❖ Video
❖ Audio (Message)
Why Jesus Had to Die
(First Sunday of Lent)
Mari Ikeda
Today is the first Sunday of Lent. Lent is the 40-day period leading up to Easter, the celebration of Jesus’ resurrection. This year, Lent runs from March 5 to April 17, with Easter on April 20. During this time, as is the tradition of the Church, we are especially encouraged to spend time reflecting on the suffering of Jesus.
Today we will continue to read the Gospel of John, and I think it is an appropriate passage to begin Lent. I hope that through today’s passage we can reflect on what Jesus suffered for and why he had to die. I want to start by reading the second half of the passage, John 11:53-57.
53 So from that day on they plotted to take his life. 54 Therefore Jesus no longer moved about publicly among the people of Judea. Instead he withdrew to a region near the wilderness, to a village called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples. 55 When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, many went up from the country to Jerusalem for their ceremonial cleansing before the Passover. 56 They kept looking for Jesus, and as they stood in the temple courts they asked one another, “What do you think? Isn’t he coming to the festival at all?” 57 But the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that anyone who found out where Jesus was should report it so that they might arrest him.
As we read, this is the scene where the policy of arresting and killing Jesus was decided by the religious leaders. The wrong motives that led them to arrest and kill Jesus are the same for us as they were for them. Let us now read verses 45-50.
A. Why we killed Jesus
45 Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him. 46 But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 47 Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin. “What are we accomplishing?” they asked. “Here is this man performing many signs. 48 If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation.” 49 Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, “You know nothing at all! 50 You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.”
1. Because we value our wealth and power the most
Those who were called Pharisees or chief priests were all leaders of religious and political power in the Jewish community at that time. But their status and power were within the scope of the autonomy granted to the Jews under the rule of the Roman Empire. If the Jews disobeyed the Roman Empire or were suspected of rebelling against it, their autonomy would be taken away, and so would the status and power of the Jewish leaders. So they felt threatened by the enthusiasm of many Jewish people for Jesus. They feared that if this continued, Jesus’ social influence would only grow, and they would be suspected of rebelling against Rome, and their own position would be in trouble. So they easily made the difficult decision to kill Jesus, even though He had no political agenda or ambition.
Their mistakes are our mistakes. Wealth and power give us peace of mind when we have them. With wealth, we can get what we want and have less anxiety about the future, and with power, it is easier to get what we want without being subordinate to others. In other words, the security that wealth and power give us is security in the sense that they make it easier for us to live self-centeredly. It is not true security or happiness, but we tend to misunderstand that wealth and power make us happy. And we feel very anxious and humiliated about giving up or losing our wealth and power once we have it. So we are so afraid of having it taken away that we no longer question taking or hurting other people’s things.
Many of us gathered in this church may not have much wealth or power to begin with. So you may think that this story is not relevant to you. However, it is important to remember that God will always provide for our needs. Knowing that God is good, we are not impatient when our possessions are less than others’, we do not feel a sense of shame, and we are content with what we have been given. We are not envious or mean when someone younger than us is in a better position than we are, and we continue to be faithful in what we can do. Our security comes from the love of Jesus, who loved us as sinners, and He is the only one we want to please.
2. Because we don’t seek justice
Now there is another reason why the Jewish religious leaders wanted to kill Jesus. They were not looking for justice. They decided to kill Jesus simply because He was a political threat to them, without even trying to get to know His words and deeds. They had no idea that they were making a grave mistake by killing an innocent man.
We must carefully consider whether what we think is just is really just from God’s perspective. No matter how hard we try, we will never have God’s perspective in perfect form. Remembering this and having the humility and courage to question what we think is right is of the utmost importance in achieving God’s justice. We are only sinners whose sins have been forgiven by God. Jesus suffered on the cross because we too easily forget this and become arrogant, believing we are right and trying to exclude others.
3. Because we have no fear of beings that transcend human beings
Another reason we continue to torment Jesus is that we have no fear of the supernatural. Fear of the supernatural seems to be something that people in ancient times, when science was less developed, were more likely to have, but in reality, ancient and modern times may not be much different. In fact, the Jewish religious leaders had no fear of Jesus, even though they had seen and heard the miracles of Jesus firsthand. For them, believing in God meant living according to the law, and they may not have even imagined the possibility of God’s power intervening in their lives.
Have we not forgotten that we also wait for God in hope? To believe in God is to wait with hope for what God will do in any situation. God may or may not work miracles. Either way, it does not change the fact that God is good and loves us. The important thing is not that we only ask for miracles or, conversely, that we do not expect miracles at all, but that we trust God in all circumstances. When we stop expecting God, we stop trusting Him. Then we have to rely on ourselves and we push Jesus out of our hearts.
So there are a number of reasons on our part to kill Jesus. But there is also the aspect that Jesus not only was killed, but willingly gave His life for us. Let’s look at this, by reading verses 51-52.
B. The purpose for which Jesus died
51 He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, 52 and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one.
1. To create a community of God’s children
These two verses are an explanation by the Evangelist. It is an explanation that “the words of the high priest are a prophecy explaining the purpose of Jesus’ death.” It says that Jesus would “bring for the scattered children of God together and make them one.” This reminds us of the words of Jesus.
I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. (John 10:15b-16)
Jesus proved that He loved us by giving His life. He wanted those who believe in Him to begin a new way of life by loving one another. We have different upbringings, different languages, different cultures, different looks, different personalities, and if we were left as we are, we would all be looking in different directions. But we are united in our love for the one and only Jesus. Therefore, regardless of nationality, race, age, or time, the Church remains one. Conversely, if we are not united only in our love for Jesus, we are not the Church. It is not necessary for us to be united in other things; in fact, it is more natural for us to be completely different from one another.
Let us remember that Jesus gave his life so that we could forgive and love one another.
2. To achieve love and justice in the midst of sin
The last thing we want to keep in mind today is the explanation that God spoke through Caiaphas, the high priest. John explains that God used even Caiaphas, who had evil intentions toward Jesus, to deliver God’s word. In other words, God uses even human evil intentions to accomplish His plan.
At first I was uncomfortable with this explanation, but then I thought about it and realized that this is the reality of our world. This world is so full of human evil that it would be impossible for God’s plan to proceed if all human evil intentions had to be removed. This is why Jesus suffered on the cross. That we might seek God’s justice and believe in God’s love even when we are in our sins. That even when we are hurt by people’s wickedness, we may not be ruled by hatred, but may move forward. May we bring hope even in the midst of despair. God’s love and justice work in the midst of our human sin, transforming us in our weakness. In this way, God entrusts us with the work of transforming this world.
(Prayer) Lord Jesus, You had to die to save us. We get carried away and worship things other than You as if they were gods, not realizing that we are pursuing vain things. Please show each one of us in which direction to turn through Your love of the cross. Give us humility and honesty to ask You to correct our mistakes. May we also be faithful in our speech to one another. May we rejoice together in our unity in loving You. Lord Jesus, make us grow by Your Spirit. We pray in Your name. Amen.
Summary
As long as we think that wealth and power will make us happy, we will continue to hurt others, rob others, and cause Jesus to suffer. Putting our own interests first without seriously seeking where justice lies will also lead us to repeat the mistake that cost Jesus’ life. Without the fear of a being beyond human beings, we will not realize our own mistake of worshipping something other than God. Jesus taught us to understand God’s desire by offering his life on the cross. God’s desire is for us to be able to realize His love and justice while we are in sin.
For Discussion
- How did you come to the realization that you were also the one who killed Jesus?
- What does it mean to “bring the scattered children of God together and make them one”? What should we do to achieve this?