Mark shows that Jesus had foreseen that both he and his followers would suffer. Jesus also taught that the ‘Son of Man’ had to suffer in order to educate people of God’s plan, therefore people could relate to him, even if his teachings were at times, unclear.
Jesus also stated that for a person to follow him, they must carry their cross. “...he must take up his cross, and come with me…” Mark 8:34. The modern day Christians’ cross is everything, which causes a burden to them, e.g. Sin, a troublesome situation and worry of something or someone.
This is God’s answer to human suffering, not to automatically wipe out all that is wrong with the world, but to take on suffering himself. He made himself weak, vulnerable, at the mercy of other humans; all this, just to safeguard human freedom, to offer us the chance to either accept him, or crucify him. By suffering eternally, he made our sufferings temporary so that one-day we would be free.
Christians today still believe that Jesus died to overcome the sin, which separates men and women from God. They would say that no matter how hard we try, we cannot really be as good as we ought to be. If the world was judged tomorrow in a kind of cosmic law court, no of us would very well. But according to Christianity, God did not want this to happen, the love and obedience Jesus had in dying can still somehow make up for everything that men and women do wrong. The idea that Jesus’ death puts everything right between God and the world is regarded as the ‘Atonement’. Down the centuries, Christians have come to agree, on the way in which, most of the big ideas of Christianity function. For instance, they quite quickly realised that the idea that Jesus showed what God was like, meant that he was ‘God made man’. However this has never actually happened to the idea of the atonement.
All Christians believe Jesus died for the sins of the world, and that his death was a sacrifice. People’s sins are buried in Jesus’ death and they share his resurrection from their death.
Nobody has yet come up with a way of explaining why it is important, which doesn’t involve questions. We could look on Jesus’ death as the end in which he has to pay for world sins, however, what sort of father would demand his sons death as payment for somebody else’s crime? This question tells Christians something about the importance of Jesus’ death.
Many modern Christians talk about God entering into the suffering world on the cross, and offering people a way out of it. But this is still one idea among many.
Christians must remember that death is not the end but the beginning of a new eternal life. We could say that death is equally sorrowful and celebrative, from the second we are born, death is a certainty, and with the promise of eternal life, it is comforting to the sick and dying.
Christians believe that Jesus did more by his death and resurrection than by anything else, Christians believe that go raised Jesus from death, this is their major belief. According to scripture, some of Jesus’ disciples ‘met’ him after his death. (ADD SCRIPTURE). The Christians of the church see Jesus as the first person to have risen from death and that he lives on with God in heaven. Through rising from death, he has made it possible for us to follow in his footsteps and move on from death to begin a new eternal life. This was the task God gave Jesus to do.
The gospels say that Jesus raised some individuals from death – Jairus’ Daughter and Lazarus. Jesus raised them to re-start their life, not in heaven, but continue, as they had before, on earth. However, Jesus’ own resurrection was quite different; he rose to a new everlasting life, one in which contains no sin, suffering or death. It is important for Christians to understand that in heaven, there is NO suffering or sin, enabling the Christians to see their resurrection similarly.
Resurrection proves the following: Jesus was/is the Son of God, Jesus’ teachings were true, and finally it shows the power of God, by raising his son from death. “He is not here, he has been raised”. Mark 16:6.
In conclusion, when Jesus prayed, he asked for his father to spare him from the torment of suffering, (Garden of Gethsemane Mark 14:36-42) but he submitted himself to his fathers will, this willingness is the total devotion to his father. Christians see in Jesus’ decision, not to run away, but to face the destiny awaiting you. A supreme example of sacrifice in love, a love that is so strong that its possessor will endure pain for the sake of others. Christians believe that Jesus knew his death and resurrection was a necessary part of Gods plan, the well being of humanity and he was willing to suffer death and humiliation for our salvation.