Introduction:
A. It was a day when the world seemed to stand still.
1. The date was November 22, 1963.
2. President John F. Kennedy sat in the rear seat of an open limousine as it traveled down the streets of Dallas, Texas.
3. At 12:30 p.m., the cars approached an expressway for the last leg of the trip.
4. Suddenly, three shots rang out and the President slumped down, hit in the neck and head.
5. Doctors worked desperately to save the President, but he died at 1:00 p.m.
6. News spread across a shocked nation.
7. Millions around the world watched the events with deep sadness. Including the Olbrichts who were serving in Germany at the time.
8. It seemed everyone knew what had happened.
B. While Jesus didn’t hold political office, the news of His death spread throughout that ancient world just as quickly and with just as much interest.
1. Within hours of Jesus’ death, everyone in Jerusalem and around Judea knew about what had happened.
2. It was a day when the world seemed to stand still.
C. As we continue our “Devoted To Jesus” Series, today we are going to talk about the crucifixion.
1. To begin with, I want to review the event and the developments that led up to Jesus’ death.
2. Then to finish up the sermon, I want us to consider the significance of Jesus’ death.
3. Many of the insights I will share today were gleaned from Phillip Yancy’s book, “The Jesus I Never Knew.”
I. The Story
A. Yancy notes that most biographies devote less than 10 % of their pages to the subject’s death.
1. That includes those who died violent and politically significant deaths – like Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mahatma Gandi.
2. The Gospels, however, devote nearly a third of their length to the climactic last week of Jesus’ life.
3. As the last week of Jesus’ life unfolds, we are swept away by the sheer drama of it.
4. The most sophisticated religious system of its time allied with the most powerful political empire, and rose against a solitary figure, the only perfect man who has ever lived.
5. And although he is mocked by the powers and abandoned by his friends, the Gospels reveal that He Himself was overseeing the whole long process.
6. No miracles were allowed to break in, and no supernatural rescue attempts were made.
7. Jesus had resolutely set His face toward Jerusalem knowing the fate that awaited Him there.
8. The cross had been His destination all along.
B. As we rehearse the story, our challenge is to try to see everything through the eyes of those who experienced these events.
1. It is a challenge for us who know the outcome in advance to recapture the dire end-of-the-world feeling that certainly descended on Jesus’ followers.
2. Over the centuries, the story has grown so familiar to us, that it is hard for us to feel the impact that that final week had on those who lived through it, but we must try.
C. The Last Week of Jesus’ Life Begins with The Triumphal Entry
1. All four Gospels tell the story of the Triumphal Entry, which seems like such a departure from Jesus’ aversion to acclaim.
2. As Jesus approached Jerusalem the crowds spread clothing and tree branches across the road to show their adoration.
3. They cried out, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” (Mt. 21:9)
4. Though Jesus usually recoiled from such displays of fanaticism, this time he let them yell, and explained to the indignant Pharisees, “I tell you, if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” (Lk. 19:40)
5. One certainly wonders how, with such a throng throwing themselves at His feet at the beginning of the week, how did Jesus get arrested and killed later that same week?
6. Those crying in support of Him were likely the people from Bethany, still exuberant over the miracle of Lazarus, pilgrims form Galilee who knew Him well, and Matthew points out that further support came from the blind, the lame and the children.
7. But lurking in the crowd were the religious authorities and Roman authorities who felt so threatened by Him.
D. While in Jerusalem that week, Jesus cleared the temple for the second time in His ministry.
1. He also did quite a bit of teaching - telling parables, answering questions, and confronting the Pharisees.
E. Then Came The Last Supper
1. When Jesus gathered with his disciples for the Last Supper and they moved through the Passover ritual, laden with symbolism, they were in for many surprises.
2. In startling fashion, Jesus interrupted the progress of the meal, by getting up in the middle of it and washing their feet.
3. This was a very strange way for the guest of honor to act during a final meal with His friends.
4. In those days, foot washing was considered so degrading that a master could not require it of a Jewish slave.
5. In this one act, Jesus symbolically overturned the whole social order of the day.
6. Following this example of Jesus has not been easy for any of us who are followers of Jesus.
7. Later, in the midst of this intimate evening with his closest friends, Jesus dropped a bombshell – one of them would betray Him.
8. They all looked at one another, at a loss to know which of them would do such a thing.
9. Each of them responded in turn, “Surely not I?”
10. When Jesus revealed that it would be Judas, Judas quietly left the room.
11. But he would not be the only one to let Jesus down.
12. Jesus proceeded to predict Peter’s denial, and the abandonment of all of them.
F. Then on To Gethsemane
1. From the stuffy upstairs room in Jerusalem, Jesus and His eleven disciples headed for the cool, spacious olive groves in the garden of Gethsemane.
2. Spring was in full bloom, and the night air must have been fragrant with blossoms.
3. Reclining under the moon and stars in that peaceful setting away from the bustle of the city, the disciples quickly drifted asleep.
4. Jesus, however, felt no such peace.
5. Matthew records, “He began to be sorrowful and troubled.” (Mt. 26:37) Mark adds, He felt “deeply distressed.” (Mk. 14:33)
6. Both writers record His despondent words to the disciples, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” (Mt. 26:38; Mk. 14:34)
7. Often during Jesus’ ministry, He had gone off by himself to pray, but tonight, he needed their presence.
8. Sadly, they all slept while Jesus endured the crucible, alone.
9. After several hours of torturous prayer, Jesus came to a resolution. His will and the Father’s converged.
10. Jesus woke his slumbering friends and marched boldly through the darkness toward the ones intent on killing Him.
11. Judas gave them the sign of a kiss, the crowd seized Jesus, and the disciples fled.
G. Next Cam The Trials
1. In a span of less than 24 hours, Jesus faced as many as six interrogations, some conducted by the Jews and some by the Romans.
2. As we read the accounts, Jesus’ defenselessness is what stands out.
3. Not a single witness rose to His defense.
4. Not a single leader, Jewish or Roman, had the nerve to speak out against the injustice that it was.
5. Not even Jesus tried to defend Himself.
6. The trial sequence has a “pass-the-buck” quality, as no one seems willing to accept full responsibility for executing Jesus.
7. In the end an exasperated governor pronounced the harshest verdict permitted under Roman law.
H. Finally to The Hill of Calvary
1. It is hard to fathom the indignity, and the shame endured by God’s Son when He was stripped naked, flogged, spat on, struck in the face, crowned with thorns, and led off to be crucified.
2. It went like that all day long, from the bullying game of Blind Man’s Bluff in the high priest’s courtyard, to the professional thuggery of Pilate’s and Herod’s guards, to the catcalls of spectators turned out to jeer the criminals stumbling up the long road to Calvary, and finally to the cross itself where Jesus heard a stream of taunts from the ground below and even from the cross next to Him.
3. I have to marvel at the self-restraint that God showed on that dark Friday outside Jerusalem.
4. Legions of angels awaited His command. One word, and the ordeal would end.
5. Evangelists, archaeologists, and medical experts have described the grim details of crucifixion so thoroughly, but the Bible does not attempt to do so.
6. The Bible simply and sterilely says, “They crucified him.” (Mk. 15:24)
7. From the accounts in the Gospels, it seems that Jesus himself had other things on His mind other than the pain, as excruciating as it was.
8. The closest thing to a physical complaint was his cry, “I am thirsty.” (Jn. 19:28)
9. As always, Jesus was thinking of others while He hung on the cross.
10. He uttered words of forgiveness for those who had done this to Him. He arranged for the care of His mother, and He welcomed the repentant thief to join Him in paradise.
11. The Gospels record different snippets of conversation from the cross, and two of them relay the last words of Jesus.
12. Luke records, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” (Lk. 23:46) A final act of trust on Jesus’ part.
13. John records the cryptic summation of Jesus’ entire mission, “It is finished.” (Jn. 19:30)
14. We are not told what God the Father cried out at that moment, but we can only imagine!
15. The Gospels record what then immediately happened upon Jesus’ death.
a. The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.
b. The earth shook and the rocks split.
c. The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life
16. Matthew records, “When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, ‘Surely he was the Son of God!’” (Mt. 27:54)
17. It was Friday afternoon, and for the disciples of Jesus it felt like the world had come to an end.
18. None of them sensed the joy that awaited them come Sunday morning!
II. The Significance
A. Many, many people died on crosses.
1. The day Jesus died, two other men died on crosses on both sides of Him.
2. It wasn’t banned as a method of execution until the Roman emperor Constantine in the fourth century.
3. So what made Jesus’ crucifixion so different from all the rest?
B. The answer to that question is found in our Scripture Reading for today.
1. Paul wrote, “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:6-8)
2. Paul wrote in 2 Cor. 5:21, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
3. Jesus the perfect, innocent one, took upon himself our punishment and died for our sins. That’s what made His crucifixion so different.
4. The prophet Isaiah so eloquently stated it,
“Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:4-6)
C. The story is told of a West Point graduate who was sent to Vietnam to lead into battle a group of new recruits.
1. The leader did his job well, and kept his group from ambush and death on many occasions.
2. One night, when they had been under attack, one of his men was severely wounded and lay in a very dangerous position.
3. To attempt the rescue could mean certain death, but the young lieutenant leader had to try.
4. So he crawled out of his trench and was mortally wounded while bringing the soldier to safety.
5. After the rescued man returned to the States, the lieutenant’s parents heard that he was in their vicinity.
6. Wanting to know this young man whose life was spared at such a great cost to them, they invited him to dinner.
7. When their honored guest arrived, he was obviously drunk.
8. He was rowdy and obnoxious, and showed little gratitude for the sacrifice made for him.
9. The grieving parents did their best to make the man’s visit worthwhile, but their efforts went unrewarded.
10. After their guest finally left, the dad turned to his wife, and she collapsed in tears crying, “To think that our precious son had to die for somebody like that.” (Mary Lewis, Sermon Central.com)
D. I wonder if God doesn’t feel that way sometimes.
1. Because He died for us and we are somebody like that.
2. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
3. He didn’t die for us after He saw that we were basically good people, or after our good deeds out numbered our bad ones.
4. No, He died while we were still sinners, and before we ever showed any appreciation for Him.
E. Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” (Jn. 15:13)
1. 1 John 3:16 says, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.”
2. 1 John 4:9-10, “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”
F. The mother of a nine-year-old boy named Mark received a phone call from her son’s teacher.
1. The teacher said, “Mrs. Smith, something unusual happened today. Your son did something that surprised me so much I thought you should know about it immediately.”
2. The teacher continued, “Nothing like this has happened in all my years of teaching. This morning I gave a creative writing assignment. I told them this story about the ant and the grasshopper. The ant worked all summer and stored up plenty of food, but the grasshopper played all summer and did no work. When winter came, the grasshopper began to starve because he had no food. So he begged the ant, ‘Please Mr. Ant, you have so much food, will you share your food with me?’”
3. I tell the children, “Boys and girls, your job is to write the end of the story.”
4. “Your son, Mark, raised his hand and asked if he could draw a picture.”
5. “I told him he could draw a picture after he wrote an ending to the story.”
6. “As in past years,” the teacher continued, “most of the students said the ant shared his food with the grasshopper and both the ant and grasshopper lived. A few children always say that the ant would not share and told the grasshopper that he should have worked in the summer rather than play and that there was just enough food for himself. So the ant lives, but the grasshopper dies.”
7. “But your son ended the story in a way that is different from any other student I’ve had. He wrote, ‘So the ant gave all of his food to the grasshopper; the grasshopper lived through the winter. But the ant died.’”
8. “And the picture he drew at the bottom of the page? Mark drew three crosses.”
9. Jesus died so that we might live. He didn’t die to save himself, but to save us!
(Story from Mary Lewis, SermonCentral.com
Conclusion:
A. So what do we learn from all of this?
1. We learn that God loves us. He truly loves you and me that much!
2. We learn that we need what Jesus offers. No matter who we are we need the gift that God offers. We cannot save ourselves. We cannot earn our salvation, we can only receive it.
3. We learn that we don’t have to know or understand everything before we begin a relationship with Jesus Christ. We do have to know and believe that Jesus died for us, and make a commitment to live for Him.
B. How can we respond to God’s gift?
1. We can respond with thanksgiving. What a generous gift we have been given.
2. We can respond with faith and acceptance; believing in Jesus, appreciating His sacrifice.
3. We can respond with repentance and baptism.
4. We can respond with faithfulness – Living a life of love and purity, outreach and service.
C. Thank God that Jesus came, and lived, and died for us!
