Why did so many people want to kill Jesus?

There are several passages in the Bible that tell us that people picked up stones to throw at Jesus until He died. Why would anyone want to do such a thing?

"They picked up stones to stone Him."

Seriously, think about this… is there anyone in your community that you feel so strongly sour about them that you would pick up stones in order to throw at him to kill him? Not only would it make a mess, but then you would have to deal with a dead body as well as questions after the fact.

This was the case on several accounts for Jesus. It seems that some Jews did not really take a liking to him from the start. Let’s first look at Matthew 12:9-14:

He went on from there and entered their synagogue. 10 And a man was there with a withered hand. And they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—so that they might accuse him. 11 He said to them, “Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out? 12 Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” 13 Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And the man stretched it out, and it was restored, healthy like the other. 14 But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him.

In the above passage, we see that Jesus healed a man with a withered hand. Notice that there is no question on whether or not this man began this event with a withered hand or that it was healed afterward. It was clear that his hand was withered and everyone knew it. No matter how much the man tried to hide it, everyone knew about it. They just didn’t talk about it because they didn’t want to give him any more misery than he already experienced. He had to stretch it out, I imagine that there was a long sleeve covering it or some other type of manipulation he did in order that people might not stare at him.

Yet after this experience, the Pharisees somehow suppressed their amazement at this miraculous experience and wanted to kill Him. They wanted to kill Him because of jealousy, perhaps? The story begins with Jesus entering their synagogue. Whose synagogue? The context before this would reveal that this is talking about the Pharisees. So Jesus entered their element, so to speak, the place where they felt like experts, and showed them up. Their jealousy fueled their desire to kill Him. This should attest to the reality of, and the validity of Jesus miracle. But if Jesus did not do a miracle, then they would have called Him crazy or drunk and would have dismissed it. The seriousness of the conversation is what prompted the desire for extermination. The Pharisees knew exactly what it meant when a man healed another person.

In John 5:18 below, we see a similar fashion. There was a man who was an invalid for 38 years and Jesus healed him and told him to pick up his mat and walk. But the Pharisees saw this man walking with his mat on the Sabbath, which was against the law for a Jew to carry anything on the Sabbath. Jesus made His point when He said that both He and His Father are still working to this day. In other words, they saw it as equality with God.

This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

There they go, plotting to kill Jesus again… the idea is the same. People wanted to kill Him because He was “making Himself equal with God.” This is an extreme offense because it was in the Jewish Law that a blasphemer, one who intentionally insults God, would be stoned to death.

In John 8:48-59 we can see this more clearly.

48 The Jews answered him, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?” 49 Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. 50 Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is One who seeks it, and he is the judge. 51 Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.” 52 The Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon! Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say, ‘If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.’ 53 Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you make yourself out to be?” 54 Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’ 55 But you have not known him. I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and I keep his word. 56 Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” 57 So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” 58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” 59 So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.

Jesus says, “Before Abraham was born, I AM.” What this means is that Jesus was saying that He existed before Abraham was even born, which was over 1000 years before this event even took place. Only God could exist 1000 years ago in any time.

Not only did it mean that Jesus existed before Abraham, but Jesus was saying “I am God.”

In the book of Exodus chapter 3, verse 14, Moses asked God who he can say sent him, and God answers with “I AM.” In other words, “Tell them I AM sent you to them.” This means the self-existent One. The Jews knew perfectly well what Jesus meant by this. This is why Jesus left the temple… He knew He was about to die.

In John 10:31, the reader of the Bible can see that there was yet another time Jesus was about to be stoned.

“Again his Jewish opponents picked up stones to stone him…”

This time, Jesus said white and black in the sentence prior to this action, “I and the Father are one.” Jesus outright claimed to be God in this passage. If Jesus was not God, then the Jews would have had every right to kill Jesus. But the problem is that by His miracles and what He did, He proved to be God even to them! They witnessed Him healing people. They witnessed Lazarus being raised from the dead (John 11). They saw that His disciples followed Him and told of His miracles.

The reason people wanted to kill Jesus was because He claimed to be God. I often hear the claim that there is nowhere in the Bible that Jesus claims to be God, but the fact that the Jews wanted to kill Him proves that He did in fact claim to be God.

Who would do this? Who would make this claim? Who would say, when speaking of God, “I and the Father are one.” Who would say, “I am the same as God?” Do you know anyone? This seems to be one of those things that no one really jokes about. People do not joke about this because 1) they know it is so far from the truth it even sounds ridiculous to their own ears and 2) because it would sound ridiculous to other people as well, because no one raises people from the dead and credits their self for doing such. Jesus Is God. He came to earth, He saw the problem and He conquered the problem. Jesus is victorious in bridging the gap between man and God. Romans 3:23 explains that all have failed morally and fall short of God’s perfect glory. We have all told a lie, we have all stolen something, and we have all lusted… but even deeper than this, Jesus says in Matthew 5 that whoever looks at a woman in lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Jesus says that hating someone for no reason is like murder. So in the eyes of Jesus, we are all be murderers and adulterers at heart. The issue then is our heart! I think Jesus is saying, "see how much you need me!"

In the book of Romans in chapter 6 verse 23, the Bible says, “for the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.” What this means is that the reason we die is because we fail morally (sin). This is the Biblical explanation of why we die. But we live on through Jesus alone. The Bible records Jesus saying in John 14:6, “I am the way and the truth and the life; No one comes to the Father but through me.” If that is not a jaw dropper, I don’t know what is! Can you imagine yourself making this claim? Me neither! Jesus proves that He is God through His miracles, and He makes these claims about Himself that He is God. He even tells His disciples to pray in His name (John 14:13-14)!

Friends, the reason Christianity is the largest religion in the world is because it is the truth. People have tried to suppress the truth since the time of Jesus but it is still around and seemingly stronger than ever. Look into this Jesus… the biblical Jesus. Paul says that if we confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in our heart that God raised Him from the dead, then we will be saved (Romans 10:9). Have you seriously done this? Do you admit that you fall short of the glory, the perfection of God? Admit your sin to Him, ask for forgiveness confess Jesus as your Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead. Repent from your sins. This means to turn away from them. You have the ability as a Christian to please God because He lives in you (Romans 8:9; 2 Peter 1). Jesus died for your sins to be covered.

The Apostle Paul writes in a letter to a church in Corinth, Greece:

“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.

This is the gospel, my friends. This is Good News. We have hope because we can know that we do not fall under God’s wrath. We can have hope because Jesus died and came back from the dead and told us what it was like. We can have hope because we can have eternal life. Make this decision today. In 100 years from now, if you read this, we will be talking about it in heaven together, and it will be awesome.

Written by Nace Howell through the grace of the Lord Jesus

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Apologetics and Evidence

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