While crime solving podcasts are all the rage, and murder mysteries have a long history with us, there is one death that has rightly been investigated more than any other. There remain, despite all the energy that has gone into the investigation, disagreements. Below is a list of the suspects along with bits of evidence to go along.
1. No one. Among others making this claim, we have the victim Himself who said, “No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father” (John 10:18).
2. Roman soldiers. Among others making this claim, we have the victim Himself who said, “Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do” Luke 23:24).
3. Jewish Leaders. Among others making this claim, we have the victim Himself who authorized His apostle Peter to testify,
“Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know— Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death” (Acts 2: 22-23).
4. Me. Among others making this claim, including me, we have the victim Himself who said, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends (John 15:13). In addition, though we have no such need to add to His own Word, I confess myself, weekly when I come and feast on His body broken for me, and His blood shed for me.
5. The Father. Among others making this claim, we have both the victim and the accused who say,
“Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded[k] for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed…And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all…Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him” (Isaiah 53).
Our key witness presents unimpeachable truth. He is after all, the victim. His resurrection proves He is incapable to lying. He is, as well, the Word incarnate. This is not a man you want to suggest is lying. Which means that all these answers not only do not contradict one another, but cannot contradict one another. We need not protect the truth of accused group 2 by pointing to accused group 3. The guilt of #4 doesn’t undo the truth of #1, that He was no victim.
Neither can we excuse any on our list by virtue of the others on our list. Peter himself said it in affirming both that those He preached to at Pentecost put Him to death and that said act was in fulfillment of the determined will of the Father.
We humans are all guilty. Jesus volunteered. The Father brought it all to pass, for His good pleasure. All wonderfully true. To all of our shame, for the glory of the Son and in the power of the Father. This, friends, is how we are made, and how He receives, His bride.