Here Jesus is foretelling the murder of his body to his disciples: When Jesus had finished saying all these things, he said to his disciples,.... (Matt. 26:1)
Why is this important? Is it important that we know that Jesus knew in advance what his future would bear? This may be important to those who need some kind of sign in order to believe that Jesus had power and authority.
But the deeper meaning of why this is important is that Jesus was in full knowledge of the tremendous suffering that he was about to experience, yet he did nothing to avoid it. He did nothing to escape. He not only knew that his body was going to be killed, but he knew how his body would be killed - in the most gruesome and painful manner.
Yet Jesus did not try to escape or avoid being captured. Why? Because he understood that this was part of his service to God. His focus was to do God's will.
Why was this part of Jesus' service to God? Did God want Jesus to suffer? Certainly not. Jesus understood that he was not the physical body, and the spiritual person does not necessarily suffer when the physical body is experiencing pain.
In Jesus' case, Jesus actually experienced the greatest spiritual pleasure even through the suffering of his body - that of serving his beloved, God. The pain of his body was nothing compared to the joy of pleasing the One he loved.
This doesn't mean that those involved in the murder of Jesus are excused. The torture and subsequent murder of God's loving servant and representative is the height of insanity and demoniac behavior. And those who seek to take advantage of this event for their own purposes are also implicated.
To that end, most ecclesiastical Christian teachers say that Jesus had to die in order to sacrifice for our sins. Many even refer to him as a "sacrificial lamb." As if it were ordained that someone has to suffer for our sins, and because God loved us, Jesus suffered for us so we do not have to suffer the consequences of our own actions.
This is a ridiculous notion, for if it is true, we would suddenly have no responsibility for our actions. Jesus' crucifixion did not remove the law of consequences from the physical world. If that were true, then a person could commit a crime and not go to jail as long as the person believed in Jesus. But this is simply not the case. There are consequences to every selfish act.
If this were true, then there would be no need to obey any commandments nor any rules or regulations provided by scripture. All we would have to do is believe in Jesus and we can do whatever we want.
If this were true, why did Jesus teach? Why did he teach his disciples and students to obey Moses' commandments, and why did he teach love of God? Why didn't he just say, "don't worry, I will die for your sins so you can do what you want, as long as you believe in me."
No, he did not say that. He was trying to teach his students, and all of us, to dedicate our lives to God. He was trying to teach us to learn to love God, not just sentimentally, but with our actions and lives. He was trying to get us to change our consciousness from being self-centered to being God-centered. He was trying to teach us to devote our lives to God.
And this was what he practiced as well. Jesus did not have a professional rabbi position. He did not hold a title at the temple. He walked through the countrysides, teaching love of God. This was because he was dedicated to God. He devoted his entire life to God. He was showing us how to love God and give our lives to God.
And therein lies the reason that Jesus allowed his body to be crucified. Jesus accepted being crucified because he had given himself to God, and that's what God wanted.
In the U.S. and in many other countries, it is considered a great act when a person goes to war and dies for their country. It is held in the highest esteem to sacrifice oneself for one's country. Why is this? Because dying for one's country shows that a person loves their country more than they care about their own well-being.
Now consider this in the light of Jesus' sacrifice. Jesus loved God so much that he was willing to allow his body to be tortured and killed in his service to God. This is the ultimate sacrifice of love - to give ones life in their service to God.
Now consider the connection: Why was Jesus killed? Because of his teachings. He was killed because he taught what God wanted him to teach. This is why it was so important that he not escape his execution - because he was standing up for his teachings. By Jesus standing up for his teachings, and allowing his body to be gruesomely murdered, he was not only showing his love for God, but he was showing each of us - for generations to come - how important his teachings were, and what it means to devote ones life to God.
And it is understanding this - understanding the deep love that Jesus had for God to do this - that has the power to change a person. It is understanding this act of devotion - done in love for God - that has the power to save us.
Why does it have the power to save us? Because it can change our consciousness. It can change our consciousness from loving ourselves above all, to trying to re-develop our love for God. And it is loving God that saves us.
And this specifically is why Jesus referred to himself here as not "son of man", as is being mistranslated here, but rather, the "servant of humanity." (See this commentary to understand this translation).
So how did ecclesiastical Christianity so misconstrue Jesus' crucifixion? How could they have perverted this event into something diametrically opposed to Jesus' teachings? (As seeing Jesus' sacrifice as a facility to remove our sins is a selfish, demoniac position.)
The interpretation of Jesus' murder at the hands of the Romans as being some kind of sacrificial lamb was begun by Paul, who was not a disciple or direct student of Jesus. In fact, Paul ("Saul"), according to historical texts, was employed by the Roman government to spy on Jesus' disciples after Jesus' body was murdered by the Romans. The Romans did not want Jesus' movement to expand. They thought that killing Jesus like a criminal would disband the movement. But they were wrong.
Jesus' disciples, led by James and Peter, continued to spread Jesus' real teachings from Jerusalem and surrounding areas following Jesus' departure.
Both the Romans and the Jewish high priests did not like this. Paul then infiltrated the group, and began to challenge James. Paul developed his own interpretation that was a departure from Jesus' teachings. James' teachings followed the lineage of the teachings of Jesus, David, Abraham, Moses, Samuel, John the Baptist and so-on. These were the teachings handed down over centuries - to love God and dedicate ones life to God.
Paul, however, developed his own new-fangled form of Christianity, which attracted Gentiles, because all they had to do was "believe" in Jesus, and Jesus' crucifixion would miraculously remove their sins and allow them to go to heaven. They didn't need to change their consciousness, and learn to love God, as Jesus, Moses and David commanded. They just had to "believe" in Jesus.
Over the next two centuries, the Romans increasingly accepted this new-fangled teaching invented by Paul, and supported the organizational structure that Paul developed, which eventually became the Roman Catholic Church and subsidiaries, with Paul considered one of organized Christianity's founders.
This is interesting, because Jesus did not like the ecclesiastical form of organizational structure that the Jewish temples had developed, with their professional priests and rabbis. Jesus railed against this hierarchical, professional structure, teaching instead to develop our personal relationship with God. But what did Paul do? He immediately organized the same kind of structure, and the Roman government, under the leadership of several Roman emperors, strengthened and supported this hierarchy that became the Roman Catholic Church. In the meantime, the Romans murdered James and others trying to follow Jesus, and burned other scriptures. And the Romans, under Constantine's Synods of Nicea, carefully selected and interpreted certain books to make up their "Bible" in order to support their version of organized Christianity, all the while conveniently leaving James and other disciples of Jesus who tried to carry on Jesus' real teachings out of the picture.
This interpretation of Jesus as the sacrificial lamb of mankind has been carried through the centuries by practically all of the Christian sects that came after the Roman Catholic church. Why? Because for at least a thousand years, the Roman Catholic church and Roman government dominated and controlled the Christian dialog and Christian interpretation. Anyone with another interpretation would be burned at the stake, or otherwise taken out. This enforcement of their interpretation created a mass mindset or group-think that has pervaded through the centuries.
Just consider: If a person wants to graduate from seminary school and be a Christian teacher, they must accept this interpretation because this is what is taught in seminary schools and colleges. Otherwise, they will not be licensed to be a priest or preacher. Without that license, they don't get a congregation and a position at a church. It is as simple as that. This has enforced this interpretation thousands of times over.
Many try to use John 3:16 to support this interpretation. Let's consider this carefully. Here is the verse:
"For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only [some translations say "only begotten"] son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16)
This verse, however, is woefully mistranslated and misinterpreted. Yes, it is true that God so loved the world. And it is true that He sent Jesus to the world as His representative. But the type of "giving" being referred to here is not as though God sent Jesus as our doormat to suffer for our sins. The type of "giving" (From the Greek word δίδωμι (didōmi)) being discussed here is that God sent Jesus to teach us about Him. There is nothing within the word δίδωμι (didōmi) to construe that it has anything to do with a person being sacrificed.
And Jesus was not God's "one and only" son or "only begotten" son. The Greek word being translated here is μονογενής (monogenēs), which can mean "only one of its kind" according to the lexicon.
But the deeper meaning of μονογενής (monogenēs) is devoted, or loving. In other Greek works, we often find μονογενής used to denote someone who is special, or singled out. This is the case with Jesus. He was special to God. He was devoted to God, and there was an intimate loving relationship existing between Jesus and God. This made Jesus special, and it meant that God's sending Jesus was unique, because Jesus has such an intimate loving relationship with God.
In other words, rather than "only begotten son", the phrase μονογενής υἱός is best translated as "devoted servant" or "loving devoted servant", as υἱός can mean "son" in the physical sense, but "follower" or "dedicated servant" in the spiritual sense.
Furthermore, the Greek phrase, πιστεύων εἰς αὐτὸν, being translated to "believes in him" is mistranslated. The Greek word πιστεύων refers to having "confidence in" or "trust." It is not simply the kind of "belief" relating to knowing a person existed, or knowing a person was great. We are talking about trusting in what Jesus was teaching. And what did Jesus teach?
“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment." (Matt. 22:37-38)
Following this instruction is what will save us. And Jesus not only taught us this. He showed us as well. By his accepting his murder at the hands of the Romans and Jewish high priests, Jesus showed us what loving God "with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind" means.
Why is this important? Is it important that we know that Jesus knew in advance what his future would bear? This may be important to those who need some kind of sign in order to believe that Jesus had power and authority.
But the deeper meaning of why this is important is that Jesus was in full knowledge of the tremendous suffering that he was about to experience, yet he did nothing to avoid it. He did nothing to escape. He not only knew that his body was going to be killed, but he knew how his body would be killed - in the most gruesome and painful manner.
Yet Jesus did not try to escape or avoid being captured. Why? Because he understood that this was part of his service to God. His focus was to do God's will.
Why was this part of Jesus' service to God? Did God want Jesus to suffer? Certainly not. Jesus understood that he was not the physical body, and the spiritual person does not necessarily suffer when the physical body is experiencing pain.
In Jesus' case, Jesus actually experienced the greatest spiritual pleasure even through the suffering of his body - that of serving his beloved, God. The pain of his body was nothing compared to the joy of pleasing the One he loved.
This doesn't mean that those involved in the murder of Jesus are excused. The torture and subsequent murder of God's loving servant and representative is the height of insanity and demoniac behavior. And those who seek to take advantage of this event for their own purposes are also implicated.
To that end, most ecclesiastical Christian teachers say that Jesus had to die in order to sacrifice for our sins. Many even refer to him as a "sacrificial lamb." As if it were ordained that someone has to suffer for our sins, and because God loved us, Jesus suffered for us so we do not have to suffer the consequences of our own actions.
This is a ridiculous notion, for if it is true, we would suddenly have no responsibility for our actions. Jesus' crucifixion did not remove the law of consequences from the physical world. If that were true, then a person could commit a crime and not go to jail as long as the person believed in Jesus. But this is simply not the case. There are consequences to every selfish act.
If this were true, then there would be no need to obey any commandments nor any rules or regulations provided by scripture. All we would have to do is believe in Jesus and we can do whatever we want.
If this were true, why did Jesus teach? Why did he teach his disciples and students to obey Moses' commandments, and why did he teach love of God? Why didn't he just say, "don't worry, I will die for your sins so you can do what you want, as long as you believe in me."
No, he did not say that. He was trying to teach his students, and all of us, to dedicate our lives to God. He was trying to teach us to learn to love God, not just sentimentally, but with our actions and lives. He was trying to get us to change our consciousness from being self-centered to being God-centered. He was trying to teach us to devote our lives to God.
And this was what he practiced as well. Jesus did not have a professional rabbi position. He did not hold a title at the temple. He walked through the countrysides, teaching love of God. This was because he was dedicated to God. He devoted his entire life to God. He was showing us how to love God and give our lives to God.
And therein lies the reason that Jesus allowed his body to be crucified. Jesus accepted being crucified because he had given himself to God, and that's what God wanted.
In the U.S. and in many other countries, it is considered a great act when a person goes to war and dies for their country. It is held in the highest esteem to sacrifice oneself for one's country. Why is this? Because dying for one's country shows that a person loves their country more than they care about their own well-being.
Now consider this in the light of Jesus' sacrifice. Jesus loved God so much that he was willing to allow his body to be tortured and killed in his service to God. This is the ultimate sacrifice of love - to give ones life in their service to God.
Now consider the connection: Why was Jesus killed? Because of his teachings. He was killed because he taught what God wanted him to teach. This is why it was so important that he not escape his execution - because he was standing up for his teachings. By Jesus standing up for his teachings, and allowing his body to be gruesomely murdered, he was not only showing his love for God, but he was showing each of us - for generations to come - how important his teachings were, and what it means to devote ones life to God.
And it is understanding this - understanding the deep love that Jesus had for God to do this - that has the power to change a person. It is understanding this act of devotion - done in love for God - that has the power to save us.
Why does it have the power to save us? Because it can change our consciousness. It can change our consciousness from loving ourselves above all, to trying to re-develop our love for God. And it is loving God that saves us.
And this specifically is why Jesus referred to himself here as not "son of man", as is being mistranslated here, but rather, the "servant of humanity." (See this commentary to understand this translation).
So how did ecclesiastical Christianity so misconstrue Jesus' crucifixion? How could they have perverted this event into something diametrically opposed to Jesus' teachings? (As seeing Jesus' sacrifice as a facility to remove our sins is a selfish, demoniac position.)
The interpretation of Jesus' murder at the hands of the Romans as being some kind of sacrificial lamb was begun by Paul, who was not a disciple or direct student of Jesus. In fact, Paul ("Saul"), according to historical texts, was employed by the Roman government to spy on Jesus' disciples after Jesus' body was murdered by the Romans. The Romans did not want Jesus' movement to expand. They thought that killing Jesus like a criminal would disband the movement. But they were wrong.
Jesus' disciples, led by James and Peter, continued to spread Jesus' real teachings from Jerusalem and surrounding areas following Jesus' departure.
Both the Romans and the Jewish high priests did not like this. Paul then infiltrated the group, and began to challenge James. Paul developed his own interpretation that was a departure from Jesus' teachings. James' teachings followed the lineage of the teachings of Jesus, David, Abraham, Moses, Samuel, John the Baptist and so-on. These were the teachings handed down over centuries - to love God and dedicate ones life to God.
Paul, however, developed his own new-fangled form of Christianity, which attracted Gentiles, because all they had to do was "believe" in Jesus, and Jesus' crucifixion would miraculously remove their sins and allow them to go to heaven. They didn't need to change their consciousness, and learn to love God, as Jesus, Moses and David commanded. They just had to "believe" in Jesus.
Over the next two centuries, the Romans increasingly accepted this new-fangled teaching invented by Paul, and supported the organizational structure that Paul developed, which eventually became the Roman Catholic Church and subsidiaries, with Paul considered one of organized Christianity's founders.
This is interesting, because Jesus did not like the ecclesiastical form of organizational structure that the Jewish temples had developed, with their professional priests and rabbis. Jesus railed against this hierarchical, professional structure, teaching instead to develop our personal relationship with God. But what did Paul do? He immediately organized the same kind of structure, and the Roman government, under the leadership of several Roman emperors, strengthened and supported this hierarchy that became the Roman Catholic Church. In the meantime, the Romans murdered James and others trying to follow Jesus, and burned other scriptures. And the Romans, under Constantine's Synods of Nicea, carefully selected and interpreted certain books to make up their "Bible" in order to support their version of organized Christianity, all the while conveniently leaving James and other disciples of Jesus who tried to carry on Jesus' real teachings out of the picture.
This interpretation of Jesus as the sacrificial lamb of mankind has been carried through the centuries by practically all of the Christian sects that came after the Roman Catholic church. Why? Because for at least a thousand years, the Roman Catholic church and Roman government dominated and controlled the Christian dialog and Christian interpretation. Anyone with another interpretation would be burned at the stake, or otherwise taken out. This enforcement of their interpretation created a mass mindset or group-think that has pervaded through the centuries.
Just consider: If a person wants to graduate from seminary school and be a Christian teacher, they must accept this interpretation because this is what is taught in seminary schools and colleges. Otherwise, they will not be licensed to be a priest or preacher. Without that license, they don't get a congregation and a position at a church. It is as simple as that. This has enforced this interpretation thousands of times over.
Many try to use John 3:16 to support this interpretation. Let's consider this carefully. Here is the verse:
"For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only [some translations say "only begotten"] son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16)
This verse, however, is woefully mistranslated and misinterpreted. Yes, it is true that God so loved the world. And it is true that He sent Jesus to the world as His representative. But the type of "giving" being referred to here is not as though God sent Jesus as our doormat to suffer for our sins. The type of "giving" (From the Greek word δίδωμι (didōmi)) being discussed here is that God sent Jesus to teach us about Him. There is nothing within the word δίδωμι (didōmi) to construe that it has anything to do with a person being sacrificed.
And Jesus was not God's "one and only" son or "only begotten" son. The Greek word being translated here is μονογενής (monogenēs), which can mean "only one of its kind" according to the lexicon.
But the deeper meaning of μονογενής (monogenēs) is devoted, or loving. In other Greek works, we often find μονογενής used to denote someone who is special, or singled out. This is the case with Jesus. He was special to God. He was devoted to God, and there was an intimate loving relationship existing between Jesus and God. This made Jesus special, and it meant that God's sending Jesus was unique, because Jesus has such an intimate loving relationship with God.
In other words, rather than "only begotten son", the phrase μονογενής υἱός is best translated as "devoted servant" or "loving devoted servant", as υἱός can mean "son" in the physical sense, but "follower" or "dedicated servant" in the spiritual sense.
Furthermore, the Greek phrase, πιστεύων εἰς αὐτὸν, being translated to "believes in him" is mistranslated. The Greek word πιστεύων refers to having "confidence in" or "trust." It is not simply the kind of "belief" relating to knowing a person existed, or knowing a person was great. We are talking about trusting in what Jesus was teaching. And what did Jesus teach?
“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment." (Matt. 22:37-38)
Following this instruction is what will save us. And Jesus not only taught us this. He showed us as well. By his accepting his murder at the hands of the Romans and Jewish high priests, Jesus showed us what loving God "with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind" means.
