How did you sleep last night? Was it comfortable? The Scriptures tell us that the night before Jesus was crucified he was:
- Betrayed by one of his own and arrested (Mt 26:47-56, Mk 14:43-52, Lk 22:47-53; Jn 18:2-12)
- Taken before Annas, the former High Priest and Father in Law of the current High Priest, who still held much influence (Jn 18:13-24)
- Taken before Caiaphas, the current High Priest and some of the religious authorities (Mt 26:57-75; Mk 14:53-72; Lk 22:54-65; Jn 18:19-24)
- Taken before the entire Sanhedrin (the ruling religious establishment) where they declared he should be killed (Mt 27:1-2; Mk 15:1; Lk 22:66-71)
- Taken to the Romans so the death sentence could be carried out. Jesus stood before Pilate, who did not see any reason why Jesus should be executed. (Mt 27:2-14; Mk 15:2-5; Lk 23:1-5)
- Sent by Pilate to Herod, who was the Roman ruler of Galiliee and happened to be in Jerusalem that day, because Jesus was from Herod’s ruling jurisdiction. Herod passed no judgment on Jesus, but only mocked him. (Lk 23:6-12)
- Sent back to Pilate who still did not want to crucify Jesus, but Pilate decided to carry out the execution because he was afraid of the crowds that demanded Jesus’ execution (Mt 27:15-26; Mk 15:6-15; Lk 23:13-25; Jn 18:28-19:16)
How is your day going? Was the commute frustrating? Did the Barista make your latte wrong? The Scriptures tell us that on the morning Jesus was crucified he was:
- Whipped by the Romans (Mt 27:26; Mk 15:15; Jn 19:1)
- Mockingly “crowned” by having thorns shoved on his head, given a purple robe and a stick as a ‘scepter’ to further the humiliation of being a crucified king while they spit on his face and hit him on the head (Mt 27:27-31; Mk 15:16-20; Jn 19:1-3)
- Crucified at about 9am by being nailed to a cross on a public road and was mocked by people as they passed by (Mt 27:32-44; Mk 15:21-32; Lk 23:26-43; Jn 19:16-28)
Can’t wait to go home and start your weekend? The Scriptures teach us that at the end of this ‘work day’ for Jesus, he died and would spend the weekend in a tomb:
– At about 3pm, Jesus experienced the full wrath of God poured out on him and for the first time in history felt what it was like to be separated from God the Father. Jesus died on the cross while declaring his work of paying for the sin of the world “finished”. (Mt 27:45-56; Mk 15:33-41; Lk 23:44-49; Jn 19:28-30)
On this day we observe the cruel murder of Jesus via crucifixion and we mourn the fact that it was our sin that necessitated it. We mourn the fact that our rejection of God demanded that a sacrifice of God the Son be made on our behalf. And while we mourn the death of Jesus for our sin, we should be grateful for his sacrifice with the most humble of attitudes. We should be humble because we know that we did not deserve this kind of love poured out for our sin. God in his grace and love paid our debt of sin by pouring out his justice and wrath on Jesus on the cross.
But mourning is not our permanent attitude because we do not serve a defeated Savior, but one who victoriously conquered our sin and its consequences by resurrecting from the dead. This Sunday our mourning turns to celebration as we worship the Risen Savior who is over all.
* – Huge thanks to the ESV Study Bible for it’s help on the harmony of the events of the day.
Leave a Reply