Jesus had to die so that he could gather into one the dispersed children of God. As we approach the Holy Week in which we will be commemorating the passion and death of Jesus Christ, the one question that we should be asking ourselves is this: why was it so important that Jesus die? Or rather, was it necessary that Jesus die? It is a question whose answer will help us make sense of the heightened celebrations of the Holy Week. “It is important that one man dies so that the whole nation may not perish,” said the high priest Caiaphas (cf. John 11:50). It was a statement made out of prophecy and knowledge of the Scripture, and although it was true, its context was different. While Jesus’ death was indeed “necessary” for the survival of the nation, Caiaphas was referring to a political survival of Israel as a nation. As more people were coming to believe in Jesus on account of his teachings and works, those who were following him also increased. This was seen as a threat by the Romans who feared that such a grouping would soon evolve into a revolutionary movement. Any rebellion would be dealt with thoroughly by the Romans, and this is what Caiaphas and other religious leaders feared. For the political survival of their nation, Jesus had to be killed and the group he had gathered about himself needed to be dispersed.
Jesus was finally killed by the Romans, but his death did not ensure the political survival of Israel, for just a few decades after his death, the Romans ran riot and destroyed Jerusalem. However, the death of Jesus ensured the survival of the universe. For Jesus’ death marked the beginning of a new phase in creation’s relationship with God. It is true that the group who had gathered about Jesus was dispersed at his death, but the dispersion became the means of taking the teachings of Jesus to the ends of the earth. And this became the beginning of the gathering of the people of God into one family of God.