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There is a lot that happened in Jesus’ life in the three plus years of His formal ministry. The apostle John at the end of his gospel said this, John 21:25 “And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they *were written in detail, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books that would be written.” We can’t go into the details here, since this blog is Bible 101, but I would encourage you to read the Gospel to learn about Jesus, the central figure of prophecy, of redemption, and of eternity. What you’ll find are enough well-attested miracles to convince you He was  the Son of God and enough of the common experiences of mankind to know that He understands us all, inside and out.

But what I will write about today is the critical last day of His life—the Last Supper, the prayer of Gethsemane, the arrest, the trial, the crucifixion, and His death. Again, we won’t have space enough to go into great detail—whole books have been written on it—but touch on the most important points, especially for beginning Bible students.

The Last Supper

What we know as the Last Supper was really, as far as Jesus’ disciples were concerned, a Passover meal, celebrated once a year to remember how God rescued Israel from Egyptian slavery in the days of Moses. During this Passover meal, however, Jesus established a new memory—no longer a liberation from Egyptian slavery, but now a remembrance of liberation from sin. The bread, He said, represented His body, given over to death for our sins, and the cup of wine a remembrance of His blood, shed to establish the new covenant and to cleanse us of sin. From the time of earliest Christianity, this meal—sometimes known as the Lord’s Supper, sometimes known as Communion—has been eaten by the assembled church in memory of the Savior’s sacrifice for us.

After this meal with His disciples, Jesus led His followers to the Mount of Olives, the hill just on the other side of the Kidron Valley, which overlooked Jerusalem and the Temple from the east, to a spot called Gethsemane.

Jesus’ Prayer in Gethsemane

It was rather late by the time they arrived at Gethsemane. Jesus settled 8 of His apostles at one spot, but brought His closest friends (Peter, James, and John) a little farther. After He settled them, He asked them to “watch and pray”—while He went a little farther still for personal prayer.

Jesus then fell face down to the ground to pray. His prayer: (Matthew 26:39) “…My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.”

After praying like this for a while, Jesus got up and went back to where He’d left Peter, James, and John and found them asleep. He awoke them and urged them to pray instead of sleep, Matthew 26:41 “…that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Then He returned to His original place of prayer, again pleading (Matthew 26:42) “…My Father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, Your will be done.”

Once again He returned to where He’d left Peter, James, and John and found them asleep again. This time He let them sleep and returned to His own prayer.

Finally, Jesus returned to His disciples, woke them up, and let them get some of the cobwebs out of their heads before those who were coming to arrest Him arrived.

Jesus’ Arrest

This arrest couldn’t have been a surprise to Jesus. It was Passover and the moon was full; the people who came to arrest him came with clubs and torches; from Gethsemane you’d be easily able to see them leaving Jerusalem, crossing the Kidron Valley, and marching up the Mount of Olives. Jesus almost certainly had up to a half hour to escape before they arrived. But His arrest was part of God’s plan, and Jesus was going to obey.

How did the chief priests, Temple guards, and Roman soldiers know where Jesus would be? Judas Iscariot, one of the apostles, who knew where Jesus liked to go for prayer, led them right to Jesus and indicating exactly which of these men was Jesus of Nazareth by a kiss of greeting.

Jesus specifically requested that those that came to arrest Him let His disciples go unharmed, however, Peter, in a desire to rescue Jesus, drew a sword and took a swipe at one of those who had been sent to arrest Jesus. This well-intended but foolish act on Peter’s part caused a small skirmish in the middle of this moonlit night, ending in the apostles scattering to avoid arrest. Everyone managed to escape—except the One who knew that His arrest was part of the greater plan. Jesus was taken into custody and brought to the house of Caiaphas the high priest.

Jesus’ Trial

The high priest interviewed Jesus first to settle on exactly what the accusation would be to convict Him and condemn Him to death. During this interrogation Jesus took physical abuse from His captors, yet didn’t return any of the abuse, either physical or verbal.

When dawn arrived, the high priest called the Sanhedrin (a ruling body of men) together to make the official accusation and call for the official punishment of death. A number of “witnesses” were called into this “kangaroo court” to convict Jesus, but their testimony didn’t agree. Finally, in frustration, Caiaphas put Jesus under oath and asked Him if He was indeed the Son of God. When Jesus answered yes, the high priest tore his robe (an expression of profound grief) labeling Jesus’ confession blasphemy and calling for the death penalty. Most of the Sanhedrin agreed, so Jesus was sent to Pilate, the Roman governor, for an official Roman crucifixion.

Pilate didn’t really want to deal with Jesus. He could apparently sense that there was something bogus about the accusations being made against Jesus and that there was something truly different about Him; he tried several times to set Jesus free. The leadership of the Jews, however, used political extortion against Pilate to get their way—to paraphrase: if you don’t comply, we’ll tell Caesar that you failed to stop someone who claimed to be king. So, with great reluctance Pilate cooperated and ordered innocent Jesus to be crucified.

Jesus’ Crucifixion

Crucifixion as the Romans practiced it was tuned to cause the maximum amount of pain for the maximum amount of time possible, while humiliating the victim to maximum extent. It would begin with a severe Roman scourging (occasionally victims died of the scourging in the preliminary phase of the punishment) followed by a public “parade” to the place of crucifixion, where the execution would be seen by as many people as possible. The victim would laid down on the cross with his arms and hands extended, and nails were driven through his wrists (the palm of the hand wouldn’t support on’e weight) and through the feet. The cross would then be dropped into a pre-dug hole and the body would sag against driven the nails. While this would be bloody, one didn’t die on the cross because of blood loss; one died ultimately from inability to breathe, asphyxiation. Putting one’s weight on the up-stretched hands paralyzes the diaphragm with which we breath. To breath, it was necessary to lift oneself on one’s nailed feel. When that pain was no longer bearable, you sagged on your hands and bore the pain and asphyxia again as you as you could. This cycle continued on until you had no more strength, then you died for lack of oxygen.

Jesus was crucified between two other condemned prisoners. They along with those who hated Jesus taunted and reviled Him—at least for a while. At one point, however, one of those being crucified with Jesus repented and even called on his fellow thief to stop. Jesus’ showed compassion even at this terrible moment in His life by forgiving the crucified thief who looked for His grace.

Jesus’ Death

At about 3:00PM that day Jesus died on the cross—at approximately the same time as Passover lambs were being slaughtered for the feast. The Lord timed these events to be on Passover, so that we could understand Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross as not only sacrifice for sin but also as a liberation from slavery to sin. In other words, God timed this great event, so that we would grasp that He has not only saved us from the guilt of sin, but also has saved from living a life of sin.

The timing was surprising to the onlookers and to the governor Pilate; crucifixion victims usually took much longer to die. But this was exactly what Jesus had foretold, (John 10:17, 18) “For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.” If Jesus was who He said He was (and He was), NO man could have possibly taken His life. He GAVE His life, and the timing was no accident or coincidence.

A wealthy man who was a disciple of Jesus, asked governor Pilate for Jesus body, and laid it to rest in his own tomb near the place of the crucifixion before the day was over.

By the way…

Judas Iscariot, the Jews, Pontius Pilate, and the Roman soldiers are often blamed for the death of Jesus, the Son of God. However, it should be noted that although these people had their part to play in the death of Jesus, no one could have made Jesus do what He did. He died specifically because of what I and you and everybody did—sin.

A story goes that a Christian was knocking doors in a neighborhood to perhaps find someone who might study the Bible with him and become a Christian. He unknowingly knocked on the door of a Jewish woman. The Jewish woman, aware of what the Christian wanted, shrewdly decided to ask him to make a deal with her:”I’ll study the Bible with you,” she said, “if you’ll answer one question for me.”

“OK,” the Christian replied.

“Tell me,” the Jewish lady said, “Who was responsible for killing Jesus?” She felt sure that she had cornered the Christian. The answer she expected from a Christian would be “the Jews”; she would reveal that she was Jewish, and it would give her the reasonable justification to be insulted and slam the door in his face.

The Christian cast his eyes down and answered her slowly, “I did; I killed Jesus. Were it not for my sins, He would not have come to die for me.”

The Jewish lady, though shocked, was true to her word, studied with the Christian, and was baptized into name of Jesus, the Messiah. But the piercing truth of the story is simply this: no power on earth could have forced Jesus to die. No arm was strong enough, no army powerful enough, no weapon great enough to make Jesus die. Only His love for me, His compassion for my lost state, and His desire to see me and all of us in Heaven could bring Jesus to the cross.

Things to think about…

  • What kind of courage did Jesus have to deliberately face all that He knew was coming?
  • How important was our salvation to Jesus and the Father?
  • Do we sometimes not take our own salvation seriously enough?