So we probably spelt well last night, and we woke up to what was likely a normal morning. Imagine being the average Jesus-follower in Jerusalem back in A.D. 30.
Over the course of the night, Jesus was betrayed, his friends were with Him until He was arrested, He had asked them to pray with Him and keep watch, and they could not stay awake. Jesus underwent two illegal trials, and the spiritual leaders of Israel had been plotting murder and engineered the false trials.
Peter tried to stay close enough to the action to stay in touch with what was going on, yet we know how he dealt with being asked if he was a follower of this Jesus of Nazareth. When that rooster crowed, Peter’s heart ached. So did Jesus’.
So with a crown of piercing thorns upon Head, having been scourged to near-death, He carried His cross until He could no longer physically do so, and the guards eagerly found some help for him from a man in the crowd.
And then, at what would be 9:00 a.m., they crucified the Savior. Let’s take time to really remember that today, even if not at 9:00. At noon, the skies went dark. By 3:00, it was clear that Jesus was all alone, and He died. These times can serve as great tools of memory today.
God then ripped the massive temple curtain in two, from top to bottom (humanly impossible), and earthquake struck, and some dead believers were brought to life (to appear after the Resurrection).
Some men, namely Joseph and Nicodemus, helped take His body down from the cross and they buried Him. And there the Savior lay, in the tomb, His sacrificial work complete, redemption soon to appear.
Let’s really stop for a bit today, sometime, just for a while, and allow the truth and reality of the cross to sink in, to humble us, and to take notice of how much God must love us. Not only did he endure the physical cross for us, but also He was willingly forsaken by the Father in order to carry and cover the world’s sin.
Let’s pray for an opportunity today to share this with an unbeliever. God loves him or her, too.
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