I believe most scholars agree that Jesus did exist, and I also agree, so there is no need for metaphor IMO. I'm also a firm believer that Jesus wants us to use our wisdom in regards to the crucifixion, so when we are tainted by blind belief or the usual dogmas, along with atheistic suggestions that challenge us, then I think it's better to dig deeper into what Jesus is actually saying. When he says, "forgive them for what they do", he is not asking forgiveness for God for putting Him on the cross, He is asking forgiveness for the people that put him there. God doesn't believe in sacrifice, this is also what God says. So it doesn't make sense to me that God would sacrifice anyone to forgive our sins. I believe the crucifixion showed that WE would sacrifice God. Human "kind" delivered the most vile and cruel display of power and arrogance that they could come up with, and it was a sin, and He forgave them. An actual real person forgave them in order to change their hearts, can we do that? And it began to change the world, and if we remember it right it still should, but instead we sully the story with stupid and false teachings that only draw laughter and ridicule.
Sure, most scholars agree that Jesus was a historical personage, and that he was crucified for the crime of sedition, a common enough crime in the Roman empire, for which crucifixion was the usual penalty. But the various doctrines that were spun out of this historical event by Paul and others, and are known as "Christology," are not historical fact but belong in the realm of legend, mythology, and religious and moral teachings.
Moreover, the Pauline/Roman faction was only one of several Christian factions that emerged during the first few decades and centuries after Jesus' death. There also were, among others, Gnosticism, Arianism, and the austere monasticism that was practiced by the Christian monastics and desert hermits of North Africa and the Middle East. This monasticism found its way to Ireland, where it took on elements of the indigenous Celtic nature religion, and spread from there to Scotland and Northumbria. Celtic Christianity was eventually overpowered and displaced by Pauline/Roman Christianity, but is now undergoing a revival.
Christian Gnosticism, which was declared a heresy by the early Pauline/Roman Church, is also undergoing a revival of sorts, particularly since the discovery of the so called "Gnostic Gospels" of the Nag Hamadi find, and the more recently published "Gospel of Judas."
Arianism, which is based on the teachings of the Alexandrian Christian teacher Arianus, and was the religion of the Germanic tribes that conquered the Roman Empire, was also declared a heresy by the early Pauline/Roman Church, and is now undergoing a revival of sorts, albeit on a more secular, humanistic level. The writings of Arianus were destroyed by the Roman Christian Church, but fragments of his "Thalia" survived in the writings of others, and were used by the German poet Friedrich Schiller to compose his "Ode to Joy," which was later set to music by Beethoven in his highly acclaimed 9th Symphony. The Ode to Joy is now the anthem of the European Union!
Joy, Joy!
Joy, you godly spark of beauty,
Daughters of Elysium,
Let us enter, drunk with pleasure,
Heavenly, your Heavendom.
-this, the first verse of the Ode to Joy, is my translation
