{"id":4474,"date":"2013-09-13T00:05:04","date_gmt":"2013-09-13T07:05:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/?p=4474"},"modified":"2013-09-13T00:26:53","modified_gmt":"2013-09-13T07:26:53","slug":"the-needs-of-the-many","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/2013\/09\/13\/the-needs-of-the-many\/","title":{"rendered":"The Needs of the Many"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Dostoevsky\u2019s novel, The Brothers Karamazov<\/em>, Ivan asks a question of his brother Alyosha: <\/p>\n

\u201cImagine that you are creating a fabric of human destiny with the object of making men happy in the end, giving them peace and rest at last, but that it was essential and inevitable to torture to death only one tiny creature\u2014that baby beating its breast with its fist, for instance\u2014and to found that edifice on its unavenged tears, would you consent to be the architect on these conditions? Tell me, and tell the truth!\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov<\/em>.)<\/p>\n

\tIn the Gospel of John (11:45-53), we\u2019re told the following:<\/p>\n

Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cWhat are we accomplishing?\u201d they asked. \u201cHere is this man performing many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tThen one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, \u201cYou know nothing at all! You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tHe did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one. So from that day on they plotted to take his life.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\tSome people are willing to say \u201cYes\u201d to the question Ivan asks of his brother; they will happily sacrifice one for the sake of the many. It is better to force the death of a single innocent, than to risk the prosperity of everyone. <\/p>\n

\tHow is that different from what God chooses to do? <\/p>\n

\tGod chooses to sacrifice not someone else, but himself<\/em> for the sake of the many. <\/p>\n

John 10:14-18:<\/p>\n

\u201cI am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me\u2014 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father\u2014and I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life\u2014only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.\u201d <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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In Dostoevsky\u2019s novel, The Brothers Karamazov, Ivan asks a question of his brother Alyosha: \u201cImagine that you are creating a fabric of human destiny with the object of making men happy in the end, giving them peace and rest at … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_s2mail":"yes"},"categories":[18,17,16],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4474"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4474"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4474\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4481,"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4474\/revisions\/4481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}