1 Corinthians 2:8
None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
Today is Good Friday. It is a very important time for Christians to reflect on what Jesus has done for us. Paul reflects on this event in this verse. He realizes as he writes that the Jewish leaders of his day missed the divine mystery of Christ. Their biblical theology was weak and skewed. They did not understand what was happening in Gen. 1-3, nor did they know their own religious history of the failures of Israel. They missed that God had a plan in a new covenant that would resolve the problems stretching back all the way to the first humans. If they would have understood this plan, they might not have crucified Jesus. Yet Jesus had to die. Again, God knew how this would unfold. He knew the depravity of the hearts of the Jewish leaders. The Romans likewise were blind to what was happening. They did not know the full story of God’s redemption, though they might have sensed some divine plan for the human problem, as is evidenced in many philosophers of that age who taught about an ultimate good and rejecting the created order (such as Plato).
We have the full story today. Yet, so many people still reject this story of redemption. If people hear and understand the full story, why would they not want to accept it? That leaves me with two thoughts: 1) the human heart is in serious depravity and selfishness to miss this opportunity, 2) those who know the story must get it out in understandable, relevant, and clear ways so that people can indeed hear and accept the story.
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