Why Was Jesus Crucified?

With the approaching of the biggest festival of the Christian community, all the surprising things about Jesus Christ, the son of God, are mentioned. Jesus Crucified Because It is said about Jesus Christ that the Jews began to suffer from the increasing popularity of Jesus. They began to feel that Jesus should not take away power from them. Therefore, they were crucified under the conspiracy. Jesus was crucified on Good Friday and resurrected on Easter.

Why Was Jesus Crucified? The Historical Context of Jesus’ Crucifixion

Much research of the historical Jesus has focused on this question of who was responsible for Jesus Crucified or Death. there’s been a tendency throughout the centuries to blame the Jews.

This of course has had tragic results provoking anti-semitism and often resulting in persecution and violence against Jews. 

Recent scholarship has therefore tended to shift the blame all the way over to the Romans. It’s argued by some that placing the blame on the Jews arose in the context of the church’s increasing competition with the synagogue and in fact, the Romans were the primary instigators of Jesus’s death.

Most scholars today however recognize that both the Jewish and Roman authorities must have played some role in Jesus’s death.

That the Romans played an active role is evident from two key facts, first of all, crucifixion was a Roman, not a Jewish punishment. Jews normally practice capital punishment by stoning.

Furthermore, we have good evidence both from John’s Gospel John 1831 and from Jewish sources outside the New Testament. That under the Romans the Jews did not have the right to capital punishment. Together these two points confirm that it was the Romans who actually put Jesus to death.

At the same time, it’s clear from Jesus’s teachings and his actions that he would not have been viewed as a serious threat by the Roman authorities.

When questioned about paying taxes to Caesar for example he said render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s these are not the words of a revolutionary. He also told people to love their enemies and to turn the other cheek.

He said that if someone asks you to carry their bag for a mile presumably a soldier conscripting you to carry their bag you should go the extra mile and carry it two miles. 

On the other hand, Jesus would have been seen as a much more serious threat by the Jewish leadership.

As we know Jesus’s actions in Galilee got him into trouble with a fair season with the scribes he claimed authority over the law of Moses.

And said the Sabbath command took a second place to human needs. He called the Pharisees hypocrites. and accused them of elevating their human traditions over the commands of God. 

While Jesus certainly made enemies during his Galilean ministry things got even worse when he came to Jerusalem on that last visit.

By clearing the temple of money changers and sellers he was challenging the very authority of a high priest and the Jerusalem leadership from their perspective he had to be stopped.

It seems likely therefore that the accounts and the Gospels are accurate when they describe the Jewish leaders as taking initial action against Jesus and then turning him over to the Romans for crucifixion. 

Mark’s account of Jesus’s Jewish trial false witnesses are brought forward who testify against Jesus. The high priest questions him if he is the Christ the Messiah, the Son of God. Jesus replies that he is and you will see Jesus the Son of man Sitting at the right side of the powerful one as he comes on the clouds of Heaven.

The high priest responds with rage and accuses Jesus and blasphemy the whole assembly the Sanhedrin then calls for his death. 

while some have denied the historicity of this trial scene it makes good sense when viewed in the context of Jesus’s ministry. 

Jesus’s actions and cleansing the temple would have prompted the high priests to ask if he was the Messiah. 

Jesus’s response to the high priest combines two key Old Testament passages that were important in Jesus’s ministry. 

Their psalm 110:1 and Daniel chapter 7 verse 13 the first one sitting at the right hand of the mighty one indicates that Jesus will be vindicated by God and exalted to a position in his right hand. 

In the second quotation, you will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven from Daniel chapter 7 that indicates that he will receive sovereign authority to judge the enemies of God.

So come by combining these two verses Jesus says that the Sanhedrin is acting against the Lord’s anointed one the Lord’s Messiah and that they will face judgment for this and that Jesus himself the son of man will be their judge. 

Such an outrageous claim was blasphemy to them and they called for his death. the Sanhedrin then turned Jesus over to the Roman governor Pilate where they changed what was a religious accusation blasphemy into a political one sedition or rebellion against the government.

They accused him of being a revolutionary against Rome. this also makes good sense historically since Pilate would not have cared much about a religious charge against Jesus. 

In Luke chapter 23 the religious leaders say we have found this man subverting our nation. He is against Caesar’s tax payment and claims to be Christ the King. His teachings are a catalyst for the people of Judea. He started in Galilee and has traveled all the way to this point.

You see what they do is they accused Jesus of being an insurrection as a rebel a troublemaker. who’s causing trouble against the Roman authorities. 

But why did Pilate then order Jesus’s execution while it’s unlikely that Pilate views Jesus as a serious political threat? He also had little interest in justice or compassion we know from extra-biblical sources. 

Sources outside the Bible that pilots leadership was characterized by corruption hatred and disdain for his Jewish subjects and brutal suppression of any hint of revolt. 

At the same time, he feared the Jewish leadership lest they would complain to the emperor in Rome something they’d done in the past. Pilate support in Rome was shaky at best the Emperor could recall him bring him back at any time.

This scenario what we know historically about Pilate fits well with the Gospel accounts. according to John’s Gospel, the Jewish leaders warned Pilate quote if you let this man go you are not Caesars’ friend. 

John 19:12 Pilate therefore somewhat reluctantly ordered Jesus’s execution. he probably did so for at least three reasons first it placated the Jewish leaders and so headed off any accusations against him that they would take to Rome and to the Emperor.

Secondly, it preemptively eliminated any threat Jesus might pose if the people actually tried to make him King though Jesus may not look like a threat the people could make him a threat by starting a revolution around him.

And third, as with other crucifixion victims, it ruthlessly warned others against ever-challenging Rome’s Authority. crucifixion was an act of terror basically meant to terrorize the population and prevent rebellion.

Why Did Jesus Have To Die?

Sin. Sin is a barrier that divides people and keeps us from God. If people are responsible for their actions, and commit sins. Why would God save them instead of requiring people to take responsibility for their actions? 

God is love, the giver of all life. He made us to be spiritually and relationally linked with him. But mankind chose to rebel against God’s will and sin, which makes us separate from him. The source of all life. Sin was transmitted from generation to generation, like a virus that spreads with humanity.

Separating people and God from one another. God spoke through his prophets, giving new commands and opportunities to obey his law. But the people fail every time.

Death is the price for sinful separation from God. God is perfect and just, so he cannot ignore or forgive the sins of humanity. God is holy, just, and holy.

His inflexible nature makes it necessary for him to judge and punish sin. It would be up to us, then, to seek god’s forgiveness and to avoid being judged. Humans can’t follow god’s commands and can’t live with sin. We can’t even redeem ourselves.

It might seem that we are doomed. But God does not want his creations to die. He is loving and merciful and wants us to live with him for the fullness of our lives.

Starting with Ibrahim, and continuing on through the generations to other prophets:

God revealed his plan piece by piece to send the Redeemer, who would pay the penalty of mankind’s sin. Jesus is the redeemer. Christ, who descended from heaven to take on the human form of a saint and lived a sinless existence.

Jesus took our sins upon himself and suffered the death penalty for us. He could not be held back by death. Jesus rose from death conquering sin and death, allowing us to have a restored relationship with God.

God loves us, and because we aren’t capable to restore ourselves, Jesus died for us so that we could be saved and live with Him. To enjoy the freedom and a restored relationship with God, we need to accept the sacrifice Jesus made.

What Is The Meaning Of The Crucifixion Of Jesus?

Let me get at it this way: Jesus comes as a warrior. 

C.S. Lewis stated that He came to the world the way he did. A tiny baby born in an outpost of the Roman Empire. Because he was being snuck clandestinely behind enemy lines. 

Jesus came as God’s own self but entering into a dysfunctional world, a sinful world, and, therefore, as he emerged preaching and teaching and performing miracles and radiating the divine presence. he awakened opposition. 

And we hear that up and down the gospels, don’t we? At the very beginning, he is opposed. Herod tries to stamp him out. And he has to go into exile. From the minute he appears on the public scene, some cheer; others are opposed to him. It comes to its climax, of course, in the Passion.

When you read these great Passion narratives in the Gospel, It is as though all forms of human sin and disfunction come to meet him.

We hear, for example, of the explicit betrayal of Juda’s.

It would be a disservice to your mentor and friend. You also see subtler forms of resistance and denial. Peter may deny that he knows Peter.

When other disciples fall asleep during the Moment of Truth. This is the slothfulness in the presence of Good. The Sanhedrin’s great disorder and injustice are also evident. You also see Pontius Pilate, who is a man of truth but doesn’t live up to it.

And you see the incredible brutality of the temple guards and the Roman guards as they torture Him and lead Him out to Crucifixion.

You see something I find maybe even most terrible. Those who would mock Him even as he hangs dying on this instrument of torture. 

It is as though all of the human darkness, all of the human sin comes out. It is as though He draws it out by his own goodness and his own perfection and the radiates of his life. And He is overwhelmed by it. Jesus dies, He really dies. Not just apparently. Not just as a play-acting. He dies. Crushed by the Evil of the world.

In the Resurrection, God’s love triumphs over that Evil. He accepted it, and then in the Resurrection, we see what happens when Jesus calls “Shalom!” To those who had left Him, He said “Peace!” To those who ran from Him to those who fell asleep in His hour. He says, “Shalom!” It is a sign that God’s forgiveness and love can take away all sins in the world.

The sin of the world is what you see on the Cross of Jesus Christ! Saint Peter said that the author of Life was here and that you had to kill Him. This means that everything is not right with us. This means that you can see the disfunction in the world through the wounds of Jesus.

All that disfunction, all of that sin, has been swallowed up by God’s ever-greater forgiveness.

Paul says in Romans that he is certain that nothing can separate him from God’s love. “Neither death nor life nor angels or principalities, nor height nor depth, nor any other power can separate me from God’s love.” Paul knew it because God killed him.

We have thrown all the dysfunction of the world at God, and God still loves. God can take it all in his forgiveness.

This is Christianity! That is why the Cross of Jesus was so important! This is why we have the Cross of Jesus! We hold it up at Good Friday, and say: “There is The Cross On Which Hangs the Salvation of All the World!” We are saved because of that horrible Cross.

FAQ

1. Why did Jesus die for us?

Answer: John 3:17 states, “God didn’t send the Son into this world to condemn it, but to save the world through him.” He took all our sins upon himself by sacrificing his life on the cross.

2. What was the purpose of the crucifixion?

Answer: Crucifixion was often intended to provide a slow and painful death Excruciating is a term that means “out of crucifying” and it refers to gruesome, humiliating, public executions. The methods used for crucifixion varied depending on where they were performed and when it was done.

3. How did Jesus save us from sin?

Answer: Matthew 1:21 teaches us that Jesus will save His people from their sins. This was an angel’s prophecy to Joseph, telling him that the baby Mary was carrying would bring salvation for mankind. He saved us from our sins by being the sacrifice for our sins.