The end of the road. To
the human eye, confusion and disaster appear to take over. Judas decides to
betray his teacher. The high court of the Jews has condemned Jesus to death for
claiming to be the Son of God.
As the next day dawned, they bound
Jesus and presented Him to the Roman governor. Pilate soon worked out that He
was innocent, yet handed Him over to the soldiers to be crucified (execution on
a cross). After flogging Him, the
soldiers decide to make fun of His claim to be the King of the Jews. They dress
Him in a purple robe and place a crown of thorns on His head, then mock Him
'Hail King of the Jews'.
On the road to Golgotha, Jesus was
too weak to carry the cross, so Simon of Cyrene carried it. Then at the place
outside the gate of Jerusalem , they nail Jesus to the cross along with two
criminals, Jesus in the middle. From midday to midafternoon a strange darkness
covered the land. Before sunset, Jesus
was dead. Strangely, a rich man took the body of Jesus and put it into a
new burial tomb which was nearby. The
Jewish leaders insisted that the tomb be sealed and a guard be set to prevent
foul play. They thought it was the end!
But through discerning
eyes the record is not confusion. Jesus has deliberately come to Jerusalem. He
arrived as their King on the donkey. He had called on the leadership to
acknowledge Him as God's Son. Then on that difficult night He had warned the
disciples that this situation was permitted by the Lord God for a purpose.
In the courtroom trials, the Lord
Jesus refused to respond to accusations of what He had done, but responded directly
to questions of His identity – before the Sanhedrin "Son of God", and
before Pilate "King of the Jews". In all the torture, one witness said
"When He was reviled, He did not revile, when He suffered, He did not
threaten".
When Jesus was about to be nailed to
the stake, he refused the wine mixed with myrrh. Rather He chose to feel every
pain, and understand the horrible shame of insults hurled at Him by all around.
But what about the unusual darkness
at a most crucial time? And then Jesus took control of the moment and
yielded up His Spirit to God whom He called 'Father'! The centurion soldier in charge began to
understand who he had executed: he
said "Truly this man is the Son of God" (Mark 15:39)
Jesus was dead, but God was still in
control. His body would not be treated as other criminals. Rather, as prophecy
had said,' he would be buried in a rich man's tomb'(Isaiah 53) – and so He was.
Witnesses watched all that had happened
and most thought this was the end of the road.
But the is another day. Read on into Mark 16
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