Betrayal, Crucifixion and Burial of Jesus

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Who was most responsible for the Death of Jesus

The death of Jesus came from his crucifixion on the cross after what appeared to be an unfair trial. We can blame multiple parties for his death, but I believe it was the inevitable force of his prophesy

, a fate he often talked about, that foresaw an unstoppable death.

The Sanhedrin and the crowd:

The Sanhedrin was the Jewish council that acted as the authority and as a

court. They were loyal to Rome and thus, acted as puppets of the Emperor.

During the time that Jesus was planned to be crucified, it was the festival of Passover.

Historically, it represents the freedom from oppression of the Jews from a

tyrannical body. Wishing for the peace to be kept, they aimed to incarcerate

Jesus. After getting him arrested, he was put on trial in front of Pontius

Pilate. They did not agree with Jesus’ teachings and are usually portrayed in

parables as the party who try to contradict or trick Jesus. During the trial,

false claims were made about Jesus with the sole intent to get him sentenced.

When they offered the crowd to release a prisoner, the crowd, persuaded by the

Sanhedrin, picked Barrabus. Barrabus was a revolutionist criminal who would

pose a great threat against the Sanhedrin in terms of disrupting the peace. It

seems very unjust that they allowed this to happen, believing that crucifying

Jesus was a more beneficial task. To conclude, the Sanhedrin was a misleading,

powerful force, with the sole desire of crucifying Jesus. But, they were acting

within their law and so the ultimate charge could only be made by a Roman

leader, such as Pontius Pilate.

Pontius Pilate:

I believe

Pontius Pilate was not the unjust figure that he could be perceived today.

Although he was the one who sentenced Jesus to death, he had very few alternatives.

During the trial, when Jesus was asked questions that would portray him as a

criminal, he did not respond. This made it much harder for Pilate to disagree

with the allegations. He was also heavily pressured by the crowd who were very

volatile, and therefore needed to be subdued as to prevent revolt during Passover.

However, I believe it would be unfair to not put some of the blame upon Pilate,

as his orders to flog and whip Jesus were extremely harsh for a crime that had

not been proven and his manner that addressed Jesus is in some ways mocking.

Judas Iscariot:

Judas was one

of Jesus’ disciples. He was a person who was on the inside, who would be to

easily betray Jesus if he needed to. He was tricked by the Sanhedrin into doing

something he would not have liked to do having known what the consequences

would have been. He was a puppet of the Sanhedrin and therefore, I believe he

plays a smaller role than them in the death of Jesus.

Jesus, God and the Prophesy:

Jesus prophesised

three times of his nearing death; it was the finally that the gospel was leading

to. There was an element of fate of how he would die, but Jesus was convinced

that he was going to, and that it was out of man’s hands in choosing so.

Convinced, he in some ways allowed himself to be caught and did not object to

the claims against him. If he had fought back, I believe the Sanhedrin were

determined to crucify him and so Jesus, possibly knowing this, allowed for it

to continue. Here, we can see Jesus and his prophesy were in some ways the root

of the cause, and regardless, he would have died.

Conclusion

Without Jesus’

death, there would be no crucifixion, and possibly no gospel about him. The prophesy

I believe acted as a framework, almost like a book. The Sanhedrin acted as the

content and characters for Jesus’ death. The book had a beginning and end, which

was already written, but what happened in-between was to be the content, which

became insignificant compared to the grand end.

The Betrayal, Crucifixion and Burial of Jesus