Why Jesus

Thomas Holmes II was sitting in his hut in Knothole, reading about the life of Jesus. His new friend, Katja the Wolf, had given the book to him and he had thoroughly enjoyed reading about the life of the founder of Christianity.

However, some things about it bothered him. The first thing was; why did Judas Iscariot, one of Jesus' own disciples, betray Him? Secondly, why did the people turn on Jesus when He performed great miracles and had been praised like a King? Who had actually killed Jesus? Moreover, why had Jesus allowed Himself to be tortured, humiliated, and sent to die slowly and painfully? He was the Son of God and He was innocent; He didn't deserve that punishment, Thomas thought, and He could have broken free, but He didn't. Why?

"Something on your mind, Tom?" Jeremy asked. Jeremy, or "Jerry," as he liked to call himself, was a two-meter tall alligator with mottled brown skin and blue eyes. He was another friend Thomas made when he met Katja. He looked at his blue feline counterpart with a slight frown of concern.

"Oh, it's nothing, Jerry," Thomas said dismissively.

"'Nothing' in my book is a code word for something major."

I sighed. "Okay, you caught me. I was just wondering why Jesus was killed so brutally when He did so many miracles for His people."

Jerry looked thoughtful. "You know, I've been wondering the same thing," he said. "Why didn't He just create a world of nonsentients that couldn't disobey Him, so He wouldn't be put through all that?"

"I also wonder why Judas betrayed Jesus,"' Thomas went on. "I mean, he was one of Jesus' disciples, was he not? He went almost everywhere with Jesus and yet he betrayed Him to the Pharisees. Who is the most reasonable for Jesus' death?"

"Perhaps I can provide some answers for you boys," said a soft, smoothing voice. Thomas felt his blonde hair stand on end and his cheeks burn as he looked round. There in the doorway was Sally Acorn, wearing a beautiful smile.

"Hey, Sally," Jerry said. He too was blushing and looking nervous. Sally had that effect on males; she was so beautiful.

"So you're wondering about why Jesus endured all that suffering and why Judas betrayed Him, are you?" Sally said.

"Yes," Thomas said, blushing a deeper red.

"Well, I've wondered those things myself," Sally said. "So I asked Father Peter, the local priest when I was 7 and he gave me the answers. Answers that I shall now give to you two."

"Right," Jerry said, "Well, first of all, why did Judas betray Jesus? I mean, as Thomas said, he was a disciple of Jesus, wasn't he?"

"We will never be certain as to why Judas betrayed Jesus," Sally said, "but we have made some assumptions."

"Like what?"

"Well," said Sally, sitting down in an armchair, "Biblical evidence points out that Judas never actually saw Jesus as God or even the Messiah. He never called Jesus 'Lord' as the other disciples did. He most likely saw Jesus as merely a teacher and a Rabbi, but nothing more. What's more, he never professed his faith in Jesus. This lack of faith was apparently the seed for other fruits of betrayal."

"Secondly," Sally went on, "Judas was never close to Jesus. Have you noticed that whenever the disciples are listed, Judas Iscariot is always listed last?"

"Yes."

"That indicates he was always distant with Jesus. He had little communication with Jesus and was nearly always silent. "Thirdly, Judas was greedy and may have joined only for the money and glory. He, like the people, believed Jesus was meant to free them from Roman control and he would be a part of it, but instead Jesus taught them to love their conquerors. When Jesus talked of his death, Judas felt Jesus had let His people down and so consumed to betray Him to the Pharisees."

"That makes sense," Thomas conceded. 'But if he only saw Jesus as a teacher and had no affection for Him, why was he so distraught at betraying Him that he threw the silver back at the Pharisees and hanged himself? Surely he then realized that Jesus was truly the Son of God?'

"Good question, Thomas," said Sally. "But almost any man who knowingly pays to have his friend killed eventually goes insane with grief, Son of God or not. Anyway, Jesus said: 'Woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man!' Though God had no doubt determined all this, Judas still had a choice. He could have repented when he saw the error of his way; he could have prayed for forgiveness but he didn't. Instead, he ran away and hung himself; suicide, an act of selfishness."

"So Judas never went to Heaven?" Jerry asked.

"I am ninety-nine per cent sure he did not. If I bump into him in Heaven, I would most likely faint from the shock."

Jerry snorted with amusement, and Thomas chuckled as well.

"Alright," said Jerry, "I get what you're saying, and I agree with that. Now, what about what I said earlier, about a creation that wouldn't rebel against God? If it was like that, then Jesus wouldn't have had to suffer, right?"

"In John 3:16, Jesus says that God so loved the world that he gave up His only Son: notice the word 'loved,'" Sally said. "Love requires the risk that what one loves may not love him back. If He had created a world of robots as you said, He would still love them; however, without a free will, they wouldn't love Him because they would lack a free will."

'What does that have to do with it?' Thomas asked.

Sally turned to Thomas. "We can't have a free choice and be forced to love God. Forced freedom is a contradiction. See, the reason God gave us the choice to accept him or not is because he loves us that much. He was willing to take the risk of people going to Hell in order to have us love Him back."

"I can understand that," said Thomas, "but why did the people turn on Jesus, after all the miracles He performed for them?"

"The reason the people turned on Jesus," Sally said, "is because they felt He'd let them down. As I said before, they believed Jesus had come to free them from Roman control and instead had allowed Himself to be killed. They felt let down and slightly abandoned. Also, the Pharisees and High Priests stirred them up into calling for Christ to be crucified."

"But why did He allow that?" Thomas asked. "He was innocent; He was the Son Of God; He had divine powers. Why didn't He protect Himself?"

"Because He loved us," Sally said gently. "What happened to Jesus was terrible and rather humiliating, it would seem to you. There has been a lot of question as to who actually killed Jesus. The Pharisees had a hand of course; Judas; Pontius Pilate; and the Devil himself. You are right of course, Thomas; Jesus was innocent; He went through whipping, humiliation, mocking, and death and He didn't have to go through any of it. But He still did. "You see, what actually killed Jesus Christ was His unfathomable love for His people; a love He shared with God; a love so great that He was prepared to give up His power and His divinity and even to be separated from His Father to save humanity from the consequences of sin. Jesus willingly gave His life to save me; save you, Thomas and you Jeremy. Why? Because He loved us so much."

An enormous grin attached itself to Jerry's face, as well as Sally's. Thomas knew he had that look too, if the stretch marks on his cheeks were any indication. "Thanks, Sally," I said.

"I don't suppose that you boys have any more questions?"

Jerry scratched his head, and then shrugged. "Nope. Can't think of anything else."

"How about you, Thomas?" Sally asked.

Thomas blushed and shook his head. "No, I think we covered just about all the ones we wanted to know. Thanks, though."

Sally stood up from her chair and kissed Thomas's cheek. "Well, don't thank me: the Lord was telling me that you had questions, so I decided to help you with them." She then proceeded to pat Jerry on the back, but she was pulled into what he liked to call "a bear hug." All of the Freedom Fighters (Katja and Thomas included) had received at least one from him: it was his way of saying "I really like you!"

"I'm glad you came anyway, Sal," he said warmly, and he relinquished his grip on the princess.

Sally coughed and smiled back at us as she left the hut. "See you around, boys!"

"Bye, Sally!"