Why Did Jesus Need to Die?
Reflecting on Good Friday, the Cross, and basically everything
On this strange, gruesome, wondrous day, millions around the world will gather in villages, cathedrals, and homes to hear and recount the wondrous horror of when a man deemed a criminal hung on a cross. I’ve heard this story for 54 years, grappled with it, mused over it, preached it, and in the end based my life on the conviction that these few hours—and the cataclysm which erupts from the empty tomb—implodes and reshapes absolutely everything about reality, about life, about what it means to be human.
Still, I’m regularly bedeviled by the question: Why did Jesus Die? Alone in the garden, and weeping tears of blood, Jesus prayed he might not have to drink this dark cup. Nevertheless he marched toward Golgotha, a man to his noose. He told his disciples this death was necessary. But why? Of course, I John tells us plainly Jesus died “for our sins.” But why did the rescue have to go this way? Why a cruel, bloody death? I…
