Writhing in intense agony, Jesus cried out in Aramaic, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" This means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" His haters said he was invoking Elijah from the dead to come to his rescue (Matt 27:46-47).
Whether this was said purposely to deride him and discredit his claim to be the Messiah, or they didn't understand the language in which he spoke, or they didn't hear him clearly, that became the narrative and it began to spread, eliciting taunts and sarcasm.
The narrative suited the agenda of the Jewish elites who had continually rejected Jesus as the Messiah since his profile didn't fit their portrait of who should be the Christ. As far as they were concerned, "this Jesus of Nazareth was an impostor." Though, it was out of envy that they had turned him in to be killed (Mark 15:10). Therefore, any plot to make him look like he was keeping up pretensions to being the Messiah, in the eye of the public, was just perfect for them.
The public was having fun at his ordeal. They derided him, as calling upon Elijah when God would not help him. "Let's see if Elijah comes to save him," they mocked (v. 49).
Now, note that the bystanders described in the passage as "the rest" weren't the ones who started the disinformation. They just picked it up and gave it a boost. They were the unidentified pack, who inherited the bias and cynicism of the Jewish elites, spreading malicious content, babbling about what they know nothing of. They were helping the real conspirators achieve their purpose.
Similarly, beneath the spate of conspiracy theories making the rounds lately, are commercial, political and ideological undertones. Sadly, "the rest" who have no idea of the real issues have been the ones unwarily fussing and trolling about them, helping the real protagonists achieve their wicked agenda.
It is said that rumors are as dumb as the people who started them and as fake as the people who help spread them. Rumors are carried by haters, spread by fools, and accepted by idiots.
Whoever practices evil pays attention to wicked speech, and the liar listens to malicious talk (Proverbs 17:4). If you are not predisposed to mischief, you won't be among "the rest" spreading false theories.
No comments:
Post a Comment