Easter: a day when Christians all around the world commemorate the rising of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Someone asked me the other day why this day is so important and why it is a happy event if it started with a death. The short answer is: death did not mark the end of this story, after being dead for 3 days, Jesus came back to life and by his death and resurrection He brought life to all men and mended the broken bridge between God and man so that we can now be called children of God.
Let’s take a deep dive into this story.
Betrayal
One man that played a pretty important role in the death of Jesus was Judas Iscariot, the man who sold out Jesus to the people who eventually tortured and killed Him. Judas was one of Jesus’ 12 disciples, His entourage, people with whom He walked and fellowshipped, in fact, Judas was Jesus’ treasurer… a treasurer who often stole from the money bag (John 12:6). As a member of Jesus’ inner circle, Judas knew a lot of “insider information” including where Jesus loved hanging out. Overcome by his own greed and selfish ambition, Judas went to the people who wanted Jesus taken out and offered to sell Him out for 30 pieces of silver (Luke 22: 1- 6, Matthew 26: 14-16). The plan went something like this
Judas: Hey chief priests and officers of the temple guard (CP/OTG), I have some information you may find valuable
CP/OTG: what are you talking about
Judas: the man you want, Jesus, I know where you can find Him, I can actually lead you to Him
CP/OTG: and why should we trust your intel?
Judas: well, because I have insider information
CP/OTG: oh yeah? Do tell
Judas: what’s in it for me? Make it worth my while and we’ll have a deal
CP/OTG whisper among each other and come up with a proposal. After some negotiation, they finally settle on a price
Judas: fine 30 pieces of silver. Meet me at [agreed-upon-location] on [agreed-upon-day-and-time]. I’ll lead you to Him, the one I will kiss is the man; seize him.
And just like that the deal was done and now all Judas had to do was wait for the right time to carry out his traitorous act.
The last supper
Jesus in His infinite wisdom already knew what was headed His way: betrayal, torture, death, and separation from the Father. Amazingly though He did not try to escape, He knew it was part of His journey and one He absolutely had to go through for the greater good. During the last supper with His disciples, He talked about what was to come and encouraged them to stay strong. Understandably they were deeply saddened by all this.
Now comes the time when He’s on the mount of Olive’s preparing for what is coming His way the best He knows how to – praying. He just got done with His prayers when Judas Iscariot came around, followed by a group of armed soldiers, and just as agreed upon, he approached Jesus and tries to kiss Him when he gets called out (Luke 22: 48). The other disciples saw what was going on and immediately spun into action, resulting in one of them cutting off a soldier’s ear with his sword. Jesus saw all this and ordered them to stop, even going as far as healing the guy whose ear got cut off – wow talk about love!
Jesus in His infinite wisdom already knew what was headed His way: betrayal, torture, death, and separation from the Father. Amazingly though He did not try to escape, He knew it was part of His journey and one He absolutely had to go through for the greater good. During the last supper with His disciples, He talked about what was to come and encouraged them to stay strong. Understandably they were deeply saddened by all this.
Now comes the time when He’s on the mount of Olive’s preparing for what is coming His way the best He knows how to – praying. He just got done with His prayers when Judas Iscariot came around, followed by a group of armed soldiers, and just as agreed upon, he approached Jesus and tries to kiss Him when he gets called out (Luke 22: 48). The other disciples saw what was going on and immediately spun into action, resulting in one of them cutting off a soldier’s ear with his sword. Jesus saw all this and ordered them to stop, even going as far as healing the guy whose ear got cut off – wow talk about love!
Betrayal part 2
Jesus ended up being taken to the enemy’s court, questioned, humiliated, and tortured. While all this was going on another one of His close disciples (Simon Peter) ended up denying any affiliation with Him just as Jesus had predicted (Luke 22: 54-62).
What followed was a series of heartbreaking, inhumane actions.
- Humiliation: the elders, chief priests, and teachers of the law proceeded to taunt Jesus and ask Him a series of questions about who He said He was, His authority, His teachings, etc, and stir up the crowds against Him. A crowd that most probably contained a number of the people He had saved, healed, delivered, or blessed in different ways, and now these people were not hesitating to bash Him.
- Torture: after questioning Him and finding there was no real charge against Him, Pilate offered to simply punish Him and let Him go but the crowds (influenced by the elders, chief priests, and teachers of the law) chose to have a murderer released instead and asked for Jesus to be crucified. They flogged Him, spit on Him, taunted Him, made Him carry a heavy cross, nailed Him on said cross, placed a crown of thorns on His head so that he bled, gave Him vinegar instead of water, and just watched stood there and watched till He died.
Love
Even after being tortured, humiliated and left to die, Jesus still had no hate in His heart against these people. Instead of swearing and hurling insults at them, He said “Father forgive them for they know not what they are doing”. Now, that’s love… deep unconditional love.
Eventually He died, was taken off of the cross and layed to rest in a tomb. Hallelujah, that’s not where the story ends, for, after 3 days He arose. He defeated all powers and principalities that set themselves against God, and all authority in heaven and on earth and underneath the earth was given to Him glory to God! (Matthew 28: 18-20).
This is why we celebrate Easter, it is a reminder of a journey that started with a death but ended with death being defeated. He who knew no sin became sin that through Him we may be made the righteousness of God. Thanks to Jesus going to the cross and enduring a treatment reserved only for the worst sinners, you and I can have a relationship with God, the Father. You and I are now being called the righteousness of God because the chastisement that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His stripes, we are healed (Isaiah 53:5). Glory to God!!!
A message of hope
Jesus’ death cast a lot of doubt on believers who were waiting and believing for a messiah. For 3 days they mourned, they hid out of fear of being hurt or killed too, it seemed like everything they had been holding onto was taken away from them. But then Jesus came back to life and hope was restored.
Let this serve as a reminder that no matter how bad things may seem, it could always get better… Miracles happen when we pray.
God bless you.
