Englebert Fisen (d. 1733)
Wikimedia Commons Public Domain
Compare Matthew 3:17; 10:39; 16:24-25; 17:5; 20:28; 26:38-39; Mark 1:11; 8:34-35; 9:7; 10:45; 14:34-36; Luke 3:22; 9:23-24, 35; 10:18; 17:33; 22:41-42.
The prediction of his death given here by Jesus is quite clear.
So is his statement, in John 12:27, of the principal purpose of his life:
Νῦν ἡ ψυχή μου τετάρακται, καὶ τί εἴπω; πάτερ, σῶσόν με ἐκ τῆς ὥρας ταύτης. ἀλλὰ διὰ τοῦτο ἦλθον εἰς τὴν ὥραν ταύτην.
“Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say—‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour.”
Or here’s a paraphrase from The Message:
“Right now I am storm-tossed. And what am I going to say? ‘Father, get me out of this’? No, this is why I came in the first place.”
He didn’t come primarily to perform miracles, nor even, important though his teachings are, to teach.
He came to die.
He came to atone for our sins and then to break the chains of death through his victorious resurrection from the tomb.
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