{"id":16881,"date":"2025-05-15T15:44:44","date_gmt":"2025-05-15T06:44:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/myuchisoto.org\/en\/?post_type=lesson&#038;p=16881"},"modified":"2025-10-28T09:56:43","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T00:56:43","slug":"my-uchi-soto-lesson-7","status":"publish","type":"lesson","link":"https:\/\/myuchisoto.org\/en\/lesson\/my-uchi-soto-lesson-7\/","title":{"rendered":"The Cross"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Opening Questions<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Have you ever met someone very important? How did you behave towards them?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>If God came into our world as a human being, how would you receive him?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>We\u2019ve been thinking about how the Creator God fulfilled his promise to solve the problem of sin by sending his eternal Son into the world as a man \u2013 Jesus Christ \u2013 to defeat the devil and his works. This time we\u2019ll look at what happened to the Son of God when he left the <em>uchi<\/em> fellowship of heaven to come into the world of sinful human beings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jesus often spoke to people in parables: stories with a point. Let\u2019s read one of Jesus\u2019 parables in which he graphically describes what will happen to himself:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cHear another parable. There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower and leased it to tenants, and went into another country. When the season for 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. Finally he sent his son to them, saying, \u2018They will respect my son.\u2019 But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, \u2018This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.\u2019 And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?\u201d They said to him, \u201cHe 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.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n<cite>Matthew 21:33-41<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Think about the symbolism in this parable. Who is the \u201cmaster of the house (<em>uchi<\/em>)\u201d? The tenants? The servants? The son?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>What \u201cfruit\u201d do you think the master of the house expected?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>What did the tenants do? Why did they behave as they did?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>What parallels do you see here with the garden of Eden in Genesis? (Note that in Japanese, the word for \u201cvineyard\u201d contains the <em>kanji<\/em> for \u201cgarden\u201d.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Shortly after telling this parable, Jesus was crucified (executed on a cross). The religious charge against him (from his own Jewish people) was blasphemy, because he claimed to be God. The occupying Romans put Jesus to death on a charge of sedition (inciting rebellion). However, the Bible is clear that Jesus was innocent of all charges. In fact, not only did Jesus commit no \u201ccrime\u201d, as the Son of God he lived a perfect life as a man, and never sinned, even in his heart. Yet he was taken out of the city of Jerusalem and killed. Here is one way the Bible describes that event:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>&#8230;the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp. So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<cite>Hebrews 13:11-12<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>These verses describe Jesus\u2019 death in comparison with animal sacrifices for sin. Where have we seen this theme in the Bible before?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Bible says Jesus\u2019 sacrifice is better than any animal sacrifice: in fact, it may be described as a \u201conce-for-all\u201d sacrifice. Why should Jesus\u2019 sacrifice be better in this way?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Why is it important that Jesus suffered \u201coutside\u201d (<em>soto<\/em>) the holy city?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>What is the effect of the shed blood of Jesus in his death?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The Bible contrasts Jesus and Adam in this way:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<cite>1 Corinthians 15:47<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>You may remember that the original meaning of \u201cgospel\u201d is the proclamation of a victory. Next time we\u2019ll see that death was not the end for Jesus: there is a victorious climax to come! But you may be surprised to know that the Bible even describes Jesus\u2019 death itself in victorious terms, contrasting his victory with Adam\u2019s failure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>What contrasts can you identify between the \u201cfirst man\u201d (Adam) in the Garden of Eden, and the \u201csecond man\u201d (Jesus) in his death?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Why can Jesus\u2019 death be described as a triumph or victory?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Jesus was banished outside (<em>soto<\/em>) in his cruel death at the hands of fellow human-beings. But Jesus himself makes a gracious (undeserved) promise to those who come to him:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201c&#8230;whoever comes to me I will never cast out. (<em>soto<\/em>)\u201c&nbsp;<\/p>\n<cite>John 6:37<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Concluding Questions<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Who would you say is <em>responsible<\/em> for the crucifixion of Jesus Christ?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Do you believe that Jesus can forgive your sin and bring you back into <em>uchi<\/em> fellowship with God?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:1.2rem\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/myuchisoto.org\/en\/manga\/my-uchi-soto-lesson-7-manga\/\">View the Lesson 7 Manga<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:1.2rem\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><em>The ESV Bible<\/em>. Crossway, 2001, www.esv.org\/.<\/h5>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":16821,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":true},"class_list":["post-16881","lesson","type-lesson","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":{"single_language_page":false,"og_url":"","og_type":"article","og_title":"","og_description":"","og_image":16821,"og_image_type":"","og_image_width":"","og_image_height":"","twitter_card":"","twitter_site":"","twitter_title":"","twitter_description":"","twitter_image":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/myuchisoto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/lesson\/16881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/myuchisoto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/lesson"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/myuchisoto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/lesson"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myuchisoto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/myuchisoto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}