No one takes My life from Me, not even your sins. I love you.

What was the cause of Jesus’ death? By this question I do not mean crucifixion or the loss of blood brought about by His scourging. What I am asking is where lies the responsibility for His death? People at different times and with varying degrees of animosity have pointed to the Jews as a whole as deserving to bear the sole responsibility for the death of Jesus hence the defamatory acclamation often levelled against them, ‘Christ-killers’. Though traditionally reference to the Jews meant for a number of people all of the Jews a more sober and realistic awareness acknowledges a specific few who in their antagonism toward Jesus sought for His ‘execution.’ Others have shifted the blame to the shoulders of Pilate and hence the Roman soldiers who beyond the shadow of a doubt did in fact carry out the order to ‘execute’ by crucifixion Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews as the charge above His head attested. There are others who would have us point to Judas Iscariot for after all it was Judas who betrayed Jesus to the Jewish authorities. Then we have those whose consciousness of their own sinfulness have ascribed to their sins responsibility for the death of Jesus. There are however those who would point to a collective culpability involving all of the above. While there is substantial truth in this latter recognition regarding collective responsibility ranging from those who had a part to play in how the actual events unfolded to the sins of people from every time and space there is yet one major consideration to be pondered in answering the question at hand. We may readily admit the truth of this consideration but too often with a contemptuous familiarity, as is often the case with simple answers. While it may be evident in the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) it is abundantly clear in the Gospel of John. The Jesus that we encounter in John’s Gospel is the ‘Jesus’ over whom no one exercises any authority whatsoever without it having been given from ‘above’ or in other words from God Himself. Throughout John’s Gospel Jesus as the Word of God who in fact is God in the flesh shows us time after time His foreknowledge of people, places and events. He is never caught off guard. He knows from the outset of His public ministry the reality of His ‘hour’ which looms over Him at every moment and which paradoxically He considers His glorification. Jesus knows who it is who will betray Him, whom He still chooses in mercy to be numbered among the twelve. In the Good Shepherd discourse we find the definitive answer for which we have been looking, “No one takes My life from Me. I lay it down freely and freely do I take it up again.” Herein lies the entire mystery of the death of Christ. Jesus Himself is responsible for His death, not to be understood as suicide but rather as sacrifice. No one has power over Him and this includes Judas, the Jewish authorities whether they be Pharisees or Sadducees, Herod, Pilate and his Roman soldiers or even our filthy, disgusting sins. It is Jesus who is ultimately responsible for His death. Yes, our sins are the condition for the death of Jesus just as the Roman soldiers are in fact the ones who held the hammer and the nails to His hands and feet but it was Jesus Himself who freely laid down His life. If we do not allow this humble truth to penetrate our reflection upon the death of Christ then we shall surely fail in appreciating its true transforming depth. Consider this, if we say Jesus died because of Pilate and the Roman soldiers then we are reducing His death to a mere ‘execution’ as opposed to a Holy Sacrifice. If we say, Jesus died because of the jealousy or antagonism of some of the Jewish leaders then we are reducing His death to One who is the victim of circumstances. If we say, Jesus died because of the betrayal of Judas, then we are reducing His death once again to circumstantial victimhood. Even if we say that Jesus died because of our sins then we are reducing His death to act of necessity, which in fact robs His death of the quality of love that the Last Supper calls ‘love to the end’. If Jesus had to die for our sins then where was His freedom and hence where was His love. Only in freedom can love truly radiate. So it is that the death of Jesus is not a mere execution, but rather a Holy Sacrifice, it is not merely the result of a power struggle but rather the fullest display of power, it is not merely the victimhood born of circumstances, but rather the love that reveals a victimhood that does not respond in kind to the evils inflicted upon it. His death is not an expression of necessity but rather an expression of true freedom. As the true Passover Lamb Jesus is not a mindless animal led off to the slaughter but rather the Divine Word who freely lays down His life that by believing in and gnawing upon His Flesh and Blood the lintels of our souls may be passed over now and into eternity. In John’s Gospel the Greek word for ‘to betray’ is used with 4 different subjects. The first to betray as we know is Judas who betrays Jesus into the hands of the Jewish authorities. The Jewish authorities in turn betray Jesus into the hands of Pilate who betrays Jesus into the hands of those, presumably the soldiers who would be responsible for carrying out His crucifixion. But here comes the most intriguing aspect of the use of the word betray in John’s Gospel. Jesus Himself is spoken of as betraying from the Cross, in His hour of death His own Spirit. Though Jesus is the common denominator to all of these betrayals His own choice of betrayal is significant for He does not betray in kind. Despite how He is treated the power of His love is shown forth in His forgiveness as He ‘gives over’ His Spirit who will be the very One responsible for bringing out new life in those who believe in the name of Jesus thereby becoming children of God. As Dr. Scott Hahn has pointed out, ‘if the Last Supper was only a meal as opposed to a Sacrifice then the death of Christ on the Cross was only an execution. For who upon leaving Calvary that day would have said to others at home that they had just from a sacrifice. Rather they would have said that they were returning from a Roman execution. But what made the death of Jesus on the Cross more then a mere run of the mill Roman execution was that He freely laid down His life in the upper room where at the Last Supper He spoke the words of consecration over the gifts of bread and wine thereby making present sacramentally the Mystery of His sacrificial death spoken of in the Bread of Life discourse.” To sum it all up as regards what was the cause of the death of Christ we can look to St. Paul who says, “Christ shows His love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.” His death was conditioned by many circumstances one of which was our sins but not even our sins would have any authority over Him unless it were given it from above. Christ freely laid down His life for us on the Cross and freely did He take it up again. The mystery of this love is what the Church calls the Eucharist, the home of which is the Mass – the Sacrifice that makes the crucifixion more than a mere execution but in truth the Real Day of Atonement wherein Christ our Passover Lamb is Sacrificed.