Bible Repentance: Path to Love - Robert J. Wieland
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
“Zacharias son of Barachias” was murdered in 856<br />
B.C. (The s<strong>to</strong>ry is recorded in 2 Chronicles 24:20,<br />
21.)<br />
Why did Jesus charge the responsibility and<br />
guilt of this crime upon the Jews of His day eight<br />
centuries after the real murderers had gone in<strong>to</strong><br />
their graves?<br />
When we recognize the principle of corporate<br />
guilt, the picture becomes clear. Jesus was not<br />
being unfair. In hating Him, the Jewish leaders<br />
were merely acting out all human guilt from “A” <strong>to</strong><br />
“Z,” even though they may not as yet have<br />
personally committed a single act of murder. Jesus<br />
recognized that the Jewish leaders of His day were<br />
in spirit one corporate body with their “fathers”<br />
who had actually shed the blood of the innocent<br />
Zacharias in the temple.<br />
Now, by refusing the call <strong>to</strong> repentance which<br />
John the Baptist and Jesus had sent them, they had<br />
chosen <strong>to</strong> retain the guilt of corporate involvement<br />
with all murders of innocent victims ever since the<br />
87
Change language