That’s a question that has provoked many answers, actually generating more questions.  Sometimes you will hear people say, “He came to show us God’s love. He came to be an example for us.”  Of course, that’s true.  But there is a final, all- encompassing answer:  Jesus came to die for our sins.

     It is written in Mark 10:45 (NIV): “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life for a ransom for many.”  “This was, it appears, Jesus’ ultimate intention in coming — to die a death which would be a ransom to liberate others.”  (Behind the Scenes of the New Testament by Paul Barnett)

     Jesus, during his ministry of 3 – 4 years, often made mention of his impending death.  He most likely was not looking forward to it.  In fact, he feared it and struggled with the prospect of dying in such an excruciating way.

     Preachers generally focus on all the physical aspects of crucifixion: the pain of the nails, the agonizing struggle to breathe, the burning thirst, and the humiliation of exposure to the eyes of the public as well as to the elements.  We preachers tend to forget the spiritual aspect: the anguish of separation from the Father’s love.

     Jesus would perish as the sin-bearer, and, for a moment that would feel like an eternity, God would turn away from him.  It is written in Isaiah 59:1-2 (NIV):  “Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save nor his ear to dull to hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.”  Beyond the grotesque physical suffering lay the greater spiritual agony of abandonment by his Father in Heaven.  

      Paul Barnett, a New Testament scholar as well as Anglican bishop, would write this powerful passage: