"death Was Arrested!"

RESURRECTION DAY 2021

“The Day Death Died”

John 17-20

I want to begin today with a rhetorical question. A rhetorical question is one that we often ask but we really don’t want an answer to. It’s often used to make a point; to get someone’s attention. In fact you might not want to answer the question because it could be embarrassing. So here is the question. Have you ever been arrested? I was 17 the first and only time I was sort of arrested. I was attending a Bible study with our youth group and the man who was leading the study was a farmer and he owned a cotton gin. So that is where we met for the study. That night I remember he was talking about the Apostle Paul and how Paul was basically a jailbird. Paul spent about 6 years of his life in jail for doing exactly what I am doing today---preaching the gospel. He explained to us that it was very dangerous at that time to openly teach the gospel. In fact Paul was beaten for preaching the gospel. As I recall we hadn’t been meeting for long when suddenly, several police officers walked in and claimed that we were breaking the law and they arrested the Bible teachers and every teenager in the place, claiming that we were trespassing on private property. Walked us all out and put us in the back seat of the squad cars and drove us to the Police station to the county jail. Marched us in, in single file, opened the bars for us to go in and I remember thinking, you know this Bibles study’s not any fun anymore; took us inside the cell and then he smiled and laughed and said they actually had arranged all of this so that we could experience a bit of what the Apostle Paul experienced in his day. I’’ never forget that evening because as far as I knew I was being arrested but I really wasn’t.

Let’s start by defining the word arrested.

To seize by legal authority and take

Into custody.

So, if you walk with me into the week we call the week of Passion there were major events that happened each day. At the beginning of the week Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the back of donkey; they spread palm leaves on the ground as though they were laying out the red carpet. Jesus was so popular and the people loved Him so much they were ready to crown Him King. Then Monday came and when Jesus walked into the temple, he became angry. Yes Jesus got angry. The bible actually says, “Be angry and sin not.” So anger is not the problem; it’s what you do with it. We all get angry. And Jesus was angry because of what they were doing with the temple. The moneychangers were there and they were forcing everyone to pay an excessive amount for a sacrifice; a lamb or a dove for their offering. The animal had to be perfect; no blemish; so for those who brought their own sacrifice; they were simply told it wasn’t acceptable. They would have to buy one. When Jesus saw this, He was furious and said, “My house is a house of prayer but you have made it into a den of thieves.” He took some cords and made whip, picked up the tables and turned them over. You can picture now doves flying everywhere, money likely flying through the air. The Son of God was angry. And in my mind this was the beginning of the end for Jesus. This was when everything changed. Who was this man who would defy authority? Who was this man who would question the religious authorities of the day?

Tuesday came and Jesus preached his last sermon. And it was quite harsh. He repeatedly said the words, “woe to you teacher of the law, calling them hypocrites at least 6 times, telling them they were spiritually blind; told them they were clean on the outside but filthy on the inside. And again Jesus offended the religious crowd. Let’s move now to Thursday, a very eventful day that week. The Lord’s Supper was put into place and Jesus went into the Garden to pray. Jesus prayed so intensely that He sweat drops of blood; a very rare condition known as Hematidrosis. It was that night that Roman soldiers came into the Garden; Judas had alerted them as to where they could find Jesus that evening. And Jesus was arrested. From the time that he was arrested that Thursday evening until the next morning he would endure 6 different trials, passed from one authority to another until finally a decision was made and our Lord was sentenced to death on a cross.