The New Testament, Essay Example

Why Did Jesus Have to Die?

According to the argument of some critical historians, the resolution of the officials in Jerusalem to put Jesus to death through the Romans was attributed to his the act of chasing out the people who were doing business in church (Mark 11:15-18; John 2:13-19). Money changers were prohibited from conducting their business in the temple and their tables were overturned by Jesus. The interpretation of the priests to this action was a threat of the destruction of the temple by Jesus. Jesus had initially warned about a divine judgment against the issue and the destruction of the temple had been predicted as is evident in the book of Mark 13:1-2. During his trial with the officials of Jerusalem, some people had a testimony about the threat that Jesus gave concerning the destruction of the temple. This is clearly evident ion the books of Mark 15:29; Mt 27:40 and Acts 6:12-14.

The prediction of the temple destruction came to the knowledge of the chief priests. To them, this was an act that implied that the Jerusalem priesthood was doomed to come to an end and bring to an end the most important social role that the priests were charged with, that is the offering of the sacrifices. The implication of temple destruction was obliteration in eminent social stratum which was occupied by the priests in Jewish community John 11:47-48. The temple was the basis of the highest prominent justification of the authority of priesthood.

However, the intention of Jesus was not organizing a group of people to destroy the temple but ideally he predicted the will of God for the destruction of the temple. There were justifications for the destruction of the temple according to Jesus. One important observation that Jesus made was that the life of the people had already been diverted from spirituality. It was possible for the people to worship God in the absence of complex systems and big buildings intended to serve the purpose. Ethnocentrism behaviors and false worship had already proliferated in the temple and this was against the will of god. It therefore became imperative to replace this system with people in an assemble guided by authentic faith as well as abundant love in heart.

It was also notable that the system of the temple had promoted some attitudes that were self-delusive as well as harmful leading to a social system that was unjust and legitimate. This had caused a deviation from the true concept of worship and a restoration of a spiritual worship was imperative. The spread of ethnocentrism together with false worship had also led to the exclusion of most people were excluded. Only the Jews were allowed to the temple’s inner courts and ritual purity was a requirement for admittance. Threats were posed to the foreigners in case they went to inner temple courts, and this was an issue of ethnocentrism that Jesus greatly opposed. Jesus quoted Isaiah’s words in Isaiah 56:7; Mark 11:17, to the effect that the house of God shall be named “the prayer for all nations”. The temple guardians were essentially blind and hypocritical which Jesus opposed. The guardians valued offerings, gifts and gold at the expense of justice and the mercy that the weak and poor people deserved (Matthew 23:16-26).

The glorious rituals in the temple had this elite priesthood blinded into assuming that, for as long as they had their religious customs the plight of the peasantry was not of much significance. The priesthood was of the opinion that it was ritually holy and pure. This formed the basis of their conviction that the status quo had to be maintained and as a result, there was no need for any fundamental change in the belief system in Judaea and Jerusalem. On the contrary, this was far from the will of God, and as a consequence the temple system was in the opinion of the ministry of Jesus, endorsing a retrogressive as well as delusive position. Jesus had a different perception of the temple system, which was in conflict with the delusive position of the elitist priesthood.

It is imperative to consider the fact that the priesthood viewed the ministry of Jesus as a threat also to the political system of the Roman rulers. This in itself was reason enough for the elite priesthood to seek political reasons to have Jesus arrested and put to death. Among the peasantry and the host of his followers, Jesus at the height of His ministry was being regarded as their savior or messiah. This is demonstrated in the triumphant entry of Jesus into the city of Jerusalem. It is in the perspective of the fact that at the time of the ministry of Jesus, the Jews were ruled by the Roman Emperor, and anyone so endeared to the peasantry, especially among the Jews would have attracted enough suspicion from their rulers as being a threat to the rule of the Roman emperor.

Although the coming of the messiah is clearly written in the prophesies in the Old Testament, the elite priesthood was so much blinded by their glorious rituals, that they could not fathom the messiah in the personality of a Jewish carpenter. The imagined threat to the Roman throne was cultivated by the perception that in the event that the there was any breach of lawfulness in Jerusalem, as a result of the ministry of Jesus,  the high priest would be held accountable by the Roman governor. This priesthood also had a wild imagination that the Roman government would reiterate in military fashion in the event that it became aware that in the midst of the Jews there was a carpenter to whom the peasantry paid homage. The kingship of Jesus was not in the comprehension parameters of the religious elitist priesthood.

False worship was promoted in the temple by the aristocratic priests and the Sadducees. This was an issue of concern and Jesus made some prophetic pronouncement about the temple destruction. Consequently, the Jerusalem elite perceived this as a threat to their social power. The high priest translated this is a grave threat and Jesus was taken as a dangerous agitator during the Passover and this was considered to be highly risky. The Passover was marked with a festival of pilgrimage in which case the entire population of the Jewish was supposed to celebrate in Jerusalem. Jesus was seen to be a threat to this important occasion and that is why he was delivered to the Romans to be punished, and they chose crucifixion for that purpose.

According to the Romans, crucifixion was the penalty of choice to punish criminals together with political rebels in the social strata of low class in the society and also the rural bandits. The victim was executed in a public place while naked to cause utmost humiliation so that others were deterred from similar acts and also a sense of the magnification of the power that rested on the on the executive. To aggravate the shame further, the victims were not supposed to be buried and they were supposed to be fed upon by the wild beasts, birds of prey, scavengers as well as dogs. This was the kind of treatment that befell Jesus and it is the core reason that the cost for the restoration of a positive relationship with God was so enormous.

Jesus was however involved in a true and righteous ministry which the perpetrators of his death could not perceive. The ministry that Jesus conducted was one of the most amazing in which case thousands of people were taught and others healed. Huge crowds of people were attracted to the meetings that he conducted and potentially many more felt that they missed the occasion. For the Jews as well as the Gentiles in other areas that he never visited, they could also have benefited from his healing.

According to the Old Testament, God made several appearances to the earth while in the form of a human. If the aim of Jesus was healing and teaching, then it was as well possible for him to make some appearances. However, more things were in his schedule and it became imperative for him to appear as a human being in which state that he must undergo the process of death. A clear understanding of Jesus call for a preliminary understanding of his death which forms a special part of the message of his gospel which is a fact that all the Christians are supposed to fathom.

A possibility of avoiding to be arrested cannot be questioned but Jesus allowed for a chance for his ministry to end suddenly instead of expanding it. Although he had a very important teaching, death was also an important icon in his agenda of coming to the world. The ministry of Jesus had the agenda of death as an important occurrence and it marks the epitome for his remembrance by the humans. The tree has become an important symbol to the Christians while bread and wine marks the important occasion of the Last Supper of Jesus. Jesus was a savior to humanity who was born to die.

Jesus told his followers that the reason behind his appearance to the earth was not to get an important service from the people but the people to receive from him. It was therefore imperative that his blood could be poured at some point for the sake of the people (Matthew 20:28). The reason why he manifested himself to the earth is to give up his life through death that consequently could bring about the salvation of the entire humankind (Matthew 26:28).

Jesus had already given a prior warning to his followers about his coming death and suffering who were hesitant to come in terms with the statement as is evident in Matthew 16:21-22, He explained about his visit to Jerusalem where suffering and death awaited him that was to be executed by the elders, the chief priest as well as the law teachers. He clearly told them about the awaiting death followed by his resurrection after three days. This was unbelievable to his followers as indicated by Peter who rebuked him saying that an act of this nature should not occur to Jesus (Matthew 16:21-22).

It was evident from the scriptures that Jesus must undergo the process of death at one time. The prophecy of the death of Jesus had dated from the Old Testament and Prophets like Moses and others can be quoted with this respect. This was afterward confirmed in New Testament as can be seen in (Mark 9:12; 9:31; 10:33-34). The same thing has been written in the book of (Luke 24:26-27, 46) which predicts the death of Jesus followed by his resurrection later in three days time.

The death of Jesus happened according to the plan of God and Pirate along with Herod were tools of executing the will of God which had been planned beforehand as is indicated in the book of  (Acts 4:28). Jesus indicated his fear of death as is evident in his question to God if there was another option. In Gethsemane, as Jesus thought about his eminent death through crucifixion, He is quoted as asking God about an alternative although basically none existed. It was absolutely necessary for him to undergo through the painful process for the sake of salvation of the mankind.

The New Testament is a continuation of the Old Testament and all the prophecies in the Old Testament had to be fulfilled in the New Testament. Arguing from the Old Testament, Jesus quoted the book of Isaiah 53, which bears important prophecies to this effect. It had been written in Isaiah 53:12 that Jesus had been grouped with the transgressors and this was a prophecy that could be fulfilled. This was later projected in (Luke 22:37) which indicated that the prophecy had reached its fulfillment although Jesus was without sin and this was a clear reflection of the prophecy in Isaiah 53.

The humankind had carried all sorts of infirmities and sorrows and the suffering that befell Jesus was for the sake of the transgression of the humankind. In the New Testament so many images have been used in the expression of the richness attributed to the work that Jesus accomplished through undergoing the process of death. The images may be considered as the analogies or metaphors with each of them representing a different picture.

One of the most conspicuous metaphors applicable in this case is the ransom which implies to some price of a kind that is meant to achieve the freedom of another. The metaphor of the ransom brings forth the idea of freeing somebody and not particularly a price. The second analogy or metaphor applicable is redemption which has the implication of buying back such as the situation of a slave being bought back to freedom. The other metaphor is that one of justification which implies to put the person right in the face of God. Salvation also prevails in this context which brings about the idea of delivering or rescuing one from a situation that is considered to be dangerous. Salvation can also suggest the idea of restoration or a sort of healing to wholeness.

The death of Jesus also indicated the metaphor of reconciliation which essentially implies to an act of repairing a relationship that had been broken. The intention of God was to reconcile the relationship between Him and humankind through the death of Jesus. As god tried to restore the friendship, the humankind on the other had had the duty of responding positively to the initiative.

The metaphor of adoption is also manifested in the death of Jesus that is intended to make legal the relationship between God and humans as His children. The humans were supposed to express faith in the change of their status from being outside the family membership of God’s community. Forgiveness was also expressed in the death of Jesus in which case the debt of sins was canceled and the personal hurt inflicted as a result of sins could be healed.

Although the metaphor of the ransom was applicable in understanding the death of Jesus for the purpose of rescuing the humankind, the payment of the ransom was not meant for a particular individual. This was an indication of the cost of an enormous amount that was paid to set all the humans free. Paul expresses the redemption of Jesus as buying the freedom of the humans for not paying for a particular person.  This was attributed to the love that God has for all humans and the way in which he hates sins according to the book of 2 Peter 3:9, it is the aspiration of God for  people to change from the wicked ways. For the people who fail to heed the desires of God, having sent Jesus to pay such a huge sum, the only option is to let them suffer the consequences of their sins.

The death of Jesus served the purpose of setting all the sins of the mankind aside. However, the death of Jesus was not an act of appeasing God who had been angered by the sins of mankind. God was merciful just as Jesus was and Jesus was also angry in the same way that God was. The anger results from the damage that is caused by the sins that the mankind had and God loves the people and also despises sins. Due to the pain of the suffering and death that Jesus went through, Jesus condemns the sinners. This is evident in the book of (Matthew 25:31-46). Jesus also loves the sinners and this is the reason that he had to suffer and die for their sake.

Works cited

The Holy Bible: New International Version. New York: Harper, 1983.