emphasized many times that in order to understand Jesus’
mysterious prayer we must recognize that Jesus came to bring in the expected
Kingdom. Once we recognize this, we can understand that Jesus’ prayer could
not have been the result of human weakness, as some have concluded. Rather,