Jesus the Victim of Capital Punishment

Jesus: Victim of Capital Punishment


A study on this topic must take in mind the differing social, political and legal contexts existing in the world today. Those who engage in discussion of this topic will also bring their own faith experience to a dialogue about the criminal legal system and especially the unfortunate innocent victims of unfair criminal justice administration existing in some countries today.

Capital punishment is a particularly difficult and controversial ethical issue that has been long and hotly debated issue for centuries. The issue has evoked strong and widely differing opinions, all of which contain elements of the truth. Some believe that it is fair and just to administer the death penalty when criminals take a life or the lives of others while others think that it represents cruel and unusual, inhuman and abnormal punishment in a civilized society.

Many Abrahamic and ancient Near-Eastern community faith based traditions differ on this issue. Because capital punishment was in practice during the Old Testament era, there are also many different Christian faith traditions concerning the issue. Many Christians see the New Testament emphasis on ‘grace and forgiveness,’ as being in opposition to the Old Testament law, and a more appropriate response in a civilized society based on Christian principles. They refer to the many occasions in the Gospels when Jesus opposed the ‘inhuman’ laws of the Old Testament, and the ushering in of the Kingdom of God through Jesus mission of action and teaching. Notwithstanding Jesus’ own negative attitude toward those inhuman laws; he himself become a victim of ‘Capital Punishment'.

Meaning and Etymology:

According to the Webster’s New World Dictionary, the word ‘capital' in this context involves punishment by death. The word ‘capital’ comes from the Latin word ‘capitalis,’ that means ‘of the head.’ Decapitation is the be-heading of those who were convicted of crimes deserving the death penalty, for example, murder, treason and other political crimes such as diplomatic-terrorism, rebellion, inciting civil disobedience or any subversive action against government authorities and rulers.





Capital Punishment and Bible:

It is usually the task of rulers, the government or the state to set the legal standards determining the establishment of capital punishment. But even before the establishment of political systems and governments as we know them today, the practice of capital punishment was found in Bible, as if the God of the Old Testament instigates it. For an example, when God made a covenant with Noah, God said...

Whoever sheds the blood of a human, by a human shall that person's blood be shed; for in his own image God made humankind".
Genesis 9:6 (NRSV)

And again in Leviticus in relation to blasphemy and punishment, God said....

"Anyone who kills a human being shall be put to death".
Leviticus 24:17 (NRSV)

Does the God Portrayed in the Bible Institute Capital Punishment?

The Bible portrays God as the God of love and justice, in spite of the above references that appear to indicate an Old Testament God initiated and instituted the death penalty (capital punishment). If the God of the Old Testament is also the God of love and justice, how can we speak about forgiveness and reconciliation in the name of God? In this respect capital punishment becomes not only a social and ethical, but also a theological issue.

God created humans with free will (Genesis 2-3), yet the Ten Commandments given to the multi-national group that came out of Egypt under the leadership of Moses are a basic standard by which the whole human community should live, for their own good and for the good of the whole creation. The Constitution of Great Britain has this biblical basis for its legislation, and the British Legal system is known as the parent of all legal systems in the democratic or ‘free’ world. It is to these Commandments that we look for a revelation of God's ‘position’ in the debate on capital punishment. We can discern the nature of God from these commandments (Exodus 20:13) especially that which says, ‘You shall not murder’ (NRSV). The Hebrew meaning for murder is to ‘slay someone in a violent manner unjustly.’ Therefore God condemned this ‘unjust’ act of taking a life that belongs to God.

The basic philosophy of the Bible is to establish the ‘reign of God’ which is constructed on the values of love, justice, sharing of resources, reciprocal acts of forgiveness and reconciliation, and acceptance of one other. The fundamental reason for the laws (commandments) of God is to establish a ‘crime-free’ society. So the basic vision of the Kingdom of God is such a society where there will not be punishments or crimes.


Jesus and Law: An Over-View:

Jesus, who was portrayed as the Son of God in the Bible, is also a victim of the capital punishment. Does that imply that the Christians worship a 'criminal?' No, the Gospels describe Jesus as a leader who was doing good across all social divides. He was the voice of the voiceless and the defender of the rights of the marginalized. His initiatives inspired a people's movement that was neither anti-authority nor anti-faith. But Jesus was misunderstood and misinterpreted by the state and the religion of the day. A political leader cum judge named `Pontius Pilate' sentenced Jesus to death in order to avert a public riot, but the gospel accounts indicate he clearly acted against his conscience.

Criminal Justice Administration Today:

M .J. Joseph raises several ethical, moral and practical questions relating to the capital punishment. He asks is it possible to change the criminal tendency of an individual? Is the deterrence theory absolutely convincing? Should we not rewrite those aspects of the criminal justice system that are found on vengeance? Is there any relevance for the Christian principles of mercy and forgiveness? Will the poor and the illiterate have access to adequate legal assistance in order to defend themselves?

In many countries, today's legal systems are not very different from those existing in Jesus' time. In every legal system, evidence and witness play a basic and vital role in administering the judgmental proceedings. In every legal system every law has its own loopholes, through which highly creative and articulateive lawyers skillfully help criminals escape punishment. In many cases it is the innocent and the poor who become real victims of these legal systems because it is the wealthy and educated criminals who can engage good lawyers. It is the poor, and all too often the poor innocent, who become victims of harsh punishment, including capital punishment because they cannot afford to pay people to plead for them. Jesus' case is an explicit example; Jesus did not have anyone to speak for him. Neither he nor his disciples employed any such persons. A crowd followed Jesus, shouting Hosanna when he entered into Jerusalem on the day we celebrate now as Palm Sunday, but that crowd were made up of those society discriminated against, the un-touchable, the uneducated and poor, the daily laborers unworthy even to enter the temple premises. So Jesus suffered an unfair trail where only the accuser’s witnesses were considered before passing a sentence of capital punishment. Pontius Pilot was not in a position to stand for truth. Like many judges today, his foremost thought was to safeguard his position of power. The nod of the head goes to the dictating force of the authorities, politicians and leaders of the ruling parties in society.

Too often today, as then, there is no courage to do the right thing. Too often today, as then, there are no human rights protection groups to speak for the innocent. It is our responsibility to remember the victimized innocents by the affluent community, in the name of law and order. But in the name of God we are expected to act as agents of change and act as partners of the establishment of reign of God.
While not supporting the crimes or the criminals, we have to realize that eye-for-an-eye approach to punishment will make the world blind. A civilized world can no longer condone or appreciate retributive justice in legal administration. Rather, we have to accept each other as Jesus did.

A Christian Attitude Towards Capital Punishment:

As a Christians we are supposed to be on the side of reconstructive justice. We have to ask ourselves whether the death penalty is a foolproof method of deterrent? Punishment is not a gospel to proselytize the criminal element of our society. Rather, our vision should be to create a ‘crime-free’ society.

The so-called criminals are psychologically ill persons. We therefore need to have an empathetic and compassionate view towards those involved in serious crimes. Is there any attempt to understand them in this respect, through our current legal systems? It is always possible that the court could find the truly innocent guilty, and thus people are vulnerable to wrongful conviction just as Jesus was. The gospel calls us humans away from a judgmental mindset

An Appeal:

In the light of the above discussion I would like to appeal to every one to have a collective vision, and that vision should not be primarily based on the hanging of the criminals, but on the total transformation of the community in relation to justice, compassion and higher values of like love and acceptance. In the vision of the ‘new heaven and new earth’ there will not be any place for prison and prisoners and even criminals. Hope for the future and the well being of all will be the highest spiritual quest. I would like to conclude this article with the words of Justice K. T. Thomas “ We have one solitary instance in history when a judge found the accused whom he tried as not guilty, but still he sentenced that accused to death penalty to appease a hostile crowd. It happened 2000 years ago in Jerusalem city. The name of the Judge is Pontius Pilothouse and the name of the condemned prisoner was Yeshua the Nazarene.”

References

V. Krishna Iyer, “Marana Thandanikku Marana Thandanai” SOCO Trust, Madurai, 2004. (Tamil).

. . . . . . . . . . . . “Decline of Fair Trail in Asia”, Asian Human Rights Commission, Hong Kong, 2000.
Papers Presented at the ECC during the National Seminar on the Capital Punishment.