The public ministry of Jesus lasted for just three years, before he was executed by the Romans in order to appease the mob. Jesus was around 33 at the time of his death. Given the significance of the impact he had on history as a result of his short time on earth, how much more significant would his impact have been if he had lived until he was 60 or 80? Surely the more you keep doing something, the greater the impact you will have?
However, that doesn’t seem to be the way Jesus understood his mission. When you look closely at the events described in Matthew chapter 26, it becomes apparent that Jesus knew he was going to die (verse 2: “…the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.”), that he could have avoided or prevented it (verse 53: “Do you think that I can’t call on my Father, so that he would immediately send more than twelve legions of angels?”), and that he voluntarily submitted to it (verse 42: “My Father, if this cup can’t pass by without me drinking it, then let your will be done.”).
The actions of Jesus just don’t make sense if his primary mission in life was to teach people a new way of living. He was doing well, building up a good following; why throw all of that away after only three years? Jesus must have viewed his primary mission as something more important. His death was his mission, because he died as an innocent to pay the price of the sins of everyone else who deserves to die because of their sins.