Where Did Jesus Die? — Page 122
? 122 third to the official and his helper alone; the blood of the victim was offered to the gods. 1 The idea of propitiatory sacrifice of animals was found in Judaism (probably borrowed from the pagans of Babylon), but they never believed in human sacrifice, not that the Messiah would be sacrificed on the cross as a ransom for the sins of the world. Jesus himself never said anything which could be interpreted with certainty as meaning that the forgiveness of original or actual sin and a great reconciliation between God and man were to be the consequence of his death; he never said that his death was to be regarded as a sacrificial atonement. The words ‘the Son of man came. . . to give his life a ransom for many’ 2 are evidently a comment by the author of the Gospel, not the words of Jesus and, even if spoken by Jesus, they might only have meant that just as he had lived to bring happiness to others, so he was prepared to die alone for this cause without implicating his followers. The words used by him at the Last Supper are usually supposed to indicate the sacrificial and atoning nature of his death but this is a misinterpretation. In the Gospel of St. Mark, Jesus says (14:24): ‘This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many,’ and in St. Luke he says (22:20): ‘This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you,’ and it is only in the much later Gospel of St. Matthew that the words ‘for the remission of sins’ are added (26:28). ‘The most conservative critic,’ wrote Hastings Rashdali, the Dean of Carlisle, ‘will have no hesitation in treating 1. Ency. Britt. edition 11 Sacrifice 2. Mark 10:45