Christian theology has Jesus of Nazareth willingly go to his death to pay for the sins of all mankind. After his death, he goes to Hell for a couple of days before returning from the dead and then ascending into Heaven. What really happened? Did he die for the sins of man or was he executed as a traitor and rabble rouser? Did he really rise from the dead or was his body stolen? When one steps out of the theology and looks at the death of Jesus from another point of view, things seem clearer.
First of all, Jesus was executed by the Romans because he proclaimed himself to be the Messiah. Jewish tradition held a Messiah would come to liberate them and he would wander into Jerusalem on a donkey. Christ followed this tradition and played himself up as the Messiah. Since most Jews believed the Messiah would be a military leader, and since Jesus went Chuck Norris on the money changers in the temple, the Romans had to take note. Did they have a revolutionary in their midst? Was this the next Spartacus?
Next, Jesus' welcomed and consorted with outsiders. He was not your typical Corporate Holy Man of the 1st century. Instead, he advocated for the weak and those without hope. He tried to redeem prostitutes and those of low character. Jesus even comforted lepers. He provided a voice for those without a voice. He was a man of the people. Jesus advocated for the poor. A modern equivalent might be Martin Luther King Jr. whom advocated for garbage men on the eve of his death. Both men were a threat to order.
To the Jewish leaders, Jesus posed a threat to their power and their control over their religious doctrine. To the Romans, Jesus was cultivating the lower orders for his insurrection. Jesus of Nazareth had to go. So, Jesus goes on trial and is convicted. Pontius Pilot orders his execution. It is unlikely Pilot pleaded with Jewish leaders for his life. This was probably thrown in the Bible by later writers to either distinguish between Jews and Christians or by someone that was anti-Semitic and wanted the Jews to look bad. Pilot was a Roman governor and would not have had any qualms about executing a potential Spartacus.
Jesus is then crucified. Crucifixion is both painful and humiliating. The victim gets to die in front of anyone that passes by. Jesus lasted three agonizing hours on the cross before expiring. In a gesture designed to keep the Jews happy during their holy time of year, Pilot allows Jesus' body to be removed. Usually, the bodies remained on the cross and withered. The bodies of the Spartacan Rebels stayed along the Via Appia for years. Christ's body was removed and buried.
Now things get interesting. According to scripture, he returns three days later. However, this is unlikely. Crucified people do not return from the dead. Most likely, the apostles removed the body from a tomb in common and placed it in a family plot. Then, they went around telling everyone that Jesus came back. Another possibility is the resurrection was a metaphor. Jesus' body died, but his spirit and message lived on through the Apostles. Jesus' teachings were resurrected by the Apostles, so Jesus himself came back from the dead.
This is not meant to denigrate Christian religion. It is meant to come from a Roman Perspective and how they would have viewed events in the first century. That being said, most Romans outside of Judea would not have known or cared about the Jesus Movement.
