April 3, 2023
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Many of us celebrate Easter with chocolate, Easter eggs and chocolate bunnies. But this is not what Easter is all about. First of all, the word Easter is nowhere in the Bible. There are sources that have a theory of where the word began. Suffice it to say, it has nothing to do with Jesus’ death and resurrection. I am going to walk you through the last week of Jesus’ life before the resurrection. Let me warn you now, some of it can be rather graphic.
On the first day of the week, our Sunday, Jesus entered Jerusalem riding on a donkey. People gathered palm branches and waved them as Jesus rode by, shouting, “Hosanna” and calling him the King of Israel. The palm branches and cloaks of the spectators were laid in the road for the donkey to walk on. The high priest and other officials were angered by this. They began to plot how they could get rid of this man who made them look like fools when they questioned Him and tried to trip Him up regarding the Law and the Romans.
The next day, Monday, Jesus went to the Temple. In those days, vendors sold lambs, cattle, doves and the like for sacrifices in the temple. It was a racket for the vendors and the priests. Jesus overturned their tables, scattering the money and clearing the Temple, saying, “The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be a house of prayer,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves” (Luke 19:46). The priests feared Him because the people were amazed by Him.
Tuesday, the high priest and temple officials were planning Jesus’ arrest. Jesus went to the Mount of Olives and spoke to His disciples about His coming death and other prophecies. Matthew indicates that this is the day that Judas Iscariot made his deal with the high priest to betray Jesus. Not much is said about the next day, but I assume, after all the activity of the previous days and earlier when He raised Lazarus from the dead, that He rested, knowing what in His immediate future. Passover was to begin at sunset on Thursday. Jesus instructed his disciples to obtain a room for the Passover feast. Thursday night, gathered in the upper room, Jesus spoke again of His death. Then, He broke the bread and gave it to his disciples as a symbol of His body that would be broken. The cup was also given to the disciples to drink as a symbol of the His blood that would be shed on the cross. Judas left in a hurry to bring the soldiers and priests to arrest Jesus.
After his arrest, throughout the night, Jesus was paraded before the high priest and the Sanhedrin, King Herod and twice before Pontius Pilate in illegal trials. Illegal because they were held in secret before sunrise and morning sacrifices, which was against Jewish law. No evidence was presented to Annas but He was condemned anyway. His trial was on the day before a holy day, when criminal trials were prohibited by Jewish law. His trial lasted less than a day. False witnesses were bought and gave evidence instructed by the high priest. He was indicted on one charge and condemned to death for a totally different charge. The entire Sanhedrin was required to convict Him but most of the members were not there. He was sentenced at the high priest’s home, not the chamber of the Sanhedrin, as was required by Jewish law. Most of those who judged Jesus were ineligible to even be a judge under Jewish law. The Sanhedrin positions were bought and paid for and the high priest was appointed by the Romans. When Jesus was before Pilate, the charges were changed. He was not charged with blasphemy but with treason against the Roman Empire.1
It was early the next morning by the time Jesus stood before Pilate. Pilate did not find anything worthy of death in Jesus. But the crowds, incited by temple officials, called for His death. The same people who were praising him several days ago, were calling “Crucify Him!” He had been mocked, beaten, whipped, spat upon and a crown of thorns jammed onto His head. He never said a word except to answer direct questions. Fearing a riot, Pilate literally washed his hands of the whole affair and had Jesus bound over for crucifixion, one of the most brutal deaths a man could suffer. The book of Luke gives medical evidence of the death of Jesus. Luke was a physician and likely knew what crucifixion does to the body.
Jesus was made to carry the cross beam of His cross across the city and out the gates to Golgotha, the place of crucifixion. He was so weak from the whipping and beating, that He could not carry it all the way. The soldiers grabbed a spectator, Simon of Cyrene, and made him carry the cross for Jesus. Jesus was laid out on the cross beam and His wrists were nailed to it. Not in the hand because the tissues would have ripped off the nails but there is a space in the wrist that is very strong and will hold a man’s weight when nailed to a cross. The legs are bent at a 45o angle and nailed to the vertical beam of the cross. Jesus was already in a weakened condition when He was nailed to the cross. His weight pulled Him down, which put pressure on His ribcage and lungs. To breathe, He had to push up with His feet, which scrubbed His already shredded back up against the rough beam of the cross. As it became harder to push up, the weight of His body dislocated shoulders and arms. Jesus had already lost a lot of blood by the time He got to the cross. Moving up and down the rough vertical beam of the cross tore more flesh from his already shredded back causing more blood loss. It was an extremely painful and bloody way to die.
Jesus was crucified at the third hour (9:00 am). Jesus’ clothes were gambled over. He is mocked by the crowd that called for His death. Jesus speaks with the thief on the cross. He speaks to John, giving him the care of Mary, His mother. About three hours later, the sixth hour, darkness fell on the land. About the ninth hour, He cries out to God, as God turns His back on Him as He bears the sin of the world and He is separated from God. Then, He says He is thirsty. They gave him bitter wine. Jesus said, “It is finished!” He had done what He came to do. Finally, Jesus said, “Father, into Your hands I commit my spirit.” About the nineth hour, He died. A Roman soldier shoved his spear into Jesus’ body at an upward angle that probably pierced His heart. Blood and water poured out. Proof of death. Blood separates into its component parts after death. Also, this kind of death causes fluid to build up around the heart and would have poured out when the spear was thrust into His body. At the moment of Jesus’ death, and earthquake rocked Jerusalem. The curtain that separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the world was torn from top to bottom, giving access to God, the Father directly without the need of a sacrifice that could only be taken to God by the high priest. Jesus was now the Lamb that takes away our sin. No man comes to the Father but through Jesus.
Joseph of Arimathea petitioned Pilate for the body of Jesus, so that they could bury Him. Pilate was surprised that Jesus was already dead and granted his request. It was close to sunset and Passover would begin at sunset. They had to hurry to take down His body, wrap it in linen and place Him in Joseph’s own tomb or they would be ritually unclean for the Sabbath. A large stone was rolled across the doorway of the tomb.
But the story does not end here. By the first day of the week, Jesus had been in the tomb for three days. Very early in the morning, Mary Magdalene, Salome, and Mary the mother of James, brought spices to the tomb to anoint Jesus’ body and they wondered how they would move the stone. When they arrived, a man was sitting on the stone, which had been rolled away from the tomb and it frightened them. The man said, “Don’t be afraid. You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here.” He invited them to look into the tomb and see where Jesus’ body had been. He then, instructed them to go tell the disciples and to tell them that Jesus would meet them in Galilee. They were afraid but at the same time full of joy that Jesus was not dead. Jesus met them and told them not to be afraid but to go tell the disciples (Matthew 28:8-10). Between the resurrection of Jesus and His ascension into heaven forty days later, Jesus was seen by a multitude of people in many different places.
The chief priests had been told by the guards who had been guarding the tomb, that Jesus had risen. The priests bribed the soldiers with a large sum of money to keep quiet and told them to say that the disciples stole Him away while they were asleep. The only problem I have with that is that if Roman soldiers were caught sleeping on duty, they could be executed for it, so the money had to be pretty substantial to risk that. To this day, that is what many people believe. Many believe that He was not dead when they took Him down from the cross. Others believe that someone else died instead of Jesus. There are so many different “explanations” of how Jesus could not have been raised from the dead, but none have ever been proven. I know, there are archeological discoveries that “prove” Jesus died and was buried but did not rise from the dead. But these discoveries have not been proven. Since there is no DNA from Jesus, there is no way to prove them as truth.
So, in closing, let me ask you this. Is there any other religion where the central figure took the punishment for sin for their followers so that they could go to heaven when they die? No. What do you have if you remove these central figures from their religions? Dead leaders and their teachings. What do you have if you remove the resurrected Jesus from Christianity? Nothing. Our whole faith is based on the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
This is the reason for Easter – Jesus, was man, and at the same time, God in the flesh. He was crucified, dead and buried but on the third day, He rose from the dead, and sits at the right hand of the Father, interceding for us.
- Rhodes, Harold, 10 Reasons the Trial of Jesus was Illegal, viewed on 4/3/2023 https://lifehopeandtruth.com/god/who-is-jesus/reasons-trial-of-jesus-illegal/
