why was jesus executed
Why was Jesus executed? In answering this question in historical terms, we must first look at the events leading up to his arrest and ultimately, his execution. We know that Jesus performed that symbolic gesture of "cleansing" the temple, by overturning the money changers tables, and most believe that this act was symbolic of destruction, not purification. Paula Fredrickson, author of From Jesus to Christ writes: "Through this disruptive gesture, Jesus symbolically enacted the enpending apocalyptic destruction of the Temple...that God's kingdom was at hand." So basically, his gesture, as Fredrickson states: "would have been readily understood by any Jew watching, as a statement that the Temple was about to be destroyed by God, and accordingly that the present order was about to cede to the Kingdom of God." So in doing this, Jesus obviously made a lot of people mad. Most obviously were the chief priests in the temple because he did it during Passover (one of the holiest holidays), knowing Pontius Pilate was around for crowd control, and to announce so liberally that the freedom of their people was at hand, would incite a threat to the Roman stronghold. It is known that Pontius Pilate was not a nice guy to begin with, an
I believe Jesus died to keep the peace. Even though he preached non-violence, and peaceful protest (kind of like an ancient Ghandi), he was misunderstood. What Jesus taught was radically different than anything anyone of that time was used to, and history goes to show, we always seem to condemn that which we do not understand. The priests saw him as a threat to their establishment; what if more people began to follow his teachings? That would draw people away from the temples, they would no longer be needed. If Jesus were right, then everything they were preaching would be wrong, so why not get the trouble out of the way before it gets any worse, right? It seems nothing has changed with religious policy, it's all a form control, and a desire for power. Seeing how intertwined politics and religion were, I have to believe that it was a political move. The crucifixion of Jesus satisfied both the Jews and the Romans, but ultimately, through their own action, they helped propel Jesus into an idol, and also helped propel Christianity into one of the fastest growing and now largest religions of the world, exactly what they sought to prevent. d he was not happy to be in Jerusalem during its most crowded time of the year. Passover is a holiday celebrating the Jews freedom from slavery, so he was there as crowd control. Paula Fredrickson states in an interview: "He had a reputation for crucifying untried prisoners...Pilate was legally responsible to be in Jerusalem when it was
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Approximate Word count = 1003
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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