tom hogsed

Followers of Christ were still disheartened from His death and were in mourning because they had lost the One whom they loved. In fact, Mary Magdalene and many other women returned to the tomb where Jesus had been buried in order to anoint Him for burial proving that they did not expect Him to come back to life. On the way to the tomb on Sunday morning, Mark records that the women were discussing who would roll away the stone from the tomb (Mark 16:1-3) but as they approached, they saw the stone was rolled away (Mark 16:4). An Angel of the Lord had descended from heaven and rolled away the stone (28:3-4) and told the women not to be afraid because Jesus had risen from the dead (28:5-6). The angel also commanded the women to go “tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him.” So, the women quickly left to tell the disciples that they had found an empty tomb and Jesus would meet them in Galilee (28:8). As they were on their way to tell the disciples Jesus appeared to them and they rejoiced and worshipped Him (28:9-10). Jesus later appeared to the eleven disciples in Galilee and they also worshipped Him (28:16-17). Jesus then speaks to His followers and gives was has become known as the Great Commission (28:18-20). He commands believers to “go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Jesus left His followers with an incredible task – go and tell all people the truth about Christ! Those who would believe the truth of Christ (His death, burial, and resurrection for our sins) were to be baptized and become devoted followers of His ways. Bringing this into relevance for this generation, followers of Jesus Christ must tell others the truth about Jesus. The truth is that He died on the cross in order to remove the penalty of sin and those who believe in Him will one day be raised to eternal life in heaven; however, while on earth they should live life by His standards. This is a tremendous opportunity! Have you believed the truth about Jesus Christ? Are you telling other the truth about Jesus Christ? Is your life demonstrating the truth Jesus Christ taught?

Because Jesus was truly God, many supernatural things happened when He died. Matthew gives us an account of several of those things. First, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom (27:51). This curtain blocked off the entrance into the Most Holy Place within the temple and Exodus 26:33 informs us that the ark of the covenant, which symbolized God’s presence, was behind that curtain. Furthermore, Hebrews 9:2-10 tells us that the priests only went behind the curtain once a year in order to offer a blood sacrifice for his sins as well as the sins of the people. Of course this sacrifice did not remove the sin but was symbolic of the sacrifice Jesus Christ would make to take away our sins. When Jesus died on the cross, the temple’s veil was torn from top to bottom symbolizing that sacrifices no longer had to be made by the priests because God accepted the payment of Jesus’ death. Hebrews 10 also reveals that the curtain being torn also opened the presence of God to any who would come in the name of Jesus Christ (Hebrews 10:19-22). Another result of Jesus’ death was that the graves were opened and many bodies of saints who had died were raised. Matthew alone mentions this miracle and adds that after Jesus’ resurrection the righteous dead appeared to many people. We probably would also be safe in assuming that those who were raised ascended into heaven giving us a glimpse of the rapture spoken of in 1 Thessalonians 4. An earthquake had also taken place as a result of Jesus’ death causing many people to think Jesus was the Son of God (27:54). When evening had come (following Jesus’ death), Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus (27:57-60). Pilate commanded that Jesus’ body be given to Joseph and he took Jesus and buried Him in a new tomb (27:60). The tomb was made of rock and after Jesus was placed inside the tomb, Joseph rolled a large stone against the door and left. On the next day the chief priests and Pharisees gathered to Pilate asking him to secure the tomb because they feared Jesus’ disciples may try to steal the body to make it look like He had resurrected (27:62-64). Pilate agrees to their request so they go, seal the tomb, and place guards by it (27:65-66). I wonder how the believers must have felt while Jesus was in the tomb…confused, defeated, and disappointed. We can definitely identify with these feelings in our daily life as we experience pain, loss, and confusion; however, we must remember that we worship God and He will always prevail!

I’m not sure if there is anything that I can add to this passage. The words truly speak for themselves as we see Jesus, who was betrayed by Judas earlier, now being beaten and mocked. Here is a list of what Jesus faced as a result of claiming that He was God: flogging (v.26), nakedness (v.28), a crown of thorns twisted on His head (v.29), humiliation (v.29), people spit on Him and struck Him on the head (v.30), nailed to a cross (v.35), crucified between two thieves who also made fun of Him (vv.38,44), public blasphemy (vv.39-43), and ultimately abandonment by His Father (vv.45-50). I can’t help but think that Jesus Christ willingly died on the cross to pay the penalty for my sins. Jesus loved me so much that He gave up His very life so I could have eternal life! Thanks be to God for salvation through His Son, Jesus Christ!

The morning after Jesus’ captivity the chief priests and elders continued to plot against Jesus in order to put Him to death (27:1). So, they tied Jesus up and took Him to the home of Pontius Pilate (Roman governor) because technically only Rome was permitted to pronounce the death sentence. As Jesus stood before Pilate it became obvious to him that Jesus was an innocent man and the chief priests/elders were envious of His ministry (27:18). As was customary during this time of Passover, the governor would release a prisoner to gain favor with the Jews. Pilate brought a man named Barabbas before the people. Barabbas was a notorious prisoner because he was a robber and murderer and in the back of Pilate’s mind he wanted the people to allow Jesus to be released instead of this hardened criminal, Barabbas. However, the religious leaders stirred up the crowd against Jesus and convinced Pilate to release Barabbas rather than Jesus (27:15-22). Even Pilate’s wife attempted to come to the rescue of Jesus by informing her husband of haunting dreams she had about Jesus (27:19). Pilate asked the people what he should do to Jesus and they answered “let Him be crucified.” Pilate immediately responded by asking what Jesus had done wrong, but the people cried out more to crucify Him (27:23). The governor knew that the situation was going to get worse if he did not give into their demands so he washed his hands declaring his innocence in the pronouncement of death of Jesus (27:24). The people did not care because they replied “His blood be on us and our children.” I guess what amazes me most about this incident is the fact that Jesus remained silent…He never defended Himself, but rather was focused on the mission which His Father had sent Him to fulfill – death to pay the penalty for man’s sin. Why? “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son….” Jesus was willing to go to the cross because of me and the sin that separated me from a relationship with God the Father. If He willingly died for me, the least I can do is live for Him!

Jesus was quickly taken away by the religious leaders to Caiaphas, who was the high priest. Verse 58 reveals that Peter followed Jesus at a safe distance so he could see what was happening and finally sat down with the servants. The chief priests, elders, and council sought false testimony against Jesus, but they found none (26:59-60a). However, several people misconstrued Jesus statement’s about the temple and it’s future destruction resulting in Jesus being accused of blasphemy (26:60b-66). They began to spit on and beat Jesus (26:67-68). The scene quickly switches back to Peter, who is sitting with the servants. A little servant girl comes to Peter saying that she saw him with Jesus, but he quickly denied it (26:69-70). Peter left the courtyard and another girl accused him of being connected with Jesus, but denied even knowing Him (26:71-72). A little while later Peter is again accused of having known Jesus, but he adamantly denies having ever known Jesus (26:73-74a). Immediately the rooster crows and Peter remembered that Jesus had told him that he would deny Him three times, so Peter leaves weeping bitterly (26:74b-75). I’m not sure about you, but there are times when I’ve felt that I abandoned God when I should have been standing for Him. All of us can relate with Peter because he represents our struggles between faith and fear. There is no doubt in my mind that Peter loved Jesus, but he was fearful of where loving Jesus would take him. Peter personally observed what was happening to Jesus and he did not want to face the same punishment for following Him, so he ran away. What is the lesson here? I’m not sure that we can really learn a lesson here, but we can certainly understand the struggle Peter was experiencing. Although many do not fear death for following Christ, we do fear what those around us will think if we live for Him.

The time had finally arrived. Judas enters the garden of Gethsemane with the religious leaders and betrays Jesus with a kiss (26:48-49). As they begin to take custody of Jesus, Peter draws his sword and cuts off the ear of the high priest’s servant (26:51). Jesus rebukes Peter for trying to take the law into his own hands and Luke’s gospel details how Jesus heals the man’s ear (Luke 22:51). Even though the arrest of Jesus was unfounded, Peter still had no right react the way he did (26:52). I find what Jesus says next to be interesting…”do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels?” He was saying that if He wanted, He could pray and God the Father would send 72,000 angels to rescue Him; however, Jesus wanted the disciples to know that He was submitting to the Father’s plans (26:54). Jesus was very aware that He must die on the cross to pay the penalty for sin and failure to do that would leave man in their state of sin. God the Father loved us so much that He was willing to give up the life of His Son so that we could have eternal life. God didn’t need Peter to step in and deliver Him from the captors because their was more at stake than defending Jesus. The forgiveness of sin was Jesus’ focus as He submitted to God’s will! As Jesus continued to speak to the religious leaders, verse 56 reveals that all the disciples “forsook Him.” I can’t begin to feel what Jesus must have felt as those who were closest to Him abandoned Him during this time, but Jesus understood. After all, He had told Peter earlier that he would deny Him. Now Jesus was alone, left to His accusers, and would soon face death but no one was there to walk with Him. I guess I cannot point the finger at the disciples for abandoning Him because I would have probably done the same thing. When it comes down to it, I know that humanly speaking my desire is to protect my own life; however, think of how much more important we were to Jesus than His own life. Spend some time thinking about that!

Jesus comes to a place called Gethsemane, which was a place in which Jesus and His disciples often met. Located across the valley from Jerusalem, Gethsemane was a garden of olive trees and has become known as the place where Jesus Christ agonized in prayer before His betrayal by Judas. As Jesus enters into the garden, He tells His disciples to sit while He goes to pray and then He calls Peter, James, and John to go with Him (26:37a). Jesus begins to pray and becomes overcome with sorrow and distress, even to the point that He wanted to die (26:38). I can’t imagine what Jesus must have felt as He recognized that He would soon suffer a violent death to pay for the sins of mankind. Obviously, He needed support during this time of distress so He asks Peter, James, and John to stay with Him and watch (26:38b). Jesus then falls on His face and prays to His Father “if it is possible, let this cup pass from me….” Throughout the Old Testament, a cup symbolized divine judgment against sin so in essence He was asking for God to find another way to judge sin. However, Jesus continued to pray “nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.” Although Jesus Christ was overwhelmed with emotion as He was feeling the full wrath of God upon sin, He still told His Father that He would do whatever His Father wanted Him to do (26:39). To bear the weight of all mankind’s sin must have been agonizing! After praying, Jesus returns to find His disciples sleeping and He challenges them to “watch and pray, lest you enter temptation.” Jesus knew what was about to happen and was aware they would need divine strength to handle the circumstances ahead (26:40-45). After Jesus’ words, He went to pray again but when he returned He found the disciples sleeping…they had no idea what awaited them. Jesus once again urged them to watch and pray; however, they fell asleep. As Jesus spoke to them the third time, Jesus says to His disciples “rise, let us be going. See my betrayer is at hand.” Jesus knew the time had come for His capture and subsequent death. It is complicated to imagine what Jesus was feeling during this time of agony in the garden. But regardless of what He was feeling, paying the penalty for mankind’s sin was more important! Thank God for Jesus Christ who prayed and received strength to make it through this overwhelming time. There are certain times when we are also overwhelmed with fear and uncertainty but we must follow the example of Jesus Christ praying for divine strength.

At the conclusion of the Lord’s Supper, they sang a hymn and went to the Mount of Olives. There Jesus reveals to them that they will be “made to stumble” because of Him, meaning they would abandon Him (26:31). We have to get the picture here…the religious leaders have been looking for an opportunity to kill Jesus because He claimed to be God and had stood against their system of beliefs (outward is more important than inward). Furthermore, Jesus knew it was necessary to die on the cross to pay for the sins of mankind, but He also knew His followers would suffer persecution because of their faith in Him. So, Jesus informs the disciples that they would temporarily abandon Him during the time of His persecution, mostly because they feared the same treatment by the religious leaders (26:31:b). But, Jesus also told them that He would be raised (from the dead). Peter is the first to speak up and declares that he will never abandon the Lord (26:33). Jesus quickly responds by telling Peter that he will deny Him three times (26:34). Peter speaks up again and tells Jesus that he is willing to die for Him (26:35) and the other disciples also affirm their loyalty to Jesus. I believe that the disciples really did love Jesus and were willing to follow Him; however, they really did not understand that their human side was weak. I’m not sure why Jesus chose to tell the disciples that they would abandon Him. Maybe it was to let them know that He understood or maybe He wanted them to be prepared. Whatever the reason, the disciples should have not been so confident in themselves. Although we are strong in Christ, we are weak in our flesh. Each day we must admit our inability to handle the circumstances of life and allow God to provide the strength we need for the moment. I love what 2 Corinthians 12:9 says, “My strength is made perfect in weakness.” When we are weakest, God can show Himself the strongest.

Jesus had just rebuked Judas (as well as the disciples also) about his reaction to the woman using the very expensive oil to anoint Jesus. Judas was angry because he felt that the oil could have been sold and given to the poor; however, Judas’ motives were far from pure. Judas leaves and immediately goes to the chief priests and asks what they are willing to give him if he delivers Jesus to them (26:15). They count him out 30 pieces of silver and so Judas begins his quest to betray Jesus into the hands of the religious leaders (26:16). After this incident, Jesus and His disciples go to celebrate the Passover (Jewish celebration of their deliverance from Egypt). Back in ancient times, the Jews had been under bondage to the Egyptians and through the hand of Moses they were delivered from the plagues. The most significant plague was the 10th (and final one), where the firstborn of every household was killed. However, God promised the Israelites deliverance from this plague if they would put the blood of a spotless lamb over their doorpost. This deliverance from the death of the firstborn became known as the Passover because God “passed over” the homes which had blood on the doorpost. Now Jesus and His disciples were about to celebrate this time once again, but Jesus was going to bring a new meaning and significance to it. When evening came the twelve disciples sat down with Jesus and He revealed that someone would betray him. After they finished arguing over who it would be, Jesus gets to the heart of what the Passover would become…the Lord’s Supper. Jesus takes the bread, breaks it, and then gives it to His disciples saying “take, eat; this is my body.” (26:26) Then Jesus took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it to His disciples saying “drink from it all of you for this is My blood of the new covenant which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” Jesus was in essence celebrating the last Passover and the first Lord’s Supper. Jesus Christ is central to both observances – He represented the passover lamb and He also represented the elements in the Lord’s Supper. As the Israelites were saved from the death of the firstborn through the death/blood of the lamb, all people are saved from death through the death/blood of Jesus Christ on the cross. The bread represents Jesus’ body which was broken on the cross (26:26). The juice represents His blood which was shed on the cross for the forgiveness of sin (26:27-28). What a beautiful picture of what was about to happen on the cross! Although the cross is a place of agony and punishment, it also symbolizes a place of forgiveness and sacrifice. Today, celebrate anew the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross for the forgiveness of your sin!

As Jesus finishes speaking about future things (Matthew 24-25), He turns to His disciples saying “after two days is the Passover, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.” God’s appointed time had finally come for His only Son to die for the sins of all mankind. God “made Him (Jesus Christ) who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Because Jesus was perfect and sinless, He could satisfy the punishment we deserved for our sin and give us a right standing before God. It is only through Jesus Christ (His death, burial, and resurrection) that we are saved from the penalty of sin and given eternal life. Jesus was informing His disciples that the time of His death had finally come. Behind the scenes to this situation, Matthew reveals that the religious leaders were plotting in the palace of the high priest (Caiaphas) about how to kill Jesus quietly (26:4). However, because the Passover was such a big event in Jerusalem and Jesus had many followers, they decided to wait until the conclusion of this feast to kill Jesus (26:5). The scene quickly changes in Matthew’s gospel to Jesus in the home of Simon the leper. This man must have been someone whom Jesus had healed earlier in His ministry. While He was in Simon’s house, a woman came to Him (John reveals that it is Mary, sister of Martha and Lazarus) having an alabaster flask. The alabaster flask contained very costly oil…Mark tells us the price is three hundred denarii, which is comparable to a year’s wages. Mary took this costly oil and poured it on Jesus’ head as He sat at the table – this act was an expression of worship and devotion to Him. The disciples reacted in anger as they looked at this action as a waste of money which could have been given to the poor (26:8-9). John reveals that it was Judas Iscariot, who would soon betray Jesus into the hands of the religious leaders, that spoke out against this woman’s expression of worship. Jesus immediately defends the actions of Mary and declares that she did this for His burial. Although Mary probably did not fully understand her actions, Jesus commended her and promised that her story would be told as a memorial to her (26:10-13). Mary’s story should be an example to us as our hearts should also be devoted to Jesus and consistently express our worship of Him as our Savior and God.