Jesus was not a helpless victim of human violence or a tragedy of political injustice. He was not overpowered, outsmarted, or cornered. Scripture is explicit about this.
Jesus Himself said, “No one takes my life from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again”
(John 10:18).
The cross was not something that happened to Him. It was something He willingly stepped into.
What looked like defeat from the outside was, in reality, a deliberate act of love carried out with full authority.
From the beginning, Jesus made it clear that His life was not subject to human control. Again and again, crowds tried to seize Him, stone Him, or arrest Him, yet Scripture says they could not because
“His hour had not yet come”
(John 7:30, John 8:20).
This matters because it shows that the cross was not the result of circumstances spinning out of control.
It happened at the exact moment Jesus allowed it to happen. When His hour finally came, He did not resist. He surrendered. Not out of weakness, but out of purpose.
The cross must be understood through the lens of joy, not coercion. Hebrews tells us plainly, “For the joy set before Him, He endured the cross, scorning its shame”
(Hebrews 12:2).
Jesus was not dragged to Calvary unwillingly. He went forward with joy set before Him.
That joy was not the pain itself, but what the pain would accomplish. Redemption. Reconciliation. Union.
A restored relationship between God and humanity. You were the joy set before Him.
Even at the moment of death, Jesus demonstrated His authority. The Gospels do not say His life was taken from Him.
They say He “gave up His spirit” (John 19:30) and that He “breathed His last” (Luke 23:46).
These phrases matter. Jesus did not lose His life. He released it. His final words were not words of defeat, but completion:
“It is finished” (John 19:30).
Not “I am finished.” The work was finished.
The price was paid. Nothing was left undone.
This truth brings deep peace to believers.
Our salvation does not rest on a tragedy that spiraled out of control. It rests on a deliberate, willing, victorious act of love.
Jesus was not murdered against His will.
He laid His life down so He could take it up again (John 10:17).
And because He gave His life freely, our redemption is secure.
No force took Him from the Father’s hand, and no failure can take you from His.
The finished work of Jesus tells us that the cross was not chaos. It was covenant. Not loss, but love. Not victimhood, but victory.
Jesus gave up His life so you could receive His. And nothing about that was accidental.