1 Gerard Hall: The Death of Jesus

Chapter 4: The Death of Jesus

Dornengekroenter

Christus Hans Breinlinger

1881-1963

The crucifix has been the central Christian symbol for two thousand years. Indeed, there is no event in human history that has inspired more art-work than the crucifixion and death of Jesus. Each generation of artists returns to the Cross for inspiration amidst a world so often plagued by suffering, evil and tragedy. Although this 1936 Crucifixion portrait of the “Thorn-Crowned Christ” preceded the full horrors of

World War II, it nonetheless arises in response to the sordid history of World War I followed by the Great Depression and the rise of fascism in Hitler’s Germany. The suffering humanity of Christ is clearly depicted even as the vibrant colours are subtly suggestive of his divine reality. However, there is no intention in this portrait to downplay the full horror of death-by-crucifixion and the mocking reality of a kingly crown made of thorns tearing into Christ’s head and face.

• The Killing of Jesus • Jesus’ Approach to his Death • Interpreting Jesus’ Death

2 Gerard Hall: The Death of Jesus

The Killing of Jesus

It is safe to say that Jesus was not crucified because he taught love and

forgiveness or because he set about debating legal points with the

scribes of his day. Jesus was crucified because he was seen as a threat

to the powers-that-be. His brand of non-violent resistance, his manner

of stirring the people and empowering the poor, were correctly judged

to be challenging the political power structures of his day.

The Temple at the time of Jesus

None of this is to suggest that Jesus was a political rebel (a zealot), but

it is to state that his mission of proclaiming the reign of God had

profound political implications. Such implications became more evident

in view of Jesus' actions in 'the cleansing of the temple'. Now the temple

was not just a place. The temple was the symbol of the entire Jewish

faith and its religious authority structure. Significantly, in two passion

narratives the charge is brought against Jesus that he 'threatened' the

temple. In effect, what is being stated is that his teachings and actions

were threatening the very basis of Jewish life. Although the gospel-

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writers refute this claim, there is evidence to suggest that in both subtle

and profound ways, Jesus certainly did challenge some of the central

practices and institutions of Jewish life.

This radical challenge to Judaism could be described in terms of bringing

about a new nearness of God to people which would have the effect of

eliminating--at least significantly decreasing--the need for human

mediators. Jesus' mission very clearly implied the right of everyone to

address God as 'Father'. This meant that the Jewish leaders, especially

the chief priests and Sadducees mentioned in the passion stories, had

good reason to suspect that Jesus' radicalized religion did threaten their

own roles and status.

A couple of things can be said

about the charges brought

against Jesus by the Jewish

Sanhedrin. First, they imply

that Jesus' mission was not

altogether a failure. Significant

numbers of people, including

some from the Jewish ruling

classes, had come to a point of accepting that Jesus was indeed a true

prophet, perhaps even the Messiah for whom Israel had been waiting.

Second, this achievement was a very real threat to the status of lawful

authority. If Jesus was seen as 'Christ' and 'Lord' to some, this very fact

threatened the familiar lordship of others, notably the chief priests and

scribes. Consequently, Jesus was a problem to the Jewish hierarchy

from both religious and political perspectives.

However, none of this explains the involvement of Pilate and the Roman

authorities. Despite the trumped-up charge of blasphemy that is

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brought against Jesus, it is

important to recognize that he

was sentenced to death by the

Romans on the charge of

political treason: "He claimed to

be King of the Jews". This

messianic title had very clear

political implications. Luke's

gospel expands on this charge:

"We found this man perverting

our nation, and forbidding us to

give tribute to Caesar, and

saying that he himself is Christ,

a king" (23:1). The point here is

that, to the Roman occupiers of Israel, Jesus could

well have been perceived as a would-be

revolutionary. At the very least, Pilate and the Roman authorities had

good reasons to put a stop to the Jesus-movement on the basis of its

subversive possibilities.

Although there are many unknowns with regard to the events

surrounding Jesus' death, we can surmise that there was a deal struck

between the Jewish leaders and the Roman authorities. Both had a stake

in eliminating Jesus' brand of religion: the Jewish leaders had power and

status to protect; the Romans were more concerned with law and order.

It is generally recognized that the gospel narratives place most of the

responsibility for Jesus' death on the Jews rather than the Romans. At

best, this is unbalanced reporting. At worst, it suggests an anti-Semitic

bias in early Christianity. To put the record straight, Jesus did die at the

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hands of the Romans and in the manner of a Roman execution (the Jews

did not have power to crucify). Nonetheless, it is impossible to construct

an account of Jesus' trial and crucifixion that does not implicate the

Jewish leaders of the day. All this points to the intimate connection

between religion and politics in the Jewish society of Jesus' time.

The crucifixion and death of Jesus

should always be seen in context of

his life and ministry. Although

Jesus was not concerned with

establishing a political kingdom, his

teachings on God's reign were

deeply challenging of traditional

Jewish institutions and practices.

Jesus took a dangerous path: he

attacked power and wealth; he

overturned social attitudes that

oppressed 'unclean' or 'unworthy'

people; he taught the need for

prayer and self-sacrificing service;

he called people to freedom and

empowerment in the face of

injustice; he named the religious

elite a 'breed of vipers' for its manner of sponging off the poor and the

needy. In other words, Jesus made enemies among the Jewish leaders

and their Roman overlords. These wealthy and powerful elite came to

be threatened to the point that they needed to do away with him.

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Jesus' approach to his death

What then can we say about Jesus' own understanding of his

approaching death? Since the crucifixion and death of Jesus were the

result of his life and ministry, we can rightly assume that he must have

reckoned with the possibility of death well prior to the end of his

ministry. Jesus was neither a blind fanatic nor a fool. He was aware of

the beheading of John the Baptist and he knew of the tragic fates of

many prophets before him. Also, many of the charges levelled against

Jesus--casting out demons in the name of Beelzebub, being a false

prophet, breaking the sabbath, the accusation of blasphemy--were

traditionally punishable through death by stoning.

Consequently, there can be no doubt

that Jesus' journey to Jerusalem was

the result of a deliberate and conscious

decision to face danger including the

danger of death itself. He knew of the

growing opposition to him and his

mission. Yet, despite this, he chose to

make the trip to Jerusalem at the time of

the Passover, a time when huge masses

of people would be gathered in the city.

Why would Jesus make such a dangerous choice? The decision to go to

Jerusalem marks the end of Jesus' Galilean ministry. It acts as a

symbolic gesture of his explicit refusal to accept the way of a political

messiah. In spite of this, the disciples still pin their hopes on a worldly

kingdom. Jesus' frustration with their blindness becomes a recurring

theme in the gospel narratives of the Jerusalem journey. People may

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hail him as a wonder-worker, king or messiah, but they still fail to

comprehend his real message and mission.

Jesus discerns that his mission of proclaiming God's reign on earth will

not be achieved through more of the same. Different strategies are

needed. We see that Jesus becomes more confrontational in his

approach (the temple scene); the radical edge to his teaching becomes

more central. Jerusalem, the symbolic centre of Israel, was the logical

place for Jesus to take his message. Perhaps Jesus thought that the

religious capital would be more open to his teaching. His triumphant ride

into Jerusalem suggests an initial enthusiasm--but, again, the people

are disillusioned when they learn that Jesus does not intend to be a

political messiah of their making.

Galilean Landscape and Hills

In fact, the tide quickly turns. The hailed one becomes the decried one!

There would still be opportunity for Jesus to retreat. However, by now

he knew that a retreat from Jerusalem would be the retreat from his

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mission of proclaiming God's reign of love and mercy for all. In any case,

he was too well known; there was little chance of hiding in the Galilean

hills. And to take the escapist option of renouncing his mission was not

a line of action that Jesus would countenance. So, in the face of an

increasingly hostile opposition, Jesus grows to accept that the remote

possibility of death has become an impending probability. Then the

realisation dawns that there is no escape; death is certain.

Notwithstanding the violent death that Jesus was to undergo, he was

also faced with the inevitable question of how to reconcile this

impending reality with the message of God's love and salvation. How

could the God of love allow such a painful and violent death? How could

the reign of God be achieved through such evil and injustice? Jesus, who

understood himself at least in terms of God's special envoy, could not

have avoided facing such questions.

In assessing Jesus' response, we

should be careful to avoid two

extremes. First, we should

distance ourselves from the

approach that says that Jesus

went to his death with feelings of

despair and total abandonment

by God. The words of the psalm attributed to Jesus on the Cross--"My

God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"--, even if historical, need to

be read in terms of the complete psalm which is, ultimately, a prayer of

trust in God despite the evil that surrounds us. Jesus' whole life was

lived in the belief of God's utter fidelity. Such belief would not abandon

Jesus even in these most tragic circumstances of his bloody crucifixion.

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Second, it is most important that we do not paint Jesus going to his

death as a passive victim who was blindly fulfilling some pre-ordained

divine plan. It is wrong to think that the human, historical Jesus had

some kind of immediate access to God's will for him. Jesus made his

life-decisions in the way that we all do: in the face of uncertainty and

risk. He prays that he will come to know the Father's will and make the

right decisions in view of his prayer and discernment. Aware of the risks,

Jesus had made the crucial decision to take his mission to the heart of

Judaism. Now he knows he must live with the consequences of that

decision, including death itself.

The events surrounding the last

supper and the agony in the

garden are recorded in such a

way to show that Jesus went to

his death freely and deliberately-

-not because he actively chose

death itself, but because he

continued to commit himself to

the mission of the kingdom in the face of opposition and evil. The act of

the cup and bread at the 'last supper' symbolises the totality of Jesus'

life, a life lived in loving service of others. Now Jesus is challenged to

integrate the failure of his mission and his impending death into his life

of 'service in love'. In other words, Jesus' death was marked by the

same attitude that constituted his entire life. Perhaps Jesus simply

believed that the promises of God would be fulfilled despite his death

and the apparent failure of his mission. Or it may be that Jesus saw in

a veiled way that his death would be a 'ransom for many', that is, an

event that God would use to bring about the kingdom-community of

justice, love and peace.

10 Gerard Hall: The Death of Jesus

Taken from Iraq War Stations of the Cross

Interpreting Jesus' death

In the early Jesus-movement, the suffering and death of Jesus came to

be interpreted in many different ways. For some, the death of Jesus was

seen as a sign that he was the eschatological prophet-martyr. After all,

the Jewish tradition is full of stories of in which the true prophets are

killed. The fact that Jesus was killed shows that he is the true prophet-

martyr, in fact, the definitive or eschatological figure. This interpretation

did not ascribe any particular theological significance to Jesus' death. It

is Jesus himself, his person and mission, that is the central focus. Jesus'

death merely shows that he is the one who is the 'true light of the world'.

Another interpretation focussed on the suffering of Jesus as an indication

that he was the 'righteous one', the suffering Son of Man. Before

prophets are killed, they are rejected and despised. Here there is a

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tendency to see suffering as the hallmark of God's endorsement of the

true prophet. Consequently, Jesus' suffering is read in accordance with

the divine plan of salvation. However, within this approach, the death of

Jesus does not figure with any degree of prominence and is not, in itself,

theologically important.

Jesus Laid in the Tomb – Lodwar Cathedral, Kenya

A third approach, however, did focus primarily on Jesus' death as a

redemptive and atoning act. This is summarized in the Pauline formula

which states that Jesus 'died for us on account of our sins' (Romans

4:25). The understanding developed that Jesus' suffering and death

were 'saving realities'. This meant that the focus of attention moved

from the person and mission of Jesus to the cross as an 'atoning

sacrifice'. From this there develops a theology of salvation that is

centred on the crucifixion and which reads the cross as a positive act of

God which 'expiated the sins of the world'.

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These various interpretations of Jesus' death witness to the struggle to

make meaning out of the act of evil that brought Jesus' earthly life and

mission to such an abrupt and cruel end. However we make sense of

this human tragedy, it is imperative that we do see it first and foremost

as a tragedy. Then, of course, we may well recognise that God can and

does overturn evil and convert it into good. This is what came to be

called in the Christian tradition the 'law of the cross'. Nonetheless, God

does not condone evil, let alone require it in order to fulfil the divine

plan of salvation. The suffering and death of Jesus, along with all other

instances of violence and murder, are ultimately outside the powers of

rational explanation. The most we can do is to acknowledge in faith that

the mystery of God's love is finally more powerful than evil and death.

Jesus' death, too, needs to be recognised in this light.

Further Reading

Brown, Raymond. The Crucified Christ at Holy Week. Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1986.

Hill, Brennan. Jesus the Christ: Contemporary Perspectives. Rev. Ed. Eugene, Oregon: Wipf & Stock, 2004. Ch. 6; pp. 101-123.

Loewe, William. The College Student's Introduction to Christology. Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1996. Ch. 7; pp. 86-96.

McKnight, Scot. Jesus and his Death. Baylor University Press, 2006.

Rausch, Thomas. Who Is Jesus? An Introduction to Christology. Collegeville, Minnesota: Liturgical Press, 2003. Ch.6; 95-110.