To justify the death of an innocent victim like that of Jesus and, still more, to say that it was the divine will, would be to make of evil a human way of behaving justifiable on the part of God and of men. Hence it would be very relevant to understand the historical fact and the theological meaning of the passion and death of Jesus not as a simple story one hears in Lent, but as an event that reveals a tragic reality that should make us wonder as to how far we are capable of going if we allow ourselves to become executioners, seduced by power and money.
The way in which they assassinated Jesus on a cross represents a great scandal for any human being apart from his beliefs. The cross was a symbol of human negativity, the worst evil a man could imagine. It also symbolized divine rejection, for whoever died in this way was considered cursed by God (Dt..21,23). Could it then be said that the good Father in whom Jesus believed had permitted such a death?
The death of Jesus was not casual, nor was it the fruit of chance or of the divine will. It was, planned, decided and executed by concrete persons (Jn 11, 47.53), by fellow human beings of the same nation (Jn 7,1) who controlled the destinies of a people. It was justified by representatives of religious institutions and political officials (Jn 11, 49-50) who saw a danger in him because he projected a new way of life – humanizing – which claimed to reconcile a dispersed nation (Jn 11, 52) and proclaimed a personal relationship with God based on an unedited pact with God, entailing neither priestly mediation nor the sacrificial economy of the Temple (Jr 31, 31-34). His way of life made those live in fear who did not want to lose the power granted by the Romans, which gave them the social status and economic benefits they lived on (Jn 11, 48-50).
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