A. “I stand before the cross and wonder. I stand before the cross and fear.
I kneel before the cross and weep. I pray before the cross and rejoice.
To know the cross is to know Christ. To feel the cross is to feel Christ.
To gaze at the cross is to gaze at Christ. To carry the cross is to be a Christian, and not until then.”
B. Today as we come to the events of that Friday in the last week of Jesus’ earthly life, I want to help us to stand before the cross in wonder and fear, and to kneel before the cross with sorrow and joy.
C. Our sermon ended last week having seen Jesus be betrayed by Judas, be arrested and bound by the soldiers, and having been deserted by all His disciples.
1. As we pick up the story of what happened to Jesus on that Friday, keep in mind it was the middle of the night, early on that Friday.
2. John tells us: 12 Then the company of soldiers, the commander, and the Jewish officials arrested Jesus and tied him up. 13 First they led him to Annas, since he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year. 14 Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jews that it would be better for one man to die for the people. (John 18:12-14)
3. The appearance before Annas was short and accomplished no meaningful purpose.
4. The questions asked by Annas were strictly for show and Jesus refused to be a part of the charade.
6. Then realizing that he was getting nowhere with Jesus, Annas sent Him bound to Caiaphas.
7. Caiaphas had already begun to assemble some of the members of the Sanhedrin who he knew would be sympathetic to his position against Jesus.
D. Mark tells us: 53 They led Jesus away to the high priest, and all the chief priests, the elders, and the scribes assembled. 54 Peter followed him at a distance, right into the high priest’s courtyard. He was sitting with the servants, warming himself by the fire. (Mk. 14:53-54)
1. So while Jesus was brought to Caiaphas’ house, Peter followed along.
2. John’s gospel tells us that another disciple (probably John himself) followed along also, and this disciple was known to the high priest, which allowed them to get them into the high priest’s courtyard.
E. Mark continues: 55 The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for testimony against Jesus to put him to death, but they could not find any. 56 For many were giving false testimony against him, and the testimonies did not agree. 57 Some stood up and gave false testimony against him, stating, 58 “We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple made with human hands, and in three days I will build another not made by hands.’” 59 Yet their testimony did not agree even on this.
60 Then the high priest stood up before them all and questioned Jesus, “Don’t you have an answer to what these men are testifying against you?” 61 But he kept silent and did not answer. Again the high priest questioned him, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?”
62 “I am,” said Jesus, “and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming with the clouds of heaven.”
63 Then the high priest tore his robes and said, “Why do we still need witnesses? 64 You have heard the blasphemy. What is your decision?” They all condemned him as deserving death. 65 Then some began to spit on him, to blindfold him, and to beat him, saying, “Prophesy!” The temple servants also took him and slapped him. (Mk. 14:55-65)
1. What was happening here at the high priest’s house was technically an inquiry not a trial, because Jewish law prohibited a trial from being conducted at night.
2. What Caiaphas was doing was laying the groundwork for the charges that would be brought against Jesus when they were able to convene the Sanhedrin for a formal trial after daybreak.
3. Caiaphas had two challenges to overcome in order to get Jesus sentenced to death.
a. The first challenge was the Sanhedrin – before them Caiaphas had to bring charges supported by witnesses, or he had to get Jesus to confess, so no witnesses were necessary.
b. The second challenge was to bring charges which would be accepted by Pilate, who was the only one who could pronounce the death sentence.
4. It is very hard to see our Lord and Savior Jesus was treated so terribly and abusively.
a. How sad that these soldiers believed they had the right to brutalize and humiliate a prisoner.
b. Imagine how it would have blown their minds if while they had blinded Jesus and hit Him, asking “who hit you?,” He named them by name and mentioned who their parents were.
c. You talk about put the fear of God into them – But Jesus showed such self-restraint.
F. Meanwhile, out in the courtyard, the drama was unfolding with Peter that Jesus had predicted.
1. All four gospels record the three denials of Peter before the rooster crowed.
2. It appears that there was enough time in between each of the denials that Peter could have thought about what he was doing and taken a different course, but he didn’t.
3. The first denial came by the fire when a servant girl said, “This man was with him too,” but Peter denied it saying, “Woman, I don’t know him.” (Lk. 22:57)
4. So Peter moved away from the fire, and a little while later someone said, “You’re one of them too,” but Peter said, “Man, I am not!” (Lk. 22:58)
5. About an hour later, another person kept insisting, “This man was certainly with him, since he’s also a Galilean.”
a. John tells us that this third person to identify Peter was a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off (Jn. 18:26); he had likely been a witness when it happened.
b. But I can only imagine how much pressure and fear Peter felt as people kept recognizing him and confronting him about his relationship with Jesus.
6. When the third accusation occurred, the pressure was so great that Matthew and Mark report that Peter started to curse and swear, and said: “Man, I don’t know what you’re talking about!”
7. Immediately, a rooster crowed and the Lord turned and looked at Peter and Peter remembered what Jesus had said and went out and wept bitterly. (Lk. 22:59-62)
a. I wonder what Peter saw in Jesus’ eyes when their eyes met.
b. I have a feeling that Jesus’ eyes were filled with pity and compassion, rather than anger and disgust.
c. I can only imagine how long Peter must have cried after his awful betrayal.
G. The focus of the drama turned back to Jesus as Luke tells us: 66 When daylight came, the elders of the people, both the chief priests and the scribes, convened and brought him before their Sanhedrin. 67 They said, “If you are the Messiah, tell us.” But he said to them, “If I do tell you, you will not believe. 68 And if I ask you, you will not answer. 69 But from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God.” 70 They all asked, “Are you, then, the Son of God?” And he said to them, “You say that I am.” 71 “Why do we need any more testimony,” they said, “since we’ve heard it ourselves from his mouth?” (Lk. 22:66-71)
1. The Sanhedrin was located in Jerusalem and was comprised of 71 members chosen from the chief priests, elders, and scribes.
2. The presence of 23 of the 71 was required to make a quorum.
3. Without a doubt Caiaphas had carefully selected the 23 to be sure there were none of Jesus supporters present.
4. That day they followed most of the rules for Sanhedrin trials, but one glaring exception was that they announced a guilty verdict on the same day as the trial – the two were supposed to be separated by at least a day, but there was no time for that.
5. Because Jesus made a statement in their presence that they considered blasphemous, they needed no witnesses and they declared Him guilty and condemned.
6. Mark’s record summarizes the trial with these words: As soon as it was morning, having held a meeting with the elders, scribes, and the whole Sanhedrin, the chief priests tied Jesus up, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate. (Mk. 15:15)
H. Pontius Pilate had been governor of the province of Judea for about four years when Jesus was brought before him.
1. The four years had been troublesome both for him and for the Jews.
2. The Roman governors were not popular to begin with, but Pilate had managed to offend the Jewish leaders in additional ways on two separate occasions.
3. The two problematic events had resulted in Pilate being put on semi-probation by the authorities in Rome who disliked unrest in the provinces.
4. For the time being, Pilate was attempting to appease the leaders while striving to maintain absolute authority over the people of the region.
5. This proved to be a major problem when Jesus was brought before him and is likely why he handled the case of Jesus the way he did.
I. It’s impossible to read the account of the trials before Pilate without realizing that Pilate did not want to have Jesus crucified.
1. This is actually quite surprising because Pilate was known as a blood-thirsty individual who had no aversion to killing or having someone killed.
2. Yet, in the case of Jesus, Pilate did everything in his power to prevent the crucifixion, but no matter how hard he tried, he could not avoid his date with destiny.
3. Even though he believed Jesus to be innocent, in the end he had to give in to the travesty of the Jewish leaders’ charade in order to keep himself out of political trouble in Rome.
J. John tells us that it was early morning when the Jewish leaders brought Jesus to Pilate, probably as soon after 6 AM as possible.
1. John tells us that they didn’t enter the governor’s headquarters so as not to defile themselves which would make them unable to eat the Passover (Jn. 18:28) – how ironic that in their mind entering a Gentile’s house would defile them, but not condemning an innocent man.
2. So Pilate came out to meet them, and his first attempt to escape making a judgment against Jesus was to say he didn’t have jurisdiction in this matter since their dispute had to do with questions about their law (Jn. 18:29-32).
3. But the Jewish leadership would have none of it, so they immediately brought up a charge that they knew Pilate would have to investigate by saying, “Jesus opposes payment of taxes to Caesar and claims to be a king.” (Lk. 23:2b)
a. This charge was one which was punishable under Roman law, so Pilate questioned Jesus.
b. But their short and interesting conversation convinced Pilate that Jesus had no desire to rebel against the Roman empire and establish His own kingdom.
c. When Pilate told the chief priest that he found no grounds for charging Jesus, the chief priests kept insisting that He stirs up people, and they mentioned Jesus was from Galilee.
4. Galilee was in Herod’s jurisdiction and Pilate knew that Herod was in town for the Passover, so Pilate thought he had found a way to rid himself of the problem so he sent Jesus to Herod.
a. Herod was glad for the opportunity to meet Jesus and hoped that Jesus would perform a miracle for him – like walk across his swimming pool – song from Jesus Christ Superstar.
b. But Jesus had no intention of accommodating Herod and remained silent, so Herod quickly sent Him back to Pilate. (Lk. 23:6-12).
5. And so, by about 7:30 that morning the problem of Jesus was back in Pilate’s lap.
a. The Jews were relentless in their quest to obtain the death of Jesus, but Pilate was determined to find some way to avoid the inevitable.
6. That’s when Pilate remembered something that might give him an out – he remembered that it was the governor’s custom to release to the crowd a prisoner they wanted (Mt. 27:15).
a. Pilate took a calculated risk – he chose to give the crowd a choice between having Jesus released or having a notorious murderer and insurrectionist named Barabbas released.
b. Pilate thought the crowd would choose the harmless Jesus over the dangerous Barabbas, but he had misjudged the Jewish leadership’s commitment to seeing Jesus dead.
7. Matthew tells us: Pilate said to them, “Who is it you want me to release for you—Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?” 18 For he knew it was because of envy that they had handed him over. 19 While he was sitting on the judge’s bench, his wife sent word to him, “Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for today I’ve suffered terribly in a dream because of him.” 20 The chief priests and the elders, however, persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to execute Jesus. 21 The governor asked them, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?” “Barabbas!” they answered. 22 Pilate asked them, “What should I do then with Jesus, who is called Christ?” They all answered, “Crucify him!” 23 Then he said, “Why? What has he done wrong?” But they kept shouting all the more, “Crucify him!” (Mt. 27:17-23)
a. Pilate found himself between the proverbial “rock and the hard place.”
b. Every one of his attempts to avoid condemning someone he deemed innocent had failed.
8. John tells us that the crowd then began to yell: 12 But the Jews shouted, “If you release this man, you are not Caesar’s friend. Anyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar!” 14 Then he told the Jews, “Here is your king!” 15 They shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Should I crucify your king?” “We have no king but Caesar!” the chief priests answered. 16 Then he handed him over to be crucified. (Jn. 19:12, 14-16)
a. With this statement the Jews located Pilate’s “Achilles’ heel.”
b. Pilate’s fear of displeasing Caesar was greater than his fear of displeasing God.
c. Pilate acted to preserve his political position and thus Jesus’ fate was sealed.
9. Matthew concludes: 24 When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that a riot was starting instead, he took some water, washed his hands in front of the crowd, and said, “I am innocent of this man’s blood. See to it yourselves!” 25 All the people answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!” 26 Then he released Barabbas to them and, after having Jesus flogged, handed him over to be crucified. (Mt. 27:24-26)
a. As much as Pilate wanted to wash his hands of responsibility, he could not.
b. If ever a people named their own poison, this statement: “His blood be on us and on our children!” was it – for 2000 years since the Jewish nation has never known peace.
K. One would think that what Jesus had already experienced with mocking and flogging would have been enough before His crucifixion, but Matthew tells us there was more: 27 Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the governor’s residence and gathered the whole company around him. 28 They stripped him and dressed him in a scarlet robe. 29 They twisted together a crown of thorns, put it on his head, and placed a staff in his right hand. And they knelt down before him and mocked him: “Hail, king of the Jews!” 30 Then they spat on him, took the staff, and kept hitting him on the head. 31 After they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe, put his own clothes on him, and led him away to crucify him. (Mt. 27:27-31)
1. It is so hard to read of this kind of emotional and physical abuse of our Savior, but Jesus endured it and showed such self-restraint – He could have stopped it or neutralized them.
L. Mark reports what took place next: They led him out to crucify him. 21 They forced a man coming in from the country, who was passing by, to carry Jesus’s cross. He was Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus. 22 They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means Place of the Skull). 23 They tried to give him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it.
24 Then they crucified him and divided his clothes, casting lots for them to decide what each would get. 25 Now it was nine in the morning when they crucified him. 26 The inscription of the charge written against him was: The King of the Jews. 27 They crucified two criminals with him, one on his right and one on his left.
29 Those who passed by were yelling insults at him, shaking their heads, and saying, “Ha! The one who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, 30 save yourself by coming down from the cross!” 31 In the same way, the chief priests with the scribes were mocking him among themselves and saying, “He saved others, but he cannot save himself! 32 Let the Messiah, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross, so that we may see and believe.” Even those who were crucified with him taunted him. (Mk. 15:21-32)
1. Those condemned by Rome were always paraded through the streets as a warning to others.
2. The “cross” Jesus carried was likely just the crossbeam and not the entire cross, but this piece alone would have been very heavy, especially for a man who had just been flogged.
3. The man who was forced to carry Jesus’ cross was clearly identified adding credibility to the story for those who wanted to investigate it.
4. The place of crucifixion was just outside of Jerusalem at a place called “the skull” which is Calvary in Latin and Golgotha in Hebrew – both mean “skull.”
5. It was customary among the Romans to give the person to be crucified a stupefying portion of wine and myrrh, which was a gesture of mercy, but Jesus refused to be rendered intoxicated.
a. There were important things for Him to do while suffering on the cross.
6. The condemned man was stripped of his clothing, and the clothing was the booty of the executioners – They gambled for His clothes just as the Scripture had predicted.
7. The condemned man was then fastened to the cross while it was lying on the ground.
a. His arms were stretched out and tied to the crossbar between the elbow and the shoulder, and large spikes were driven through his hands and feet.
b. Then the cross was lifted and thrust into the ground, and wedges were used to secure the cross in place.
c. Did you notice how concise and unsensational was the description: the Bible simply says: “They crucified Him” – 3 words that say so very much!
8. The victim was left to hang in this position until death slowly came to bring relief.
a. It usually required 2 to 3 days because death came not from the loss of blood, but death came from the slow process of exhaustion and suffocation.
b. When it was necessary to speed up death for any reason, the prisoner’s legs were broken, and this prevented the victim from lifting his body in order to breathe.
9. It was nine o’clock in the morning and Jerusalem was coming to life in anticipation of the Jewish festival taking place and most would not have known that Jesus had already been condemned and was being crucified.
M. Beyond the physical pain Jesus endured on the cross, He also endured the verbal taunting from people passing by, the religious authorities, and even the condemned criminals on each side of Him.
1. They railed at His prophecies, they mocked his miraculous power, they scorned His position as King, and they scoffed at His personal relationship with God (he trusts God, let God rescue him
2. The taunts of these wicked individuals were terribly brutal and completely incorrect.
N. While Jesus hung on the cross, He made a number of statements.
1. The first thing that Jesus said was, “Father, forgive them, because they don’t know what they are doing.” (Lk. 23:34) – How accurate! How gracious!
2. At some point one of the criminals had a change of heart and asked Jesus to remember him and Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” (Lk. 23:42)
3. Also, at some point, Jesus looked at His mother, Mary and the disciple whom he loved, John, and He said, “Woman, here is your son.” and to John “Here is your mother.” (Jn. 19:26-27)
O. After three hours of crucifixion, Luke says: It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three, because the sun’s light failed. (Lk. 23:44)
1. There is no explanation known to science that could account for this phenomenon.
2. Some have suggested an eclipse of the sun, but anyone who has ever witnessed an eclipse knows it lasts for a few minutes.
3. This darkness lasted for three hours and evidently ended as suddenly as it began.
4. Some have suggested that the darkness was caused by God removing His presence.
5. Some have suggested that God meant the darkness to represent mourning for Jesus.
6. Others have said that it was designed to lesson Jesus’ suffering from the scorching heat of the noonday sun beating down on Jesus’ body.
7. Whatever the reason for God to do it, it must have surely gotten everyone’s attention, because it was so unusual and eerie.
8. The scriptures are silent as to anything that transpired at Calvary between noon and 3 in the afternoon, but at 3 PM things took a dramatic turn.
P. At 3 PM, Jesus moved quickly toward death.
1. He cried out, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” (Mk. 15:34)
2. He cried out: “I’m thirsty.” (Jn. 19:28) And they put a sponge to His mouth.
3. He cried out: “It is finished.” (Jn. 19:30).
4. He cried out in a loud voice: “Father, into your hands I entrust my spirit.” (Lk. 23:46)
5. Then bowing His head, He gave up His spirit (Jn. 19:30) – No one took His life; He gave it up.
6. Matthew tells us: 51 Suddenly, the curtain of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom, the earth quaked, and the rocks were split. 52 The tombs were also opened and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised. 53 And they came out of the tombs after his resurrection, entered the holy city, and appeared to many. (Mt. 27:51-53)
7. Can you guess what time of the day the Passover lamb was supposed to be sacrificed? 3 PM!
8. Only a parent could begin to understand the restraint required on God’s part to allow Jesus His Son to suffer on the cross from 9 AM until 3 PM, but when Jesus died, God’s fury was no longer contained and the earth shook with great violence.
9. The business at the temple had been unusual that afternoon with the 3 hours of darkness, but imagine the commotion when at 3 PM the ground shook, and the 64 foot tall curtain hanging between the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place in the temple was torn from top to bottom.
10. The ripping apart of the curtain surely was God’s declaration that Jesus’ death opened the “dwelling place of God” to all people – the dividing barrier was removed.
Q. It’s difficult to imagine what the effect of these phenomena had on the people witnessing it at the cross and at the temple, but the Bible tells us the effect all this had on at least one Roman centurion at the cross: When the centurion and those with him, who were keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, they were terrified and said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!” (Mt. 27:54)
1. How about you? What effect does witnessing the crucifixion have on you?
2. I hope and pray that the effect the life and death and resurrection of Jesus has on you is total faith and the devotion of your life to Him.
R. The events of that Friday in the last week of Jesus’ earthly life ended like this: 31 Since it was the preparation day, the Jews did not want the bodies to remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a special day). They requested that Pilate have the men’s legs broken and that their bodies be taken away. 32 So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man and of the other one who had been crucified with him. 33 When they came to Jesus, they did not break his legs since they saw that he was already dead. 34 But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once blood and water came out. 35 He who saw this has testified so that you also may believe. His testimony is true, and he knows he is telling the truth. 36 For these things happened so that the Scripture would be fulfilled: Not one of his bones will be broken. 37 Also, another Scripture says: They will look at the one they pierced.
38 After this, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus—but secretly because of his fear of the Jews—asked Pilate that he might remove Jesus’s body. Pilate gave him permission; so he came and took his body away. 39 Nicodemus (who had previously come to him at night) also came, bringing a mixture of about seventy-five pounds of myrrh and aloes. 40 They took Jesus’s body and wrapped it in linen cloths with the fragrant spices, according to the burial custom of the Jews. 41 There was a garden in the place where he was crucified. A new tomb was in the garden; no one had yet been placed in it. 42 They placed Jesus there because of the Jewish day of preparation and since the tomb was nearby. (Jn. 19:31-42)
1. Matthew, Mark and Luke also note that Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were watching where Jesus was laid. (Mt. 27:61; Mk. 15:47; Lk. 23:55)
S. Next week, Lord willing, we will explore the emotional turmoil the disciples of Jesus must have experienced on Sabbath Saturday.
1. How hard it must have been for them to have watched their Master die on the cross and be buried in the tomb.
2. That emotional turmoil was multiplied by their fear, confusion and absence of hope.
3. They simply couldn’t grasp why all this had happened to Jesus and about what was going to happen on Sunday.
4. It was Friday, but Sunday was coming!
T. There are so many eternal lessons we can learn from that Friday, but let me just offer these few:
1. God’s plan is amazing – This was God’s plan for our redemption before the foundation of the world.
2. The penalty for sin is high – sin is serious and the penalty for sin is death.
a. For the wages of sin is death (Rom. 6:23).
3. God’s love is great - Jesus loved us enough that He was willing to pay the price in our place.
4. The path of discipleship is hard – Jesus said if anyone would come after Him they must take up their cross daily and follow Him – to save our lives we must be willing to lose them.
a. The apostle Paul expressed it well in these words: 14 For the love of Christ compels us, since we have reached this conclusion, that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15 And he died for all so that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for the one who died for them and was raised. (2 Corinthians 5:14-15)
5. I hope and pray that Christ’s love compels us to no longer live for ourselves but to live for Him who died for us and was raised and is seated at God’s right hand in heaven.
6. If you haven’t yet given your life to Christ and been reconciled to Him, I urge you to be baptized into Christ.
7. If you have already been baptized into Christ, then walk faithfully with Him to the end.
Resources:
• Book by Max Lucado, “And the Angels were Silent,” Multnomah, 1992
• Book by Wayne D. Leeper, “Prelude to Glory,” Christian Communications, 1987
• The opening poem is from “God is No Fool” by Lois A. Cheney.
• Truth for Today Commentary, Mark, Martel Pace.
