Christians tend to believe that the people of ancient Jerusalem saw Jesus as a false prophet who committed blasphemy by claiming to be God and for this reason Jesus had to be put to death. The four gospels seem to focus on this as the motivation for those who wanted Jesus executed, but the gospels mostly describe people asking for Jesus to be crucified without dealing with the question of why people wanted Jesus executed.
The rejection of Jesus could not have been unanimous. People had different reason for wanting Jesus crucified. Some people were rebellious zealots who saw Jesus as too friendly to the Romans. There were also many people in Jerusalem who believed that Jesus was the Messiah or a prophet of God.
Matthew 21:8-11 And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way. And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest. And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this? And the multitude said, This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee.
Those who believed Jesus came from God would not so quickly turn on Him. People tend to hold on to their beliefs especially those beliefs that give them hope, and many would cling to their belief in Jesus to the bitter end. Even when Jesus was near death there were those who were still looking for a miracle.
Matthew 27:46-49 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This man calleth for Elias. And straightway one of them ran, and took a spunge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink. The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him.
The miracle they were waiting for was divine intervention to come and rescue Jesus, and if some were waiting for this miracle to occur just before Jesus died, there must have been people waiting for this miracle to occur throughout the entire ordeal. Over time their numbers would decline.
This explains another reason why people wanted Jesus crucified. For some people, Jesus had to be crucified, not because He was a false prophet, but because He was the Messiah, or perhaps He was the Messiah. It is important to realize that everyone believed the Messiah would establish the kingdom of God in this world. This means that the Messiah would overthrow the Romans. But when Jesus came into Jerusalem, He would not make a move against the Romans.
If Jesus would not make a move against the Romans, perhaps the Romans would need to make a move against Jesus, and this is how the divine intervention would be activated. When the Romans tried to crucify Jesus, the wrath of God would come down and destroy the Romans.
To bring the wrath of God down on the Romans, Jesus would have to be killed by the Romans, and He would have to be killed for a violation of Roman law so that Rome was responsible for killing Him or attempting to kill Him. This explains why the accusers of Jesus argued that Jesus was a threat to Caesar, to the point that the chief priests seemed to be loyal subject of Rome.
John 19:12 And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him: but the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar’s friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar.
Luke 23:2 And they began to accuse him, saying, We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying that he himself is Christ a King.
John 19:15 But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar.
It has often been pointed out that it would be highly unusual for the Sanhedrin to hold a night session during Passover merely to execute a false prophet. On the other hand, if some members of the Sanhedrin were open to the possibility that Jesus was the Messiah, they would want to test this theory during Passover. This causes the night session during Passover to make sense. Those members of the Sanhedrin who believed Jesus was a false prophet could be persuaded to go along with the night session.
Another thing to consider is the betrayal by Judas. As someone who spent much time with Jesus, Judas would have witnessed many great miracles. Judas would have witnessed a man who displayed perfect righteousness, and who was able to heal the sick and raise the dead. Judas would have even been able to do remarkable things himself when Jesus gave his apostles the ability.
How could Judas not believe that Jesus was sent by God, but believing this, how could Judas be foolish enough to betray Jesus? It is possible that Judas did not believe he was betraying Jesus. Judas and his fellow conspirators on the Sanhedrin may have believed they were doing what God wanted them to do.
God did put them into this position. The Jews were under Roman law and could not execute anyone. If someone needed to be executed the suspect had to be turned over to the Romans. This means the Sanhedrin was able to have the Romans kill Jesus and this would bring the wrath of God down on the Romans. There was also something that Jesus said in Jerusalem that might cause some to believe that He had to be turned over to the Romans.
Matthew 22:17-21 Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not? But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? Shew me the tribute money. And they brought unto him a penny. And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? They say unto him, Caesar’s. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s.
When Jesus said, “Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s”, this could be taken to mean they should turn Him over to the Romans accorded to Roman law and then the world will be turned over to God.
Again, it must be emphasized that everyone believed that the Messiah must establish the kingdom of God in this world. Even the apostles believed that the Messiah would establish the kingdom of God in this world, and when Jesus died without doing this, the apostles gave up hope. In the days that followed the death of Jesus, the apostles mourned His death, and they would not believe He had risen from the dead.
Mark 16:9-11 Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils. And she went and told them that had been with him, as they mourned and wept. And they, when they had heard that he was alive, and had been seen of her, believed not.
It must have been a bitter disappointment when Jesus died, and the apostles came to believe that Jesus was not the Messiah.
Judas also must have come to this same conclusion. When Judas killed himself, he did not do so thinking he had killed the Messiah. Judas killed himself when he came to believe that Jesus was not the Messiah, the same conclusion that the other apostles were forced to confront. Judas killed himself thinking he had killed a friend, and perhaps a prophet.
If Judas and his co-conspirators believed that crucifying Jesus would establish the kingdom of God in this world, this motive causes the words and actions of Pontius Pilate to make more sense. Pontius Pilate was a brutal man who had sent many to their deaths, and it seems odd that he would have any difficulty crucifying Jesus especially if the only story going around was that Jesus was some crazy guy who claimed to be God, and no one supported that claim.
On the other hand, if there were some respected priests who seemed to believe that Jesus was some kind of “Messiah” and killing Jesus would bring the wrath of God down on the Romans; Pilate might be somewhat hesitant to kill Jesus even if he didn’t believe the story. When Jesus showed no hostility towards his persecutors and no change in manner after a horrible beating, Pontius Pilate might start to be a little concerned that the story might be true. Pilate made a point to say that he washed his hands of the killing. He was laying the blame for the death of Jesus squarely on those who insisted that Jesus be crucified, and this argues that the God of Israel should not punish the Romans, but the Israelis.
When Pontius Pilate asked the people what he should do with Jesus, many of the people called for Jesus’ death because of His claim to be God. Others called for the death of Jesus because that is what the priests told them to do.
Matthew 27:20 But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask Barabbas, and destroy Jesus.
The priests were calling for the death of Jesus, but not necessarily because of a belief on their part that Jesus was a false prophet. Some of the priests would be calling for the Romans to kill Jesus because they hoped it would bring the kingdom of God to the Earth. Just in case it did not work out, the priests would not tell people why they were being told to ask for Jesus’ crucifixion, and the crowd would become more and more hostile to Jesus.
Some members of the Sanhedrin, particularly Caiaphas, were hostile to the idea that Jesus was the Messiah. When they first arrested Jesus, hostile members of the Sanhedrin questioned Him about His divinity and Jesus acknowledged His divinity, and from that point the support for Jesus would decline. Yet, we know from the gospel account that there were those who held on until the end for a miracle. It is only when that miracle never came that everyone, including the apostles, abandoned the idea that Jesus was the Messiah.
After the death of Judas, no one would know Judas’ true motive other than his co-conspirators, but these members of the Sanhedrin who were working with Judas would never admit that they too, like some in crowd, were waiting for a miracle. Judas was not evil; he was simply wrong, but in a sense he was correct. Judas and his co-conspirators on the Sanhedrin believed that by turning Jesus over to the Romans they would establish the kingdom of God, and in a sense they were correct. It just didn’t happen the way they thought it would.
Jesus established the kingdom of God in the world to come. Later, He will establish the kingdom of God on the Earth.
The Messiah was supposed to defeat the enemies of God, and Jesus did that, but what Judas failed to understand is that the enemies of God are not the Romans or any other group of people. God had many children among those Romans, and in every nation. The enemies of God are the devil and all the evil spirits, and the testimony of Jesus will destroy them. If Jesus had done what they wanted Him to do, we would have all lost.
