Two examples of this are when a lamb is sacrificed at Passover and when a goat is slaughtered on the Day of Atonement. Both examples symbolise the idea of beginning again with God.
A similar idea is that Jesus’ death brought about a new covenant with God. The Old Testament shows the relationship between God and the Jews. Special agreements were made, i.e. – The Ten Commandments. For Christians, Jesus’ death brought about a new law; to love one another (agape).
The Jews also believed that if someone died on a cross, it was abandonment by God (Deut 21). On the cross Jesus cried out “ Eloi, eloi, lema sabachthani”. This means, “My God, my God why have you abandoned me”? Jesus cries out in despair showing pain and obviously suffering but still undergoes a criminals punishment; crucifixion. He does this so that his people can be with God once again. He sacrificed his life for others like Maximillian Kolbe during World War Two. Maximillian Kolbe sacrificed his life for another. He prevented another human being from being killed and he gave his life instead. This is an example of love, in Greek love means agape.
Jesus’ death also meant that God was now at one with everyone, the Jews and Gentiles alike. Jesus’ body is like a channel offering the finite and infinite. Jesus tries to unite the people with God through him. The tearing of the curtain in the Holy of Holies shows that God is accessible to all sorts of different people.
The Docetics believed that Jesus was not a man but a spirit (Dokein meaning to seem/appear). Jesus was a man though and died a very painful death in which he suffered both mentally and physically. Jesus was flogged, tortured, mocked and spat on and then crucified. He was placed on the cross at 9am and died at 3pm. He also had to carry his cross to Golgotha (place of the skull) where he was to be crucified. The crowd that followed Jesus to Golgotha mocked him, hit him and spat on him. Whilst on the cross, Jesus cries out to God calling him ‘Abba’. Abba means ‘daddy’. Jesus showed human weaknesses by calling for help from his Father and shouting out in pain. If Jesus were a spirit he would not have done this, as he would have felt no pain.
Many books have been written about Jesus and even a centurion said just after Jesus’ death on the cross ‘this man truly was the son of God’. At this time, The Romans hated the Jews and false prophets (which Jesus was to them) and they also thought he was a criminal. So this shows that even the Roman soldiers were believing in Jesus. The centurions’ words are very important because they are the words of a gentile who had faith and believed that Jesus was the Son of God. In Greek ‘pais’ means son/servant.
For Christians though, faith is needed to believe in the resurrection of Jesus and the events that occurred. The disciples and Mary Magdalene are some of the only people to witness these events.
When the disciples preached they always said ‘the Jesus we speak of has been raised by God, as we can all bear witness’. ( Acts 2:32).
Many people were scared of the ‘messiah’. They were confused about Jesus and didn’t know what to believe. Everyone seemed to have an opinion about Jesus. The zealots expected a great warrior; a great King. When Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey people were shocked and believed Jesus to be another false prophet. They thought that a great ‘warrior’ would ride on a horse.
Christians in the middle ages and today believe/d that God was angry with everyone for their sins and so therefore sent His son to take up His peoples sins and die for them. A debt was paid to God. Another idea is that Jesus’ body was a ransom. The price needed to free people from sin. Many Christians found this comment to be untrue as do I. The idea is that only a perfect person could be satisfactory so that’s why God gave up his own Son. This theory suggests that God is cruel.
