The Way Of The Cross
Have you ever seen a person arrested? When a person violates the law, there are policemen or cops who come to handcuff that person and take him away. Jesus was also arrested the same way; however, the only difference is He did not do anything wrong, and He was arrested secretly in the night. That night, the whole Jerusalem was sleeping as normal, except the high priest Caiaphas' family. Here, the lamps were very bright; the teachers of the law and the elders had assembled. They were waiting for the soldiers to bring Jesus to be judged. There was no law allowed to judge someone in the night. Since these people wanted to kill Jesus right away, they couldn't wait until morning. Moreover, they were afraid that their people knew and then opposed, so they had to judge quickly and secretly. Since they wanted to put Jesus to death, the teachers of the law, the elders, and seventy members of the court had assembled; they tried to find false evidence against Jesus. They also brought some witnesses, but their false proofs were not logical together. Finally, they ask Jesus: "Tell us, are you the Savoir, the Son of God?" Jesus responded: "Yes, I am." The high priest stood up and tore his clothe, which showed that he was very surprised and terrified by Jesus' announcement. The priest said: "He said an disrespectful thing, why should we need more evidence?" Everyone said: "He deserved to die!" Then people came and spit in His face, slapped His cheek, hit Him, and laughed at Him. Although people said the things He didn't do and yelled at Him terriblely, Jesus didn't say anything back. The next morning, people tied Him up and sent Him to Pilate, who was the governor of Jerusalem. Only Jesus and the soldiers came into Pilate's place. The other people were afraid to come in a foreign home because it would make them dirty and not good to attend a Passover! After the punishment, Pilate didn't see Jesus having any sin. He stepped outside, told the teachers of the law that he didn't find out that Jesus had sin that could put him to death. At that time, people at Jerusalem woke up; they flowed into Pilate's place to listen to the judgment. The teachers of the law and the elders talked people to crucify Christ on the cross. Every year, on the Passover, the governor usually released a prisoner according to people's request. At that time, there was a famous prisoner, Barabbas, who had been imprisoning. Pilate said: "Who do you want to release, Barabbas or Jesus?" But the chief priests persuaded the crowd to ask for releasing Barabbas and to have Jesus executed. Pilate wanted to release Jesus but he couldn't because people kept yelling: "Crucify Him on the cross! Crucify Him on the cross!" Finally, Pilate had to follow people's wish: release Barabbas and hand Jesus over to the soldier to be crucified. When the judgment was announced, people put a scarlet robe on Jesus; they put a crown of thorns on His head; and they put a staff in His hand, then they knelt in front of Him and mocked Him. After they had mocked and dishonored Him, they put back His own clothes on Him. Then they led Him away to crucify Him God was silent to accept all the disgraceful and pain. He wasn't angry nor said any word. He had to suffer all those things for our sins, for all the bad words we said, for all the bad things we did. Because He loves us, God had to suffer for all our sins and died for us on the cross. God loves us that much, and how do we response to God? Do we love Him with all our hearts? The Savior sacrificed His life to save us from our sins and gave us an everlasting life. However, it's not automatic that everyone in the world will be forgiven and saved. When someone wants to give you a gift, your hands must reach out to accept that gift. It's similar to God, you must use your faith, accept God's sacrifice then you will have God's forgiveness and salvation that He has provided for you. Hope that you will accept God today. QUESTIONS:
To read and listen to other Bible stories, please click here. Written by Minh Nguyen
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