Spending so much time learning to diagram sentences and dissect things may have had the side effect where I have, over time, began dissecting and examining Christ’s life part by part. Are pieces now is disarray?
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Jesus lived a life free of sin. He taught to discern the Father’s will and to follow it. He taught repentance (turning away from sin) and to the Father. He taught that no one comes to him (and to me that meant his teachings as well) unless the Father draws him. Once, there, Jesus sheep listen to his voice and follow his commands.
Following his command to turn away from sin saved me from committing who knows how many sins. Listening/trying to discern the Father’s will placed me on who knows how many paths where sin was also avoided.
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In presenting these teachings, Jesus ran afoul of the authorities of his time. They wanted to stop Jesus from teaching and redirect people to offering Temple sacrifices for forgiveness after they sin.
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Jesus saw the handwriting on the wall. The authorities were so ticked off they would go to any lengths to stop him. Had his message gotten through, reached enough? Could he cease and return to peaceful carpentry? He thought not. Unless a seed fell to the ground and died, it could not produce fruit. In order for the word to reach me down through the ages, he had to die. Indeed, I have always believed Jesus died for our/my sake–even more than he died for the people of his own time who had had a chance to hear him.
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Jesus, instead of a bowl containing cereal, became our sin offering. Whenever I sin, I return to what Jesus taught (Repentance) and discerning and then following the will of the Father.
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Confessing sins, asking for forgiveness, making the restitution it is possible for me to make–and then relying on Jesus to fix what I cannot–to me seems to me the punishment (not death on a cross) that Jesus undertakes for me. His punishment is cleaning up my messes. Compare that to his gift to me/us where he lays down his life so that the Word reaches me/us.
As you see, in this dissection/diagram, I cannot find a place (nor could I in Jesus’ own teachings) that the Father had to punish the son. I see it more as my own sins punishing Jesus today because of the work I cause him. That is why I wondered if you saw something in the Gospels and that Jesus taught about punishment being directed at him by the Father that has passed me by.