Fr. Albert
St. Peter Catholic Church, New Iberia
Why did Jesus die? Ambushed in a garden, dragged before the authorities in the middle of the night, wrongly imprisoned until morning, and handed over to Pilate to be judged, scourged, and brutally, publicly executed. Why did we do it?
Was Jesus crucified because he taught us to love our neighbor? Or because he healed the sick, cast out demons, and answered the prayers of those who came to him? Did we crucify him because he was kind and gentle, because he liked to spend time with the poor and the outcast? Is anyone ever killed because they are too nice? Too friendly? Too affirming of others? Perhaps, but that is not the reason that we have just crucified Jesus Christ. No, but we can thank Pontius Pilate for uncovering the reason. He was unwilling to kill the man in front of him just because he was asked to, so he pushes back.
When Pilate resists the Chief priests, when he questions their judgment, the Jews give him their reason: “He ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.” There are a hundred roads that lead to this point, but it is only when we reach it that Jesus has to die. Miracles on the sabbath, claiming to forgive sins, altering the hierarchy of God’s chosen people – all of these things offend the Jews and the Sanhedrin, but they are nothing if they do not flow from and lead back to that central point “he made himself the Son of God.”
Yes, Jesus died for our sins, to ransom us from death and give us eternal life. But, he was killed… we killed him because he said he is the Son of God; we refused to accept that. Our entire salvation is echoes in the question Pilate asks Jesus: “Quid est Veritas?” “What is Truth?” If Jesus claims to be God, but it is not true, then he ought to die. If Jesus is in fact God, then we must embrace his every word no matter how unpopular. Obey his every command, no matter how difficult. Follow his every step, no matter where it leads. If we do not, nothing else will matter.
Jesus is not killed because he was loving; He is killed because he speaks the Truth; He reveals the truth without concern for whether it will be accepted. In reality, this is genuine love, but no one knowingly accused Jesus of loving too much. They accused him because they did not like what he taught. So, they challenged it. “The High priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and his doctrine.” There it is, most hated of all words: doctrine. Doctrine, teaching, and dogma may be dirty words, but it is Jesus’ fidelity to his doctrine that got him killed… and saved us from damnation. But, the High Priest challenged Jesus about his doctrine and his disciples. Doctrine is good, it is necessary, but it is not everything. The Church’s doctrines are infallible and totally necessary, but they do nothing if they are merely written on a page.
None of the Pharisees would have cared about Jesus’ doctrines if no one else listened. No, what catches their conniving interest are the disciples, that people actually lived what Jesus taught. Jesus himself taught the Truth and lived the Love that Truth made possible. His disciples, in imperfect and inconsistent ways, strove to live what he taught, all of it: from feeding the hungry to eating his flesh as true food. That fidelity, those disciples… began to change everything. What killed Jesus – what saved the world – was that the Truth came down from heaven and became incarnate. Incarnate in Jesus Christ, God and Man, but also in every heart and mind that accepts and lives Jesus’ teaching – that is supposed to be you and me. What saved the world once and for all – what still saves the world now – is obedience to the Truth, obedience even to the point of death, death on a cross.