2014 Jesus Crucifixion (BU) - Silver Shield

The Crucifixion Of Jesus Revealed
Symbols throughout history have   acted as inspiration for mankind. The image of Jesus's crucifixion is the most powerful symbol in the world. No other symbol has moved more men to do amazing things from facing personal demons to fighting an enemy in war.

Most symbols usually only transmit one idea at a time and most of those are not very powerful. The reason why the Crucifixion is so powerful is that it has many meanings to many different people. It represents death and life, sin and forgiveness, repression and freedom, hatred and love. No other one symbol can touch the power and meaning of the crucifixion of Christ. Even people who do not follow Christ find the image powerful.

The reason why this one symbol is so powerful is that many have sought to put their own meaning behind the works of Jesus Christ. Some use Jesus to speak of peace and creating a personal relationship with God, and others use it as a way to motivate men to be fearless in war.

No one can study the powerful words and humble life of Jesus Christ and not find it very strange that his life and message were transformed by his successors to create a massive amount of concentrated power. The humble teacher that was born in a manger and spoke to lepers has been used to build powerful churches, promote crusades, and even create further wealth disparities.

What grew out of the philosophy and spirituality of Jesus has empowered a centralized structure of religious elitists. They have used the teachings of Jesus to get the "sinful" individuals to sacrifice their wealth and energy up to cunning men at the top of the Church.

Religions are middle men getting in between individuals and God. This is consciously no different than the bankers acting as middle men in every financial transaction or governments taxing us. These collectivist structures are what is keeping humanity from realizing the solutions that are already inside of us.

The Roman Empire despised Christianity and the teachings of Christ because it was a threat to their divine power here on Earth. Christians were actively persecuted and fed to lions by the Romans. Even the Jewish elite of the time sought to eliminate this growing threat to their power. Why was Jesus and his teaching a threat?

If you look at what Jesus said and did, he sought to free the individual from the collective oppression of the earth.

He spoke truth to authority from an early age when he spoke at the temple challenging the Pharisees about the Sabbath.

He taught that we are all brothers and sisters and that we should not be divided.   

He cared for individuals that were outcasts, such as prostitutes, tax collectors, and lepers. No one was below him.

He exposed the oppression of man and the salvation of God.

He challenged authority, social pressure, and control by speaking logic like "He who is without sin should cast the first stone".

He promoted "Love one another" which stands in stark contrast to the world of divide and conquer.

He challenged people not to be manipulated by chasing after wealth.

He promoted non-violence and non-compliance.

He taught the abundance mentality with the mustard seed and the loaves and fishes parables.

He showed how the the meek shall inherit the earth and be separated from the weeds that grow around us.

He taught patience and logic over emotional responses.

He preached that we are all special and have a purpose in the most powerful God.

Most of all he taught that everything is in God's hands and most of all never, ever fear.

All of this and much more shows in words and actions that Jesus was a true rebel of his time. This revolutionary thought resonated with people that were beaten down in that day. No longer did people need to worry about their social, political, or religious status. They could now live their lives knowing that God is on their side.

The ruling elite of the time did not know how to deal with this kind of thought and tried many times to trap Jesus and persecute him. Jesus on several occasions saw through these tricks and applied logic to the situation. One of the most famous attempts to trap Jesus was to ask about paying taxes to the Romans.

Mark 12:13 Later the leaders sent some Pharisees and supporters of Herod to trap Jesus into saying something for which he could be arrested.  14“Teacher,” they said, “we know how honest you are. You are impartial and don’t play favorites. You teach the way of God truthfully. Now tell us—is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not? 15Should we pay them, or shouldn’t we?”

Jesus saw through their hypocrisy and said, “Why are you trying to trap me? Show me a Roman coin and I’ll tell you.” 16When they handed it to him, he asked, “Whose picture and title are stamped on it?”

“Caesar’s,” they replied.

17“Well, then,” Jesus said, “give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God.”

His reply completely amazed them.

Jesus used logic over and over again to free the individual from collective oppression of the time. For many years Jesus word resonated and the rulers of the day plotted to kill Jesus. Despite the revolutionary thought that resonated throughout the lands, Jesus always remained peaceful and showed love. If you think about the only time Jesus got angry, it was dealing with the money changers at the temple.

Every Passover, every male Jew had to go to temple and pay the Temple Tax to the Jewish leaders. This Shekel was minted by the Jews and was a 1/2 ounce of pure silver. While Jesus showed that taxes ought to be paid, he got furious at what was going on at the temple.

Matthew 21: Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out all the people buying and selling animals for sacrifice. He knocked over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves. He said to them, “The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be called a house of prayer,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves!”

What had really angered Jesus was not so much the Temple Tax, but the moneychangers stealing from the people. Since these moneychangers minted their own 1/2 ounce silver Shekel they then manipulated the exchange rate to get the Shekel. They did this often by charging much more in silver foreign coins than what was in the 1/2 ounce silver Shekel or more commonly not giving a fair value in animals that were sold to the moneychangers for that 1/2 ounce silver Shekel.

Now not only was Jesus a threat against the political and religious powers of the day, he was now actively challenging the financial power which was the root of all earthly power over man. The Jewish Pharisees conspired to kill Jesus and eventually bribed Judas with 30 pieces of silver, or 15 ounces, to betray Jesus and that would eventually lead to his crucifixion.  Think about that for a moment, 15 ounces measured by today's worth would be roughly $300. You can't even buy an iPad for that, much less a human life.

Would you condemn anyone to death for $300? Your worst enemy, a stranger, a friend, your Messiah, for $300?!

The only way this makes sense is that silver must have had a much higher value back then relative to other things. It is written many times in the Bible that the average person made a Denarius a day for what was 12 hours of hard human labor. That Denarius was 1/10th of an ounce of silver and was more than enough to pay for food, shelter, clothing and taxes for a family. Most of that money was spent like it is today with people living paycheck to paycheck or hand to mouth leaving people with very little savings. The minimum wage for the average worker in the U.S. is $8 an hour. If they had to work the same 12 hour days that people did in biblical times that would work out to $96 a day for that 1/10 of an ounce of silver or an implied value of $960 an ounce. That would value the betrayal of Jesus at $14,400, which might make more sense if you hear about those murder for hire plots on TV. Certainly it would make a lot more sense than the $300 we are valuing silver at today.

Let's look at it another way, the 15 ounces of silver that Jesus was betrayed for was the equivalent 150 days of hard human labor (150 1/10 oz Denarius) in that bribe. That half of a year bribe would be the equivalent the average American getting paid $25,000 to betray a friend. That figure makes much more sense for a betrayal of that magnitude, certainly much more than the $300 that you could buy that 15 ounces of silver today for. That would give an implied value of silver at $1,666 per once just to have as much purchasing power as it had back then.   This would mean that either Jesus was betrayed for too little or silver is too cheap, historically speaking.

Once Judas realized that he had done something horrible, he was racked with guilt and brought back the 15 ounces of silver to the Jewish leaders. 

Matthew 27:5-7 
5 And he threw the pieces of silver into the temple sanctuary and departed; and he went away and hanged himself. 
6 The chief priests took the pieces of silver and said, “It is not lawful to put them into the temple treasury, since it is the price of blood.” 
7 And they conferred together and with the money bought the Potter’s Field as a burial place for strangers.
Once again, the relative value of silver to other assets of the time seems much higher than the $300 we are valuing this precious metal today. No one could buy a plot of land for 15 ounces of silver or $300. You probably not even pay the fees associated with any purchase. The cheapest plot of land I could find is about $30,000 which would value that 15 ounces of silver at $2,000 an ounce. 
Now some will say that times have changed and we would never have a reversion to those levels.  Consider the fact that the only reason why things have become so expensive is because the value of our dollar that used to be defined as .7736 Troy ounce of silver has become steadily devalued and the debt structure has driven up the price of land. How else would we value human labor or land when these debt based currencies collapse, if not by the relative value of the most commonly used form of money throughout history, silver?  Think about how much land, stocks and people there are relative to the estimated billion ounce of silver above ground and you will see that when the debt and death paradigm collapses, how the meek shall inherit the earth. 
The Silver Shield Series seeks to commemorate the historical significance of the ransom that led to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ with the new 1/2 ounce Silver Jesus Shekel. Heidi Wastweet returns to the Silver Shield series with the absolutely stunning sculpture of the most famous symbol ever, The Crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The clean design gives way to the powerful details of the beaten body of Christ and shows his holy act of forgiveness. Many more will no doubt put their own meaning behind this, but to hold 30 of these in your hand and think about the relative value of that silver to the life of the Prince of Peace is amazing!

The new 1/2 ounce fractional silver bullion strike will be available all year through Silver Shield Authorized retailers. The 1/2 ounce silver Jesus Shekel offers an affordable way to not only share this message, but also act as a way to store wealth outside of the debt and death paradigm. It is our hope that this wealth will be used to act as a blessing and establish a better way of life for us all.

Psalm 37:8-11

8 Stop being angry! Turn from your rage! Do not lose your temper— it only leads to harm.

9 For the wicked will be destroyed, but those who trust in the Lord will possess the land.

10 Soon the wicked will disappear. Though you look for them, they will be gone.

11 But the meek shall inherit the earth,

And shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.
 

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