Pastor Adam James

After Jesus’ arrest—using all four gospel accounts—here’s a compilation of what happened to Jesus:

• The Trials of Jesus Christ:
  • 1st trial, before Annas
  • 2nd (and primary) trial, before Sanhedrin, Jesus is condemned
  • 3rd trial, immediately at dawn (meanwhile, Peter denies Jesus a third time); the condemnation repeated, then Jesus taken to Romans
  • 4th trial, before Pilate
  • 5th trial, before Herod
  • 6th trial, before Pilate
• Jesus is scourged; the city cries, "Crucify Him!”
• Jesus is finally turned over to be crucified
• Jesus is mocked (Roman soldiers), crown of thorns
• Judas hangs himself
• Jesus is crucified around 9am
• Jesus' Seven Sayings from the Cross:
  • "Father, forgive them..."
  • "Today...with me in paradise"
  • “Dear woman, here is your son..."
  • "My God, My God..."
  • "I am thirsty"
  • "It is finished"
  • "Into Your hands..."
• The Death of Jesus Christ (About 3pm; curtain in temple torn, rocks split; some graves opened and people rise and go into the city)
• Jesus' side pierced
• Passover lambs slain in temple
• Jesus buried by sundown in Joseph of Arimathea’s tomb

 
We are now at the apex of Christianity—the Center. The Cross event and subsequent resurrection is the nuclear power center that will never diminish in its ability to humble, strengthen, revive, and propel the people of God.

“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18).

There is so much opportunity for personal reflection on Good Friday.

We are not the victims. We are the perpetrators. Jesus is the victim. The sinless, innocent Son of God. Never has one been more deserving of being treated well, of being honored and adored. And yet never has one been treated so horribly, so wrongly.

We crucified the Lord of glory. Our sin put Him there.
What sin, what shame, have you brought to the foot of the Cross?

As you ponder and behold this crucified King, what do you see?  What do you see in His eyes? What do you see in His face and in His body? What do you hear in His words? What do you see in His actions and in His silence?

What do you see in Peter’s denials? What do you see & hear in the chief priests' interrogation? What do you see in Pilate & Herod? What do you see in the crowds? What do you see in the Roman soldiers? What do you see in the women who followed weeping? What do you see in the criminals crucified with Jesus?

Consider the words of the prophet Isaiah (53:3-7,12), speaking of Jesus:
“He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before her shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth…
…For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.” 

“Father, the pain in this world is so deep, our sin was and is so costly…but I praise you, Lord, because you made a way, through Your Son Jesus for us to be saved and healed. You paid for our waywardness and our denial. You carried our grief and our sorrow. Thank you, Jesus, for your willingness to lay down your life. Thank you for giving us the reminder of your broken body and blood through the bread and cup of communion. Thank you for washing our feet and giving us the example to follow of what it looks like to serve. Thank you for teaching us to love one another and for promising to send us the Holy Spirit. Thank you for praying for us and never leaving and forsaking us, even though we left you. Lord, help us to trust you even when facing our own road of suffering, and help us spread the good news of your sacrificial love with every opportunity you give us. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.”