Who was most responsible for the Death of Jesus The death of Jesus came from his crucifixion on the cross after what appeared to be an unfair trial. We can blame multiple parties for his death, but I believe it was the inevitable force of his prophesy

, a fate he often talked about, that foresaw an unstoppable death.

The Sanhedrin and the crowd:

The Sanhedrin was the Jewish council that acted as the authority and as a court. They were loyal to Rome and thus, acted as puppets of the Emperor. During the time that Jesus was planned to be crucified, it was the festival of Passover. Historically, it represents the freedom from oppression of the Jews from a tyrannical body. Wishing for the peace to be kept, they aimed to incarcerate Jesus. After getting him arrested, he was put on trial in front of Pontius Pilate. They did not agree with Jesus’ teachings and are usually portrayed in parables as the party who try to contradict or trick Jesus. During the trial, false claims were made about Jesus with the sole intent to get him sentenced. When they offered the crowd to release a prisoner, the crowd, persuaded by the Sanhedrin, picked Barrabus. Barrabus was a revolutionist criminal who would pose a great threat against the Sanhedrin in terms of disrupting the peace. It seems very unjust that they allowed this to happen, believing that crucifying Jesus was a more beneficial task. To conclude, the Sanhedrin was a misleading, powerful force, with the sole desire of crucifying Jesus. But, they were acting within their law and so the ultimate charge could only be made by a Roman leader, such as Pontius Pilate.

Pontius Pilate:

I believe Pontius Pilate was not the unjust figure that he could be perceived today. Although he was the one who sentenced Jesus to death, he had very few alternatives. During the trial, when Jesus was asked questions that would portray him as a criminal, he did not respond. This made it much harder for Pilate to disagree with the allegations. He was also heavily pressured by the crowd who were very volatile, and therefore needed to be subdued as to prevent revolt during Passover. However, I believe it would be unfair to not put some of the blame upon Pilate, as his orders to flog and whip Jesus were extremely harsh for a crime that had not been proven and his manner that addressed Jesus is in some ways mocking.

Judas Iscariot:

Judas was one of Jesus’ disciples. He was a person who was on the inside, who would be to easily betray Jesus if he needed to. He was tricked by the Sanhedrin into doing something he would not have liked to do having known what the consequences would have been. He was a puppet of the Sanhedrin and therefore, I believe he plays a smaller role than them in the death of Jesus.

Jesus, God and the Prophesy:

Jesus prophesised three times of his nearing death; it was the finally that the gospel was leading to. There was an element of fate of how he would die, but Jesus was convinced that he was going to, and that it was out of man’s hands in choosing so. Convinced, he in some ways allowed himself to be caught and did not object to the claims against him. If he had fought back, I believe the Sanhedrin were determined to crucify him and so Jesus, possibly knowing this, allowed for it to continue. Here, we can see Jesus and his prophesy were in some ways the root of the cause, and regardless, he would have died.

Conclusion

Without Jesus’ death, there would be no crucifixion, and possibly no gospel about him. The prophesy I believe acted as a framework, almost like a book. The Sanhedrin acted as the content and characters for Jesus’ death. The book had a beginning and end, which was already written, but what happened in-between was to be the content, which became insignificant compared to the grand end.

	Created by Alessandro Farace di Villaforesta almost 9 years ago

The Betrayal, Crucifixion and Burial of Jesus