Triumphant Even To Death

We've been discussing Jesus's mission and His ministry for the past few weeks. Through that ministry, Jesus expressed His love for everyone. His mission and His ministry would lead us to today, Palm Sunday, the first day of the last week of Jesus's life here on Earth in human form.

We know the story because we have heard it many times of Jesus's triumphal entry into the city of Jerusalem that Sunday. Jesus had instructed two of His disciples to go into the city before him and retrieve a young colt for Him to ride. The colt was brought and Jesus sat upon it to begin His triumphal entry.

Luke 19:35-38 – “Then they brought it to Jesus, and after throwing their clothes on the colt, they helped Jesus get on it. 36 As he was going along, they were spreading their clothes on the road. 37 Now he came near the path down the Mount of Olives, and the whole crowd of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles they had seen:

********38 Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest heaven!”

What a day of celebration. No one knew at that time what the end of this week would bring. Everyone was excited and looking forward to Jesus being possibly their new king. Only Jesus knew what Friday would bring.

On Thursday of this week, Jesus would lead in the very first Lord's supper. Then He and His disciples would retreat to the Mount of Olives where He would pray and seek the will of His heavenly Father.

Jesus would be arrested that evening and be accused in a mock trial. On Friday morning, He would be handed back and forth, first from Pontius Pilate, then to Herod, then back to Pontius Pilate.

Even though Pontius Pilate did not find any wrong in Jesus, he gave in to the cries of the people to have Jesus whipped and led to Mount Calvary where He would be crucified. Now let's pick up that story in

Luke 23: 32-34 – “Two others—criminals—were also led away to be executed with him. 33 When they arrived at the place called The Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals, one on the right and one on the left. 34 Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, because they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided his clothes and cast lots.”

Crucifixion was considered to be one of the most cruel, humiliating, and painful forms of execution. Even though Jesus was facing extreme hatred toward Him, He responded with extravagant love. While suffering on the cross, Jesus prayed for the Father to forgive the ones who put Him there. What is ironic about it all is that the ones who were killing Him could only be forgiven because Jesus willingly submitted to death.

What we need to realize is that the cross wasn't the end of Jesus's mission. Before He was arrested, Jesus told His disciples:

Luke 22:37 – “For I tell you, what is written must be fulfilled in me: And he was counted among the lawless. Yes, what is written about me is coming to its fulfillment.”

Jesus was quoting Isaiah 53:12, which described the Messiah as a suffering servant who laid down His life for His people. And as fulfillment of that prophecy, Jesus was crucified between two criminals, even though He was completely innocent.

Why did Jesus do this? I can answer that by going a little deeper and looking at a second layer to this prophecy, which we can better understand by looking at a few of the earlier verses in Isaiah 53. I'm going to read from the prophecy of Isaiah and I want to emphasize some of the pronouns used in that prophecy. I think this will answer why Jesus did what He did.

Isaiah 53:5-6 - " But he was pierced because of OUR rebellion, crushed because of OUR iniquities; punishment for OUR peace was on him, and WE are healed by his wounds. 6 WE all went astray like sheep; WE all have turned to OUR own way; and the Lord has punished him for the iniquity of US all."

Do you see it? OUR, WE, US.

Jesus was punished for OUR rebellion. He received the punishment WE deserve for rebelling against God. Every time we backslide, every time we lie or cheat, every time we sin and think we are hiding it from God, we are rebelling against God. It's that rebellion that sent Jesus to the cross. But even though we sin against God, God in His mercy:

2 Corinthians 5:21 - " He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”