A: Jesus is Himself by an eminent title the martyr of God, and consequently the prototype of martyrs. In His willingly accepted sacrifice, He gives in fact the supreme witness of His fidelity to the mission entrusted to Him by the Father. According to St. John, Jesus not only knew His death in advance, but freely accepted it as the perfect homage given to the Father; and at the moment of His condemnation, He declared: For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth” (John 10:37).
In the passion of Jesus, St. Luke sets in relief the features which shall henceforth define the martyr: the comfort of God’s grace in the hour of agony (Lk 22:43); silence and patience before accusations and insults (23:9); innocence admitted by Pilate and Herod (23:4, 14f.22); overlooking His own sufferings (23:28); welcome given to the repentant sinner (23:43); pardon granted to Peter (22:61) and to His persecutors themselves (22:51; 23:34).
More profoundly still, the whole of the New Testament recognizes in Jesus the suffering Servant foretold by Isaiah. In this perspective the passion of Jesus seems essential to His mission. Likewise, in fact, so that the Servant should suffer and die “to justify many” (Is 53:11), Jesus must pass through death “to bring the multitudes redemption from sin” (Mt 20:28). Such is the meaning of “I must” which Jesus repeats on different occasions: God’s plan of salvation passes through the suffering and death of His witness (Mt 16:21; 26:54, 56; Lk 17:25; 23:37; 24:7, 26, 44). Have not all the prophets, moreover, been persecuted and put to death (Mt 5:12); 23:30f; Acts 7:52; 1 Th 2:15; Heb 11:36ff)?
This cannot be a mere accident; Jesus recognizes it as a divine plan which finds its fulfillment in Him (Mt 23::31f)). Thus, He moves “resolutely” toward Jerusalem (Lk 9:51) “for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem” (13:33).
His passion made of Jesus the expiatory victim which replaces all ancient victims (Heb 9:1f). The believer discovers in Him the law of martyrdom “Without the shedding of blood there is no remission” (Heb 9:22). We understand why Mary, so closely associated with the passion of her Son (Jn 19:25; cf Lk 2:35), was later hailed as queen of Christian martyrs.