Lent

The Death of Jesus
2/21/18

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank you for your love to us that you sent Jesus to wash away our sins. May these words dwell in our hearts so that we may know that you loved us so much that you sent you one and only begotten son. Amen

It is Lent season so it is necessary to remember the Passion of Christ. To Christians this is a familiar story of God’s plan to bring his children closer to Him by sending His Son to the cross to shed his blood for our sins. The Passion of Christ was all pre-planed and prophesied in the OT and Jesus even spoke of it to his disciples:

In Isaiah 53:4-6, prophet described a servant as being punished for the sins of others, and that others would be healed by the wounds of this person. As explained in the New Testament - such as in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John - Jesus was crucified for our sins, and he was sinless. Christians believe that this ultimate sacrifice redeemed us all from sin in the same way that lambs and other animals were once sacrificed as a symbolic way of cleansing people from sin. All of us can be accepted into the Kingdom of God, as though we were sinless, if we accept Jesus as our savior. Christians believe that we are healed through the wounds that Jesus suffered.

Mark 10:31-32

For He taught His disciples and said to them, “The Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him. And after He is killed, He will rise the third day.” But they did not understand this saying, and were afraid to ask.

John 19: 17-27

So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. 17Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). 18There they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle. 19Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews. 20Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. 21The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews.” 22Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.” 23When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. 24“Let’s not tear it,” they said to one another. “Let’s decide by lot who will get it.” This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled that said,

“They divided my clothes among them

and cast lots for my garment.”

So this is what the soldiers did.

25Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman, here is your son,” 27and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.

Here in the final hours in the life of Jesus, we see the prophesies of the OT fulfilled.

We read in Psalm 22 vs. 16-19 of the suffering of David, which is fulfilled at the crucifixion of Jesus.

16Dogs surround me,

a pack of villains encircles me;

they pierce my hands and my feet.

17All my bones are on display;

people stare and gloat over me.

18They divide my clothes among them

and cast lots for my garment.

19But you, Lord, do not be far from me.

You are my strength; come quickly to help me.

20Deliver me from the sword,

my precious life from the power of the dogs.

The scene at the cross is one of the most powerful in our Christian heritage. We see the climax of OT prophecies, the intense suffering of a man by bearing the sins of the world; we see forgiveness of a common thief who represents us all, during His suffering. And we see the tenderness expressed to the mother of Christ.

Matthew27: 32-54And when they came to a place called Golgotha, which means Place of a Skull, they gave Him wine to drink mixed with gall; and after tasting it, He was unwilling to drink.And when they had crucified Him, they divided up His garments among themselves by casting lots. And sitting down, they began to keep watch over Him there. And above His head they put up the charge against Him which read, “THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.”

      At that time two robbers were crucified with Him, one on the right and one on the left. And those passing by were hurling abuse at Him, wagging their heads and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes and elders, were mocking Him and saying, “He saved others; He cannot save Himself. He is the King of Israel; let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe in Him.“HE TRUSTS IN GOD; LET GOD RESCUE Him now, IF HE DELIGHTS IN HIM; for He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” The robbers who had been crucified with Him were also insulting Him with the same words.

      Now from the sixth hour darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour. About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “ELI, ELI, LAMA SABACHTHANI?” that is, “MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?”And some of those who were standing there, when they heard it, began saying, “This man is calling for Elijah.”Immediately one of them ran, and taking a sponge, he filled it with sour wine and put it on a reed, and gave Him a drink. But the rest of them said, “Let us see whether Elijah will come to save Him.” And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split. The tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they entered the holy city and appeared to many. Now the centurion, and those who were with him keeping guard over Jesus, when they saw the earthquake and the things that were happening, became very frightened and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!”

When Jesus spoke those words, He had been taken into total darkness, he had been separated from God. It was necessary that the Son of Man was to bear all that we suffer, and then taken to heaven where there is no more suffering. This was done so that we may know that in our lowest, darkest times, there is the promise that God will not forsake us. This time in the life of Christ was prophesied in Daniel 7:13

I was gazing into the visions of the night,

when I saw, coming on the clouds of heaven,

as it were a son of man.

He came to the One most venerable

and was led into his presence.

On him was conferred rule,

honor and kingship,

and all peoples, nations and languages became his servants.

His rule is an everlasting rule

which will never pass away,

and his kingship will never come to an end.

Again Jesus predicts His own death.

John 12:27-36

Now my soul is troubled.

What shall I say:

Father, save me from this hour?

But it is for this very reason that I have come to this hour.

Father, glorify your name.

A voice came from heaven, ‘I have glorified it, and I will again glorify it. The crowd standing by, who heard this, said it was a clap of thunder; others said, ‘It was an angel speaking to him.’ Jesus answered,

‘It was not for my sake that this voice came, but for yours.

Now sentence is being passed on this world;

now the prince of this world is to be driven out.

and when I am lifted up from the earth,

I shall draw all peoples to myself.

This He said, signifying by what death He would die.
The people answered Him, “ We have heard from the law that the Christ remains forever; and how can you say, “The Son of Man must be lifted up”? Who is this Son of Man?”

Then Jesus said to them, “ A little while longer the light is with you. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you; he who walks in dakness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” These things Jesus spoke, and departed an was hidden from them.

Five days later, the prophecies are fulfilled. However, Jesus never left us. Matthew 28:20 … and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of age.

There is one more thing that is so crucial to the Passion of Christ, he rose from the grave and appeared before many. One of those was Thomas, a very essential character in this drama. Christians mock him by calling him Doubting Thomas but he was no more doubting than the rest. In the end, Thomas represents us all. And Jesus said,
“Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.” John 20:29

Jesus was the Holy of Holies to save man from his sin by forgiving all who would come to Jesus and repent.

Prayer:

Heavenly Father. Thank you for your promise of the messiah and the gift of the sacrifice that Jesus made for all of us. We glorify your name; we praise you for the blessings and for loving us in spite of our many sins.

Be with each one of us today especially those who need your presence in their own suffering of physical pain and for those who mourn their loved ones.

We love you Jesus

Amen