Why Did Jesus Die?

John 19:16-37

The story of Jesus’ death is well known. Why is that? What is so important about his death that makes it such a focus, not only in the Gospels, but in Christianity as a whole? In this sermon, we look at John’s account of this event and how, in many ways, it is more important than Jesus' life.

Notes:

Just a Great Prophet, Teacher, Founder

A number of years ago I listened to a lecture on the Gospel of Mark given by J. Rufus Fears, a professor of history and literary classics at the University of Oklahoma. This lecture was one part of a Great Courses series entitled, Books That Have Made History: Books That Can Change Your Life.
Dr. Fears described Jesus as a prophet and the founder of Christianity in the same way Moses was a prophet and the founder of Judaism and Mohammad was a prophet and the founder of Islam. Dr. Fears described Jesus as a moral teacher and revolutionary. While Jesus was not attempting to end the Roman occupation of Judea and establish a Jewish state (”redeem Israel”), that was what some Jews who listened to his teaching and observed his miracles were expecting and hoping he would do—even his own disciples. Dr. Fears said that Jesus’ ambiguous message about the kingdom of God being “near” enabled his enemies to get him executed by the Roman government for insurrection. Thus, similar to many prophets of God, Jesus died as a martyr for the message he preached. It’s the kind of tragic end so many of God’s prophets came to. And, as is the case with many prophet/martyrs, Jesus’ martyrdom actually served to increase his notoriety and spread his message.
I think there are many who would agree with Dr. Fears that what’s most important about Jesus is his teaching and his exemplary life. And, as the title of his lecture series suggests, if you read the Gospel of Mark, if you study Jesus’ life and follow his teaching, it “can change your life.“
But Jesus was more than a prophet, teacher and religious founder, and it’s in his death—not just a martyr's death—that we see who he really is.
John 19:16-37
In our study of John’s Gospel we’ve come to chapter 19, verses 16 through 37: The Crucifixion of Jesus.
So they took Jesus away. 17 Carrying the cross by himself, he went to the place called Place of the Skull (in Hebrew, Golgotha). 18 There they nailed him to the cross. Two others were crucified with him, one on either side, with Jesus between them. 19 And Pilate posted a sign on the cross that read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” 20 The place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek, so that many people could read it.
21 Then the leading priests objected and said to Pilate, “Change it from ‘The King of the Jews’ to ‘He said, I am King of the Jews.’”
22 Pilate replied, “No, what I have written, I have written.”
23 When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they divided his clothes among the four of them. They also took his robe, but it was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. 24 So they said, “Rather than tearing it apart, let’s throw dice for it.” This fulfilled the Scripture that says, “They divided my garments among themselves and threw dice for my clothing.” So that is what they did.
25 Standing near the cross were Jesus’ mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary (the wife of Clopas), and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother standing there beside the disciple he loved, he said to her, “Dear woman, here is your son.” 27 And he said to this disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from then on this disciple took her into his home.
28 Jesus knew that his mission was now finished, and to fulfill Scripture he said, “I am thirsty.” 29 A jar of sour wine was sitting there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put it on a hyssop branch, and held it up to his lips. 30 When Jesus had tasted it, he said, “It is finished!” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
31 It was the day of preparation, and the Jewish leaders didn’t want the bodies hanging there the next day, which was the Sabbath (and a very special Sabbath, because it was Passover week). So they asked Pilate to hasten their deaths by ordering that their legs be broken. Then their bodies could be taken down. 32 So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the two men crucified with Jesus. 33 But when they came to Jesus, they saw that he was already dead, so they didn’t break his legs. 34 One of the soldiers, however, pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water flowed out. 35 (This report is from an eyewitness giving an accurate account. He speaks the truth so that you also may continue to believe.) 36 These things happened in fulfillment of the Scriptures that say, “Not one of his bones will be broken,” 37 and “They will look on the one they pierced.”
A Well-Worn Story
I expect you’re familiar with this story. Maybe some of the details were new to you, but certainly you knew Jesus had been crucified. Many know Jesus performed miracles (turning water into wine, walking on water) and gave teachings (the Golden Rule, the parable of the Good Samaritan), but what Jesus is most known for is his death, the way he died—on a cross.
The cross is one of the most well-known and popular symbols in our society. Americans, more specifically Americans who identify as Christians, have a strange fixation with Jesus’ death. Why would Jesus’ admirers and followers seemingly both venerate and trivialize his death by turning the form of the instrument on which he died into a wall hanging, a piece of jewelry, a tattoo and a bumper sticker? Mahatma Gandhi was martyred by a man with a gun. But his admirers and followers don’t show their devotion to him by wearing a gold pistol on a necklace, or by getting a pistol tattooed on their forearm.
A martyr's death can inspire followers. But the followers don’t celebrate the martyr’s death. They usually want to forget about their leader’s death. If Jesus’ death was just a martyr's death, then why has his death, and the way that he died, become what his followers seem to consider most important about his life? (”For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” 1 Corinthians 1:23)
Attention to Detail
It’s surprising how much attention the Gospel writers paid to the end of Jesus’ life and to his death. If you think of John’s Gospel as a biography of Jesus, it’s not a very broad one. His Gospel covers the few years (three) of Jesus’ public ministry, ending with his death. Of the twenty-one chapters in John’s Gospel, about a quarter of them (14-19) are devoted to Jesus’ final hours with his disciples, his arrest, conviction and crucifixion.
John included what seems like rather obscure details in his account of Jesus’ crucifixion. Here are the details John thought it was important to record:
(1) Pilate posted a sign on the cross written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek, that read “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews,” which, the leading priests objected to. (They thought it should say he “claimed” to be the King of the Jews.)
(2) The four soldiers who actually crucified Jesus stole his clothes and divided them among themselves, except for his robe (seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom) which they threw dice for so as not to have to tear it.
(3) There were three women (two were sisters, all with the name, Mary!) watching Jesus’ crucifixion. From the cross, Jesus entrusted his mother to John (”the disciple whom he loved”).
(4) Just before Jesus died on the cross he asked for a drink saying, “I am thirsty.” And someone soaked a sponge with sour wine, put it on a hyssop branch and held it up to his lips.
(5) Jesus last words were, “It is finished!”
(6) The Jewish leaders didn’t want the bodies (Jesus was crucified with two criminals) hanging on the crosses into the Sabbath—a special Sabbath because it was the Passover week. So they asked Pilate to hasten the deaths of the crucified by breaking their legs. (This meant they would not be able to push up on their legs in order to breath and so would suffocate.) Since Jesus was already dead (seemed to be) they didn’t break his legs, but confirmed that he was dead by sticking a spear in his side—“and immediately blood and water flowed out.”
Years Later
We are uncertain when it was John wrote his Gospel. Estimates range from 55 A.D. to 85 A.D. This means he compiled his Gospel anywhere from about twenty to fifty years after Jesus’ death. I would expect that if Jesus’ death wasn’t important—just a martyr’s death—the details John included (looking back at least twenty years or more) would have been omitted if not completely forgotten by him. The perspective gained by the passage of time usually diminishes what at first seemed important. But in this case, the perspective of time seems only to have increased the realization of their significance. The fact John remembered these specific details and included them in his Gospel means they were critical details.
They Didn’t Listen
The kind of Messiah Jesus’ disciples wanted and expected him to be was the kind that would establish an earthly kingdom of God. Three times during Jesus’ training of his disciples he tried to tell them they were wrong, that their expectations were based on “mere human concerns” and not on the concerns of God (Matthew 16:23; Mark 8:33). As God’s Messiah, Jesus told his disciples, he was something very different than what they expected. God’s Messiah, he told them, “must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again” (Mark 8:31-33; 9:30-32; 10:32-34). But his disciples didn’t listen to him. They didn’t understand what he told them because they were blinded by their prejudices. (”Peter took him [Jesus] aside and began to rebuke him. ‘Never, Lord!’ he said. ‘This shall never happen to you!’”) They knew better than Jesus.
When what Jesus told his disciples was going to happen happened, they were devastated. Their whole world collapsed. They had left everything to follow Jesus. He had promised them, “everyone who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or property, for my sake and for the Good News, will receive now in return a hundred times as many houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and property…” (Mark 10:29-31). Not only, they thought, were they not going to be rewarded for following Jesus, they feared for their lives for doing so.
The three times Jesus told his disciples he would be killed. Each time he also told them he would be raised from the dead. Even after Jesus was raised from the dead, and some had seen the empty tomb and been told by angels Jesus had been raised, they still didn’t believe, they still didn’t understand that Jesus was, indeed, God’s Messiah and that salvation had come through him.
Finally They Understood
Later, on the same day they found the tomb empty, two of Jesus’ followers were going home to a village called Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35). Jesus appeared and walked with them (”they were kept from recognizing him”). The two were discussing all of the things that had happened the past few days. Overhearing them, Jesus asked them what they were talking about.
“The things that happened to Jesus, the man from Nazareth,” they said. “He was a prophet who did powerful miracles, and he was a mighty teacher in the eyes of God and all the people. But our leading priests and other religious leaders handed him over to be condemned to death, and they crucified him. We had hoped he was the Messiah who had come to rescue Israel. This all happened three days ago.
“Then some women from our group of his followers were at his tomb early this morning, and they came back with an amazing report. They said his body was missing, and they had seen angels who told them Jesus is alive! Some of our men ran out to see, and sure enough, his body was gone, just as the women had said.”
Then Jesus said to them, “You foolish people! You find it so hard to believe all that the prophets wrote in the Scriptures. Wasn’t it clearly predicted that the Messiah would have to suffer all these things before entering his glory?” Then Jesus took them through the writings of Moses and all the prophets, explaining from all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.
Jesus’ disciples believed he was “a prophet who did powerful miracles, and he was a mighty teacher in the eyes of God and all the people,” but he wasn’t the Messiah they had hoped would come to rescue Israel—they didn’t believe he was God’s Messiah. Jesus said that if they weren’t so “foolish,” if they would give up their prejudice, their own thoughts about the Messiah, they would understand that the things that had happened to Jesus were actually confirmation that he is God’s Messiah. All the things that happened to Jesus were predicted in the Scriptures. “Then Jesus took them through the writings of Moses and all the prophets, explaining from all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.”
Why John Record What He Did
Why did Jesus’ death figure prominently in John’s Gospel? Why did John include in his account what seems like obscure, insignificant details? Because Jesus was not just a mighty prophet and teacher who was martyred—just like so many others. Jesus’ death, and the specifics of his death, are, in many ways, more important than his teaching and his life. His death, the specifics of how he died, of what happened, “fulfilled the Scripture” regarding God’s Messiah (19:22, 24,28, 36). These things were “clearly predicted.” And only “foolish people,” according to Jesus, don’t see it.
John recorded what he did so that you, his readers, might believe that Jesus is God’s Messiah, the Christ, and that by believing have the eternal quality of life that is God’s salvation through faith in Christ (19:35; 20:30-31)
Why did Jesus die? Because he had to… according the Scriptures… because he’s God’s Messiah.