April 4, 2010 (Matthew 27, Mark 15, John 18-19, Luke 23)

I am so close in my reading plan to be reading of the resurrection on Easter Sunday, but not quite. Today's reading was all about the crucifixion. I was going to read 'double', but decided against it. I will be reading of the resurrection on Easter Monday, which I think is how it should be anyway. If Jesus died on Friday, and was buried for three days, He would have be resurrected on Monday. Edith, our German friend, said that Easter Monday is the holiday there....I think they have it right!

My reading today started off with Judas realizing what he had done:

^{Matthew 27:1} Very early in the morning the leading priests and the elders met again to lay plans for putting Jesus to death. ² Then they bound him, led him away, and took him to Pilate, the Roman governor.

³ When Judas, who had betrayed him, realized that Jesus had been condemned to die, he was filled with remorse. So he took the thirty pieces of silver back to the leading priests and the elders. ⁴ “I have sinned,” he declared, “for I have betrayed an innocent man.”

“What do we care?” they retorted. “That’s your problem.”

⁵ Then Judas threw the silver coins down in the Temple and went out and hanged himself.

Judas had his 'moment of reckoning' - when he realized what he had done. And to fulfill prophecy, he allowed the despair to overwhelm him to the point of taking his own life. That is one choice that we can make. The other is to turn to Jesus and beg for mercy and for "His blood to cover our sin". As I said, the choice Judas made was one choice. The choice of the condemned criminal on the cross next to Jesus was another choice:

^{Luke 23:39} One of the criminals hanging beside him scoffed, “So you’re the Messiah, are you? Prove it by saving yourself—and us, too, while you’re at it!”

⁴⁰ But the other criminal protested, “Don’t you fear God even when you have been sentenced to die? ⁴¹ We deserve to die for our crimes, but this man hasn’t done anything wrong.” ⁴² Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.”

⁴³ And Jesus replied, “I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

The above passage is a rebuttal for all who say that 'works' have to accompany 'repentance'. This criminal did nothing but ask for Jesus' mercy - he wasn't baptized, he didn't walk a church isle, he didn't tithe, he didn't serve his fellow man. He just recognized who Jesus was, who he was as a sinner and asked for Jesus to remember him when He came into His kingdom. That was his choice, and heaven was his reward.

I love this dialog between Jesus and Pilate:

³³ Then Pilate went back into his headquarters and called for Jesus to be brought to him. “Are you the king of the Jews?” he asked him.

³⁴ Jesus replied, “Is this your own question, or did others tell you about me?”

³⁵ “Am I a Jew?” Pilate retorted. “Your own people and their leading priests brought you to me for trial. Why? What have you done?”

³⁶ Jesus answered, “My Kingdom is not an earthly kingdom. If it were, my followers would fight to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish leaders. But my Kingdom is not of this world.”

³⁷ Pilate said, “So you are a king?”

Jesus responded, “You say I am a king. Actually, I was born and came into the world to testify to the truth. All who love the truth recognize that what I say is true.”

³⁸ “What is truth?” Pilate asked. Then he went out again to the people and told them, “He is not guilty of any crime. ³⁹ But you have a custom of asking me to release one prisoner each year at Passover. Would you like me to release this ‘King of the Jews’?”

⁴⁰ But they shouted back, “No! Not this man. We want Barabbas!” (Barabbas was a revolutionary.)

What is truth? A simple question, but one held by many. In this world of craziness, what is truth? Remember Jesus' own words..."I am the way, the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father except by me." He is truth, and His words are truth.

The amazing patience and submission to God's will struck me in this next passage. As Jesus had said earlier as they came to arrest Him:

^{Matthew 26:53} Don’t you realize that I could ask my Father for thousands of angels to protect us, and he would send them instantly? ⁵⁴ But if I did, how would the Scriptures be fulfilled that describe what must happen now?”

He didn't have to endure what He was about to endure - and humanly speaking, He didn't want to - but He was submissive to the will of the Father. Actually picture the humiliation as you read the following words:

^{Matthew 27:26} So Pilate released Barabbas to them. He ordered Jesus flogged with a lead-tipped whip, then turned him over to the Roman soldiers to be crucified. ²⁷ Some of the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into their headquarters and called out the entire regiment. ²⁸ They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him. ²⁹ They wove thorn branches into a crown and put it on his head, and they placed a reed stick in his right hand as a scepter. Then they knelt before him in mockery and taunted, “Hail! King of the Jews!” ³⁰ And they spit on him and grabbed the stick and struck him on the head with it. ³¹ When they were finally tired of mocking him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him again. Then they led him away to be crucified.

^{Mark 15:29} The people passing by shouted abuse, shaking their heads in mockery. “Ha! Look at you now!” they yelled at him. “You said you were going to destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days. ³⁰ Well then, save yourself and come down from the cross!”

³¹ The leading priests and teachers of religious law also mocked Jesus. “He saved others,” they scoffed, “but he can’t save himself! ³² Let this Messiah, this King of Israel, come down from the cross so we can see it and believe him!”

But through this whole scenario, there were those who would witness it all - and believe. Perhaps the submission to the ridicule and punishment were part of their reason for believing. Are we ever ridiculed for our faith? Do we strike out and try to defend ourselves, or do we submit and pray as Jesus did, "Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they are doing."

^{Matthew 27:50} Then Jesus shouted out again, and he gave up his spirit. ⁵¹ At that moment the curtain in the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, rocks split apart, ⁵² and tombs opened. The bodies of many godly men and women who had died were raised from the dead. ⁵³ They left the cemetery after Jesus’ resurrection, went into the holy city of Jerusalem, and appeared to many people.

⁵⁴ The Roman officer and the other soldiers at the crucifixion were terrified by the earthquake and all that had happened. They said, “This man truly was the Son of God!”