Chapter 35: Why did they kill Jesus?

Over the last several weeks we have been looking at Jesus’ life and we saw how he lived a radically different life to the rest of the world. We saw that he declared himself as the promised Messiah, that when he started his ministry he gave Satan his marching orders, and how his ministry on earth undid all the consequences of sin on the earth. In our last chapter we looked at how Jesus spent the last night before he went to the cross with his disciples training them in how to live radically like this.

If Jesus was such a great teacher, lived such a pure and holy life, the question we need to wrestle with today is why did the people of Jesus’ day actually kill him? If he was so good, why was he murdered?

The answer, as is often the case, is “It depends”. Let’s look at a couple of groups who had a role to play.

The Sanhedrin

The Sanhedrin, the Jewish religious council, perceived Jesus as a threat to their theological and social authority. His teachings, which often contradicted their legalistic interpretations, attracted large followings, inciting envy and fear within these leaders. This fear, compounded by the potential loss of status and control, propelled them towards plotting His demise. In fact when we read the gospels we see that the religious leaders move from curiosity, to anger, to outright murderous plotting. This from people who were supposed to represent God to the people. Jesus was killed as a religious upstart challenging the religious authorities of the day. The church today really needs to reflect on this – we need to remember that we represent the Christ who was rejected by the religious authorities of the day. The church at times can act more like the religious authorities of the day, then the Christ whom they are to represent. If Jesus was born today, would the religious authorities of today have done the same to him?

The Roman Governor

Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor, despite finding no fault in Jesus, handed him over to crucified. While the Sanhedrin wanted to get rid of Jesus for religious reasons, Pilate wanted to get rid of Jesus for political reasons. When Jesus was taken before Pilate, a crowd had gathered calling for Jesus’ head. Pilate was faced with a potential uprising, and like so many political leaders before (and after), Pilate chose to preserve his political standing over justice. It is so often easier to bow to political or social pressure than it is to be just and to do the right thing. We human beings all suffer from this same affliction. We tend to prioritise ourselves and our standing with others, over God and his justice. Every time we look the other way when the wrong thing is done, every time we join in with doing the wrong thing just to fit in, we join with Pilate. Pilate serves as a very real reminder that we have a responsibility to Christ, and that following him is often costly. Pilate ended up washing his hands to say that he personally bore no guilt for Jesus’ death. But as Christians today we don’t have that luxury. In fact we do bear personal guilt for Jesus’ death, and when we deny him, or join in with those around us in doing what we know is wrong, we spit in the face of him who died in our place.

The Crowd

In the gospels, the crowd is a fickle and changing beast. Only a week before, the crowd was shouting “Hosanna” when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. A week ago they were praising him as promised Messiah, welcoming him as the new King David. Now, but a week later they are crying out for Jesus’ death. Influenced by the religious leaders and the priests, their cry has turned from praise to “Crucify”. This fickleness highlights our susceptibility to being swayed by persuasive leaders and the prevailing sentiment of the masses, even to the point of condemning the innocent. We need to be on the lookout and guard against this tendency in ourselves. This is why an external source of truth is so important to the Christian, this is why we need the Bible. Whenever we feel tempted to change our views, especially on matters “the whole world” seems to disagree with us on, we always have an unchanging source of truth we can turn to. We are to be people of the book, not people who are swayed by every wind of doctrine that comes blowing along in the wind.

The Divine Purpose in Human Actions

While the Sanhedrin’s actions led to Jesus’ crucifixion because he threatened their religious power, and while Pilate handed Jesus over for political reasons, and while the crowd killed Jesus because they were swayed by others, Jesus did not die unwillingly. His death was planned all along. The actions of the people in the story, paint a pretty grim picture of humanity's fallen nature, but they paradoxically align with God's redemptive plan. Notice, that when Pilate washed his hands clean, he said “I am innocent of this man’s blood”. How did the crowd respond? “Let his blood be upon us and our children.” (Matthew 27:25). The crowd was unknowingly praying for their own spiritual cleansing. Jesus’ death and crucifixion happened during the Passover, a time when the people were supposed to remember how smearing the blood of a lamb caused God’s judgement and death to pass over them. In the Levitical priestly system, it was the sprinkling of blood on the people and on the altar that represented people being washed clean from their sin.

When the crowd calls for Jesus’ blood to be upon them, they are unknowingly praying for salvation. God was answering a prayer they did not even know they were praying. But Jesus’ blood did flow for them, and by his wounds they were in fact healed.

The question for us is, what do we do with Jesus? Do we want to reject him as someone who threatens our beliefs? That is a very Sanhedrin-y thing to do. Do we want to silence him because he threatens our way of life? That’s a very Pilate-y thing to do. Do we want to jettison his influence over our lives, because the Bible’s teachings aren’t in step with what the world tells us? That’s a very crowd-y thing to do. Or will we cry out for his blood to be upon us, washing us clean of our sin, and then living for him?

As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.