Growing up in a Christian environment, I was taught that the wages of sin is death. Because we have all sinned, we deserve death. If we ask God to forgive us, He will do so. But, the core doctrine of Christianity is that God forgives us by providing a sacrifice (Jesus) to die in our place. So, Jesus's death is a neccessary component of forgiveness, in Christian thinking. This presents a little bit of a dillema. If it was nccessary for Jesus to die, then how can Judas really be a traitor? After all, he was simply providing the catalyst for the fulfillment of Jesus's mission. And how can there be any blame on the part of the Jewish leaders who turned Jesus over to the Romans for execution? After all, wasn't this part of the plan of salvation? What if everyone had accepted Jesus as the Messiah? Would he have nailed himself to the cross? I never seriously considered the possibility that what they did was good, but the questions still nagged me. There seemed to be an inconsistency. And religion, to me, needs to be consistent.
Christians throughout history have stated that the Jews killed and crucified Jesus. It seems quite clear from even a casual reading of the Gospels.
According to the Bible, many of the Jewish leaders claimed responsibility for the death of Jesus.
Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ? They all say unto him, Let him be crucified. And the governor said, Why, what evil hath he done? But they cried out the more, saying, Let him be crucified. When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it. Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children.
(Matthew 27:22-25)
They extended this claim by saying that Jesus was dead once and for all. When God resurrected Jesus and took him alive into heaven, they said that the disciples had merely stolen Jesus's body.
Now when they were going, behold, some of the watch came into the city, and shewed unto the chief priests all the things that were done. And when they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave large money unto the soldiers, Saying, Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept. And if this come to the governor's ears, we will persuade him, and secure you. So they took the money, and did as they were taught: and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day.
(Matthew 28:11-15)
But this seems to imply the concept of God using people to perform neccessary evils, and then punishing them for it.
The Son of man indeed goeth, as it is written of him: but woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! good were it for that man if he had never been born.(Mark 14:21)
So, if it was neccessary for Jesus to die, how can God justify condemning those involved in his death? After all, weren't they simply playing their role in God's plan? Is that really what happened, or merely what it seemed like? Is it possible that the Jews did not actually kill and crucify Jesus? Or is there something else going on that Christians have failed to see? Is there a deeper truth that we need to understand?
First, I'll start by examining whether Jesus was actually crucified. This seems like a strange question, but stay with me.
To crucify someone is to kill them by affixing them to a cross. The question to answer is: Did Jesus die from being affixed to the cross?
Let's look at the narrative. How long does it say Jesus was on the cross?
And it was the third hour, and they crucified him.
(Mark 15:25)
And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And some of them that stood by, when they heard it, said, Behold, he calleth Elias. And one ran and filled a spunge full of vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink, saying, Let alone; let us see whether Elias will come to take him down. And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost.
(Mark 15:34-37
The Bible doesn't specify how long after this that he remained on the cross, but this does indicate death after only a period of about six hours. Historical records indicate that crucifixions took days to kill, not hours. The difficulty in believing that someone died in a matter of hours is attested to in the narrative. In fact, it specifically states that the crucifixtion was stopped because of the Sabbath. It was stopped long before any of them would have died from the process.
The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs: But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water. And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true: and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe. For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken. And again another scripture saith, They shall look on him whom they pierced.
(John 19:31-37)
Joseph of Arimathaea, an honourable counsellor, which also waited for the kingdom of God, came, and went in boldly unto Pilate, and craved the body of Jesus. And Pilate marvelled if he were already dead: and calling unto him the centurion, he asked him whether he had been any while dead. And when he knew it of the centurion, he gave the body to Joseph.
(Mark 15:43-45)
The Roman soldiers did not really believe that Jesus was dead until they put the spear through his side and the Roman governor, Pilate, refused to believe that Jesus was dead until he had personally talked to the centurion.
There are mixed theories on the significance of the blood and water that poured from Jesus's side.
Some believe this is indicative of heart failure or similar cause of death. This would correspond, timewise, to the statement that Jesus "cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost". The text obviously indicates that this is the point at which he died or began dying.
Some maintain that the heart must have still been beating beating when the spear was thrust into his side. If he did not actually suffer heart failure, I will grant that, "cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost", does not demand that he died instantly.
Whether or not his heart gave out or there were still a few beats left when he was speared in the side, I propose that the evidence does indicate that he was not actually killed by the crucifixion process, and therefore was not truly crucified.
Here's where it gets interesting. One of the lesser known sayings of Jesus demands that neither the Jews or the Romans actually killed him by any means, including crucifixtion.
Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.
(John 10:17-18)
Jesus stated in no uncertain terms that no man, Jew or Roman, would take his life from him. He would lay it down and take it up again at God's command. No man has power over what God dictates.
We hold very fast to the idea that the Jews (or Romans, if you don't want to be anti-Semetic) killed and crucified Jesus. But the real truth of things, God's truth, often contradicts our understanding of things. Even such absolute things as death. For example, look at the young maid.
While he yet spake, there cometh one from the ruler of the synagogue's house, saying to him, Thy daughter is dead; trouble not the Master. But when Jesus heard it, he answered him, saying, Fear not: believe only, and she shall be made whole. And when he came into the house, he suffered no man to go in, save Peter, and James, and John, and the father and the mother of the maiden. And all wept, and bewailed her: but he said, Weep not; she is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn, knowing that she was dead. And he put them all out, and took her by the hand, and called, saying, Maid, arise. And her spirit came again, and she arose straightway: and he commanded to give her meat.
(Luke 8:49-55)
After the resurrection, the disciples preached that Jesus was alive and that God had taken him up into heaven. The religious authorities said that Jesus was dead once and for all and that the disciples had stolen the body of Jesus to make it look like he was alive. God's truth is that, while they said, "We have killed Jesus, the son of Mary", they did not kill him, nor did they crucify him, but it appeared so to them. But God raised him up unto Himself.
