April
8th Jesus
crucified
26:
And as they led him away, they laid hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian,
coming out of the country, and on him they laid the cross, that he
might bear it after Jesus. 27: And there followed him a great company
of people, and of women, which also bewailed and lamented him. 28:
But Jesus turning unto them said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not
for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children. 29: For,
behold, the days are coming, in the which they shall say, Blessed are
the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never
gave suck. 30: Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on
us; and to the hills, Cover us. 31: For if they do these things in a
green tree, what shall be done in the dry? 32: And there were also
two other, malefactors, led with him to be put to death. 33: And when
they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they
crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the
other on the left. 34: Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for
they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast
lots. 35: And the people stood beholding. And the rulers also with
them derided him, saying, He saved others; let him save himself, if
he be Christ, the chosen of God. 36: And the soldiers also mocked
him, coming to him, and offering him vinegar, 37: And saying, If thou
be the king of the Jews, save thyself. 38: And a superscription also
was written over him in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew, THIS
IS THE KING OF THE JEWS. 39: And one of the malefactors which were
hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us.
40: But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear
God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? 41: And we indeed
justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath
done nothing amiss. 42: And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me
when thou comest into thy kingdom. 43: And Jesus said unto him,
Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.
Jesus
dies
44:
And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all
the earth until the ninth hour. 45: And the sun was darkened, and the
veil of the temple was rent in the midst. 46: And when Jesus had
cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my
spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost. 47: Now when the
centurion saw what was done, he glorified God, saying, Certainly this
was a righteous man. 48: And all the people that came together to
that sight, beholding the things which were done, smote their
breasts, and returned. 49: And all his acquaintance, and the women
that followed him from Galilee, stood afar off, beholding these
things.
Jesus
buried
50:
And, behold, there was a man named Joseph, a counseller; and he was a
good man, and a just: 51: (The same had not consented to the counsel
and deed of them;) he was of Arimathaea, a city of the Jews: who also
himself waited for the kingdom of God. 52: This man went unto Pilate,
and begged the body of Jesus. 53: And he took it down, and wrapped it
in linen, and laid it in a sepulchre that was hewn in stone, wherein
never man before was laid. 54: And that day was the preparation, and
the sabbath drew on. 55: And the women also, which came with him from
Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulchre, and how his body
was laid. 56: And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments;
and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment.
Simon
had a great honour, to carry the cross for Christ. Christ was too
weak to carry the cross and the Romans didn’t want Christ to die on
the road. A huge crowd of onlookers and mourners followed but Christ
spoke to them and said don’t weep for me, weep for yourselves. He
said that the days will come when they will say that those without
children are blessed. And they will call on the mountains to fall on
them. This is describing the Day of the Lord which in Gods programme
was very near then but is not in abeyance. Christ was not crucified
alone, two malefactors were crucified there one on each side of
Christ. In total Christ spoke seven things from the Cross. The first
thing he said was to ask the Father to forgive those who crucify him.
The soldiers took Christ’s possessions. His raiment was divided
into four by his coat was given whole to the soldier who won at lots.
The people stood watching by the Religious leaders were not content
with crucifixion they added insult to injury. They taunted him to
come down from the cross. The superscription was written in the three
languages which represent the whole of humanity. Greek was the
language of culture, Latin was the language of political authority
and Hebrew was the language of Israel. The subscription described the
crime for which he was crucified. He was crucified because of who he
was not because on anything he had done. Even the men crucified with
him were divided. One mocked him but the other one revered him and
rebuked his mockers. Then he asked to be remembered when he came into
him kingdom. This wish was granted and he promised that he would be
in paradise with him this very day. At 12 noon darkness descended
over the whole land. Suddenly the heat of the day turned to the
coldness of night. This lasted until 3pm when the veil in the temple
was torn from top to bottom. Luke says that Christ cried with a loud
voice and then commended his spirit to his Father. And so he died.
The centurion in charge of the crucifixion party glorified God saying
that Christ was indeed a righteous man. The people who were watching
beat their breasts in sorrow. All the disciples and the women who
followed him stood afar off watching everything. Joseph of Arimathea
who was also waiting for the Kingdom of God went to Pilate to ask for
the body. He took the body of Christ down and laid it in his own new
stone tomb nearby. The disciples followed to see where he was laid.
The following day they rested as it was the Sabbath.
- What strikes you most about the crucifixion of Christ?
- What impression did the death of Christ have on the centurion who was in charge?
- What sort of man was Joseph and what did he do?
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