14. The Tragedy of Jesus’ Rejection

World Scripture

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killing the prophets and stoning those who are sent to you! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!
Matthew 23.37

And when he drew near and saw the city he wept over it, saying, “Would that even today you knew the things that make for peace! But now they are hid from your eyes. For the days shall come upon you, when your enemies will cast up a bank about you and surround you, and hem you in on every side, and dash you to the ground, you and your children within you, and they will not leave one stone upon another in you; because you did not know the time of your visitation.”
Luke 19.41-44

None of the rulers of this age understood this; for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
1 Corinthians 2.8

“Hear another parable. There was a householder who planted a vineyard, and set a hedge around it, and dug a wine press in it, and built a tower, and let it out to tenants, and went into another country. When the season of fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants, to get his fruit; and the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than the first; and they did the same to them. Afterward he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.’ And they took him and cast him out of the vineyard, and killed him. When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.”
Matthew 21.33-41

Teachings of Sun Myung Moon

Today it is easy to accept Jesus Christ as the Son of God, because for nearly 2,000 years Christianity has been glorifying him. But if you had lived in the days when Jesus was being pushed around and ridiculed, would you have believed? The scribes and priests of those days longed to see the Messiah, yet they did not recognize him. Do you really think that the Jewish people of that era were inferior to Christians today? In fact, we would probably have compounded their mistakes if we had lived in the days of Jesus of Nazareth.
(69:100, October 21, 1973)

Jesus came with the lonely heart of Heaven to a people who were collapsing and dying, and taking compassion upon them, he came to them without holding back even his own life. But the people of Israel, who called themselves the chosen people, did as they pleased to the Messiah whom Heaven had sent and to John the Baptist whom Heaven had prepared.
Today let us know: It was not because the people of Israel at that time were inferior to us, that they betrayed Heaven, nor was it because their desire to live for the sake of Heaven was not as great as ours, that they forgot Heaven.
Let us understand: They had a concept about the Messiah, thinking that the Lord to come would appear as a great man, but because in reality the Messiah who appeared was haggard, pitiful and unimpressively small, they rejected him.
Let us consider our position now: Today we commonly speak ill of the historical people of Israel, and like to criticize how they handled the situation at that time, but please let us understand: between the situation now and the situation then there is no difference. May we have the mind to admit: if we had been alive at that time, we would have done the same as they.
(5:284-85, February 22, 1959)

After preparing humanity for four thousand years to receive the Messiah, his death was not in God’s original plan. Satan was the one who dragged Jesus to the cross and killed him. The crucifixion was a total loss. Everything was lost: Israel, Judaism, John the Baptist, the twelve disciples who betrayed Jesus… No one remained on the side of Jesus or Heaven.
There is no Christianity at the place of Jesus’ cross. Christianity began on the Day of Pentecost. You must know that the cross was the victory of Satan, not of God. God’s victory came with the resurrection by the power of the Spirit.⁴⁶
(73:220-21, September 18, 1974)