Jesus Says, "If You Say So"
You’ve probably heard the idea that the religious leaders wanted Jesus dead because he claimed to be God, right?
Well, that’s not exactly the story in the gospels. They wanted him dead for claiming (or others claiming for him) high status, yes, but it was a different status. That’s not necessarily to say that the Bible doesn’t have anything to say about Jesus being divine. That’s just not why he was executed.
Let’s look in Mark to see what we find there.
45 When Judah arrived, straightaway, he went up to Jesus and said, “Rabbi!” and kissed him repeatedly. 46 The crowd rushed to lay hands on him, and they arrested him. 47 Someone who was standing nearby drew their sword and struck the worker enslaved to the high priest and removed his ear.
48 Jesus responded and said to them, “Have you come out here with swords and clubs to take me prisoner like you would an insurrectionist? 49 Each day, I was with you at the sacred grounds teaching, and you didn’t arrest me. However, the result is that the scriptures are fully lived out.”
…
55 The lead priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for testimony against Jesus for putting him to death, but they didn’t find any. 56 You see, though many people were giving false testimony against him, their testimonies were not consistent. 57 Some who stood up were falsely testifying against him, saying, 58 “We heard him saying, ‘I will tear apart this temple made with hands, and I will build another one not made with hands in three days.’” 59 However, even about this their testimony was not consistent.
60 The high priest stood up in the center and demanded of Jesus, “Are you not going to give an answer? What are they testifying against you?” 61 But he was silent and did not respond to anything.
Again, the high priest demanded of him, “Are you the meshiah, the son of one who is praised?”
62 “I am,” said Jesus, “and you will see the Son of Humanity sitting at the right hand of Power and coming with the clouds of the sky.”
63 The high priest, tearing his clothes, said, “Do we still need witnesses? 64 You heard the disrespect! What is made clear for you?” They all decided against him as being deserving of death.
Why would Jesus’ supposed threat to tear apart the temple be worthy of the death penalty? There’s no directive about that in Torah, so what’s the deal?
It’s because it wasn’t a religious offense. It was a political one.
King Herod commissioned massive renovations and additions to the temple. Threats to demolish his expansions would be seen as threats to the royal legacy, a challenge to the systems of power in the region. It was a politically subversive assertion.
That’s why the next question the high priest asks him is a political one: “Are you the meshiah, the son of the one who is praised.”
The meshiah, more familiarly for English speakers as Messiah or Christ, was not a religious term. It was again a political one. It literally means ‘anointed’ or ‘one who has oil applied to them.’ It’s referring to the Hebrew Bible tradition of a prophet applying oil to someone as a symbol of God selecting them to be the king of Israel.
The second phrase in that quotation—“the son of the one who is praised”—is also about kingship. Many read that phrase and assume it means ‘son of God,’ but it’s a quotation of Psalm 118:26. In that verse, the ‘one who is praised’ is David, the former king of Israel. The priest is asking Jesus in two ways if he is claiming to be the rightful king of Israel.
For the first time in Mark, Jesus does so directly in response to that question: “‘I am,’ said Jesus, ‘and you will see the Son of Humanity sitting at the right hand of Power and coming with the clouds of the sky.’”
Again, most people read this and assume it is an image of a divine Jesus in Heaven, reigning as God.
It’s not.
It’s a reference to Daniel 7.
13 As I continued to watch this night vision of mine, I suddenly saw
one like a human being
coming with the heavenly clouds.
He came to the ancient one
and was presented before him.
14 Rule, glory, and kingship were given to him;
all peoples, nations, and languages will serve him.
His rule is an everlasting one—
it will never pass away!—
his kingship is indestructible.
Notice in those verses, the one coming with the clouds is a human (it’s a vision Daniel was having, so he’s seeing a vision of things that are a bit surreal). That human is presented to the ‘ancient one.’ It’s not a claim that the one coming with the clouds is God but rather that he is a unique human presented to God and that God gives him an everlasting kingship.
Why would the religious leaders have been so caught up in wanting Jesus dead for claiming high political status, claiming to be the rightful leader of the Jewish people?
Because of the Romans.
The priests and party of the Sadducees had special favor with the Roman government, and they were able to maintain a lot of power and wealth by partnering with Rome. They desperately wanted to maintain that power and status by keeping Rome happy.
Let’s take a look at what comes next.
1 Straightaway, before dawn, after binding Jesus and making a plan, the lead priests, in association with the elders and Bible scholars and the whole Sanhedrin, took him away and handed him over to Pilate.
2 Pilate demanded of him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”
“If you say so,” answered Jesus.
3 The lead priests were making many accusations against him, 4 so Pilate again demanded an answer from him.
“Aren’t you responding to anything? Look how many accusations they’re making against you!” 5 But Jesus didn’t respond to anything anymore, which surprised Pilate.
6 Each year during the feast, Pilate would release one prisoner to the people, whomever they requested. 7 Someone called Barabbas was imprisoned in association with the resistance fighters who had murdered someone during an uprising. 8 When the crowd came up, they began to request the release like he usually did for them.
9 Pilate responded to them, “Do you want me to release the king of the Jews for you?” 10 (You see, he knew that the lead priests had handed him over on account of spite).
11 The lead priests stirred up the crowd so that he would release Barabbas for them instead. 12 Again, Pilate responded, “Then, what do you want me to do with the one you call the king of the Jews?”
13 “Crucify him!” they shouted back.
14 “Why?” Pilate said to them. “What harm has he done?”
However, they shouted even more, “Crucify him!”
15 So, Pilate, wishing to placate the crowd, released Barabbas to them, and after having Jesus flogged, he handed Jesus over to be crucified.
16 The soldiers led him away inside the courtyard (the one at the Roman headquarters) and called together the whole cohort. 17 They clothed him in purple, and after braiding one, put a crown of thorns on him. 18 Then, they began to salute him, “Hello, king of the Jews!” 19 and repeatedly struck him over the head with a staff and spit on him. Then, getting on their knees, they began paying homage to him. 20 After they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple and put his clothes on him. Then they led him outside to crucify him.
There are a lot of pieces here that continue to point to political elements.
Pilate had jurisdiction over this trial, not because it was religious, but explicitly because Rome had to approve the local governments, and the lead priests wanted Pilate to know they disapproved of what they were framing as an insurrection against Roman occupation, with Jesus as the usurper king.
Pilate’s response is exactly in line with that. History remembers Pilate as being a particularly bloodthirsty and ruthless leader. He was very skilled at keeping populations in line. Looking at the historical record, it seems these events may line up with a time when his bloodthirstiness went so far as to get him in trouble with his superiors, and he had to play nice.
So he leans into offering a carrot rather than a stick in this instance. He repeats his tradition of releasing a political prisoner for the people to placate them. He doesn’t care who it is. Both Jesus and Barabbas are being charged with insurrection.
The lead priests, wanting to continue to solidify their opposition to Jesus, stir up the crowd against Jesus and succeed in getting him sentenced and Barabbas released.
24 The soldiers crucified him and divided his clothing, casting lots for them, to decide who would take what. 25 It was midmorning when they crucified him. 26 The inscription of the accusation against him read, “The king of the Jews.” 27 They also crucified two insurrectionists with him, one on this right and one on his left.
29 People who passed by spoke contemptuously to him, shaking their heads and saying, “Aha! You-who-can-destroy-the-temple-and-build-one-in-three-days, 30 restore yourself, and come down from the cross!”
31 Likewise, the lead priests, along with the Bible scholars, were also mocking him to each other, saying, “He restored others, but he can’t restore himself! 32 The anointed king of Israel should come down from the cross now, so we could see and trust him!” Even the people who had been crucified along with him were speaking to him with contempt.
33 When it came to be midday, it became dark across the whole land until midafternoon. 34 At midafternoon, Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which is translated, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”
35 When some of the people standing nearby heard it, they said, “Look, he’s calling Elijah!” 36 Someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed staff, and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Let it out! Let’s see if Elijah comes to take him down!” 37 Then Jesus, letting out a loud call, let out his life-breath.
38 The curtain of the temple was split in two from top to bottom. 39 When the centurion who was standing in front of him saw that that was how he let out his life-breath, he said, “This person really was the Son of God!”
Again, several elements here point to political realities.
Barabbas was released but three insurrectionists were executed that day: Jesus and one insurrectionist on his right and another on his left. Traditionally, translations have read ‘criminals’ or ‘thieves’ there, but it’s a more specific term than that, for those who rise up against the government.
When Jesus cries out “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” it may be an expression of how he’s feeling in that moment, but it’s also a quote of Psalm 22. There were no chapter and verse numbers in the Bible at that time. Those weren’t added for several more centuries. How people cited whole sections was by quoting a line from the section. Jesus isn’t just quoting a single verse, he’s claiming the whole message of the entirety of Psalm 22.
The psalm is attributed to King David, and it progresses over the course of the psalm to this:
Because he didn’t despise or detest
the suffering of the one who suffered—
he didn’t hide his face from me.
No, he listened when I cried out to him for help.
And then onward from there to this:
27 Every part of the earth
will remember and come back to the Lord;
every family among all the nations will worship you.
28 Because the right to rule belongs to the Lord,
he rules all nations.
29 Indeed, all the earth’s powerful
will worship him;
all who are descending to the dust
will kneel before him;
my being also lives for him.
Rome was tolerant of the Jews having their own religion (not a privilege many people groups were given by Rome), but they certainly would not have appreciated the sentiment that an insurrectionist was publicly quoting a prophetic scripture that claimed the whole earth would be ruled by their God. That place was for Caesar alone.
But, what about the last line in the passage that was cited here? Doesn’t that show someone acknowledging that Jesus is God?
Well, the short answer is no.
And not only because the right answer is ‘Son of God’ which is still divine.
The title Son of God was also political. It was specifically a title Caesar had come up with for himself. The former emperor Julius Caesar had declared himself to be divine. His son and successor, Augustus Caesar, affirmed his father’s divinity, as well as his own, by calling himself the Son of God.
When people called Jesus the son of God, they were making a directly, politically subversive comparison between Jesus and Caesar. The centurion’s admission that Jesus was the Son of God was a powerful insight, but it wasn’t a statement of faith. It was a statement of Rome’s victory over an impressive challenger for worldwide power.
Again, none of this is in opposition to divinity for Jesus. It’s just not what these passages are talking about.
Remember when we celebrate Holy Week that we’re remembering our martyred resistance leader’s torture and execution at the hands of a government that would go to any lengths to silence opposition.
May we continue that struggle, rising up against tyranny and oppression to stand for liberation and restoration of the oppressed and dismantle authoritarianism. Jesus was willing to die for it. Let’s continue the work he started.
