What Was Jesus Thinking?

 

The last week of Christ’s life takes more space in the Gospels than any entire year in His ministry, and a six hour time span on the day of His death takes up as much space as the months He spent in Galilee. The Word tells us of much of what happened and words spoken during this paradigm-changing, single most crucial week in history. Yet it leaves to our imagination much of what Jesus thought and felt.

Imagine that you are a parent, and that your beloved children have committed crimes against the powers that be. Justice demands their severe punishment and execution, and they are condemned to die an excruciating, prolonged death. But you have arranged to substitute your life in their place, and you willingly agree to suffer and die so that they may live.  You know when, where and how your gruesome execution will occur. You know that you are innocent, yet all will believe that you are guilty and deserve to die.

So you warn your children that you will be put to death, and you explain the specifics without going into detail about the horror. You know that your time with them is short, and you want to impart to them all of your wisdom and Godly example before you die.

But sadly, they just don’t get it. They don’t realize they are guilty of any serious offense, so they don’t understand the need for your sacrifice. You tell them you are going to die, and they argue over who will have more privileges when you’re gone. You explain the most important life lessons you want them to understand, backed up by your Godly example during your time with them, yet they not only fail to understand but don’t even care to learn.

You fill your last moments with them with meaningful family time, commemorating what has been and what will be, but they’re distracted with arguing with one another. You ask them to pray, not for you and your ordeal to come, but for themselves, that they will have the spiritual strength to carry your message forward. Instead, they fall asleep. You are arrested, tried, and put to death, and they run away, abandoning you instead of being proud to be in your family.

Yet this is just a poor illustration of what Jesus suffered. His sacrifice paid for all sins (John 1:29), past, present and future, of all mankind, not against a worldly power but against God the Father Himself, against the Creator and Ruler of the universe. His love was infinite and completely self-sacrificing, taking no thought for His own desires but willing to give His all to save us (John 15:13). 

His sacrifice was not just for those who loved and trusted Him as He walked this earth, but for all of us, all sinners (Romans 3:23; 1 John 1:8; Isaiah 64:6), children of the devil (John 3:10), and enemies of God (Romans 5:10) deserving eternal punishment in hell.

One of the many ways in which His life was unique was that His divine omniscience allowed Him perfect foreknowledge of coming events (Acts 2:23), with all their detail and ramifications. He had known since the beginning of time that man’s salvation demanded not only His coming to earth wrapped in human flesh, but His agonizing death on the cross (Revelation 13:8; Psalm. 88:15). 

He knew that even His closest disciples would be clueless about what He was telling them (Matthew 12:40; 16:20; 17:22-23; 20:17-19; Mark 10:32-34; Luke 18:31-34). Their priority was not His mission as much as their own power and prestige (Matthew 16:21-23; 20:20-28; Mark 10:35-45).   

Just as He supernaturally knew how to arrange His last Passover meal with His loved ones (Matthew 26:17-18; Mark 14:12-15); He also knew that they would be more concerned about who would betray Him (Matthew 26:21-25; Mark 14:18-21) and who among them was greatest (Luke 22:21-24) than about understanding the eternal significance of the bread and wine, symbolizing His body broken and His blood shed for the remission of our sins (Matthew 26:26-28; Mark 14:22-24).

I wonder if His perfect knowledge made His sadness and pain easier or more difficult to bear?  It may have been even more painful because He knew the details of how He would be betrayed by Judas and Peter (Matthew 26:47-50; 69-75; Mark 14:29-31; 43-46; 66-72), abandoned by the others (Matthew 26:31-43; Mark 14:27; 37-40), doubted by Thomas (John 20:24-25), and accused, humiliated and tortured by His very people that He came to save (Matthew 26:59-68; Mark 14:55-65).

Yet His unspeakably horrible trial may have been made possible to endure by His foreknowledge of the ultimate result. As difficult as it is for my limited human mind to fathom, He not only willingly sacrificed Himself (John 10:17) and set His face resolutely toward Jerusalem (Luke 9: 51; Isaiah 50:6), but He endured His suffering for the joy of giving us eternal life (Hebrews 12:2).

He knew that He would restore Peter and the others to vital positions of ministry (John 20:15-19), that even Thomas would no longer doubt (John 20:26-28), that He would convert Saul to Paul and give the gospel of grace to be spread to all peoples (Acts 9), and that His resurrection would conquer sin and death (1 Corinthians 15:20-57). Praise God that all who trust in His death, burial and resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) as the only Way to Heaven (John 14:6) now have eternal life! 

© 2014 Laurie Collett
Reposted from the archives

What Was Jesus Thinking?

The last week of Christ’s life takes more space in the Gospels than any entire year in His ministry, and a six hour timespan on the day of His death takes up as much space as the months He spent in Galilee. The Word tells us of much of what happened and words spoken during this paradigm-changing, single most crucial week in history. Yet it leaves to our imagination much of what Jesus thought and felt.

Imagine that you are a parent, and that your beloved children have committed crimes against the powers that be. Justice demands their severe punishment and execution, and they are condemned to die an excruciating, prolonged death. But you have arranged to substitute your life in their place, and you willingly agree to suffer and die so that they may live.  You know when, where and how your gruesome execution will occur. You know that you are innocent, yet all will believe that you are guilty and deserve to die.

So you warn your children that you will be put to death, and you explain the specifics without going into detail about the horror. You know that your time with them is short, and you want to impart to them all of your wisdom and Godly example before you die.

But sadly, they just don’t get it. They don’t realize they are guilty of any serious offense, so they don’t understand the need for your sacrifice. You tell them you are going to die, and they argue over who will have more privileges when you’re gone. You explain the most important life lessons you want them to understand, backed up by your Godly example during your time with them, yet they not only fail to understand but don’t even care to learn.

You fill your last moments with them with meaningful family time, commemorating what has been and what will be, but they’re distracted with arguing with one another. You ask them to pray, not for you and your ordeal to come, but for themselves, that they will have the spiritual strength to carry your message forward. Instead, they fall asleep. You are arrested, tried, and put to death, and they run away, abandoning you instead of being proud to be in your family.

Yet this is just a poor illustration of what Jesus suffered. His sacrifice paid for all sins (John 1:29), past, present and future, of all mankind, not against a worldly power but against God the Father Himself, against the Creator and Ruler of the universe. His love was infinite and completely self-sacrificing, taking no thought for His own desires but willing to give His all to save us (John 15:13). 

His sacrifice was not just for those who loved and trusted Him as He walked this earth, but for all of us, all sinners (Romans 3:23; 1 John 1:8; Isaiah 64:6), children of the devil (John 3:10), and enemies of God (Romans 5:10) deserving eternal punishment in hell.

One of the many ways in which His life was unique was that His divine omniscience allowed Him perfect foreknowledge of coming events (Acts 2:23), with all their detail and ramifications. He had known since the beginning of time that man’s salvation demanded not only His coming to earth wrapped in human flesh, but His agonizing death on the cross (Revelation 13:8; Psalm. 88:15). 

He knew that even His closest disciples would be clueless about what He was telling them (Matthew 12:40; 16:20; 17:22-23; 20:17-19; Mark 10:32-34; Luke 18:31-34). Their priority was not His mission as much as their own power and prestige (Matthew 16:21-23; 20:20-28; Mark 10:35-45).   

Just as He supernaturally knew how to arrange His last Passover meal with His loved ones (Matthew 26:17-18; Mark 14:12-15); He also knew that they would be more concerned about who would betray Him (Matthew 26:21-25; Mark 14:18-21) and who among them was greatest (Luke 22:21-24) than about understanding the eternal significance of the bread and wine, symbolizing His body broken and His blood shed for the remission of our sins (Matthew 26:26-28; Mark 14:22-24).

I wonder if His perfect knowledge made His sadness and pain easier or more difficult to bear?  It may have been even more painful because He knew the details of how He would be betrayed by Judas and Peter (Matthew 26:47-50; 69-75; Mark 14:29-31; 43-46; 66-72), abandoned by the others (Matthew 26:31-43; Mark 14:27; 37-40), doubted by Thomas (John 20:24-25), and accused, humiliated and tortured by His very people that He came to save (Matthew 26:59-68; Mark 14:55-65).

Yet His unspeakably horrible trial may have been made possible to endure by His foreknowledge of the ultimate result. As difficult as it is for my limited human mind to fathom, He not only willingly sacrificed Himself (John 10:17) and set His face resolutely toward Jerusalem (Luke 9: 51; Isaiah 50:6), but He endured His suffering for the joy of giving us eternal life (Hebrews 12:2).

He knew that He would restore Peter and the others to vital positions of ministry (John 20:15-19), that even Thomas would no longer doubt (John 20:26-28), that He would convert Saul to Paul and give the gospel of grace to be spread to all peoples (Acts 9), and that His resurrection would conquer sin and death (1 Corinthians 15:20-57). Praise God that all who trust in His death, burial and resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) as the only Way to Heaven (John 14:6) now have eternal life! 

© 2014 Laurie Collett
Reposted from the archives

 

Arrest, Trials, Denials: Triplets of Betrayal

As we continue our study of triplets in Scripture, echoing God’s Triune nature, we find the same pattern repeated in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. All of Christian doctrine, and our blessed hope of eternal life and of His glorious reappearing (Titus 2:13; 1 Peter 1:3), hinges on the sacred triplet of His death, burial, and resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).

The road to Calvary where Jesus was crucified was paved with betrayal by His chosen disciples, by the leaders and commoners of the Jewish people He was sent to deliver, and by the Roman rulers that occupied His birth nation of Israel. His betrayals by these three groups resulted in His arrest and trials and in denials of His divinity.

Events of the crucifixion were set in motion when Judas betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver (Matthew 27:3), which was the going rate for a bondservant. How fitting, in light of God the Son taking on human flesh and coming to earth the first time not as King, but as a humble servant. Not only did He come to teach us how to serve, but to offer Himself as the perfect sacrifice to redeem us from our sins.

At the Lord’s Supper on the eve of His crucifixion, Jesus performed three sacred acts with the bread that symbolized His body:.He blessed it, and brake it, and gave to them (Mark 14: 22). The blessing was an act of worship thanking the Father not only for His provision of physical sustenance, but for giving Him the opportunity to save the souls of all who trust in Him.

Breaking the bread symbolized how His precious body would be battered beyond recognition, as He paid in full the punishment every one of us owes for all our sins, past, present and future. Giving the bread to the disciples signifies how He gives eternal life to all who trust in His death, burial and resurrection as the only way to Heaven.

After supper, Jesus and His disciples went to the garden of Gethsemane (Mark 14:32), where He prayed a threefold prayer. He asked that God’s will be done as He prepared Himself for the unimaginable spiritual as well as physical ordeal He would face. He prayed for those disciples who were present, and He prayed for every believer who trusts Him as Savior (John 17).

As Jesus removed Himself further into the garden, He took with Him His inner circle, Peter, James, and John (Mark 14:33). Three times He begged them to stay awake with Him and pray, but all three times they fell asleep (Mark 14:41).

As Judas betrayed Christ with a kiss that let His captors know His identity, Jesus was surrounded by a hostile crowd of chief priests, scribes and elders (Mark 14:43) armed with lanterns, torches and weapons (John 18:3). He was then subjected to three mock trials by Caiaphas (Matthew 26:57-67), Pilate (Matthew. 27:2; Mark 15:1-15) and Herod: (Luke 23:7-11).

At the trial led by the high priest Caiaphas, the chief priests, elders, and all the council looked for false witness against Jesus so that He would be sentenced to death (Matthew 26:59; Mark 14:53). Having accomplished their heinous objective, they spit in His face, beat Him, and struck Him with the palms of their hands (Matthew 26 67).

Then they stripped Him naked, kneeled before Him, and mocked Him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews! They adorned Him with three mock symbols of a king: a scarlet robe, a crown of thorns, and a reed in his right hand (Matthew.27:28-29).

Not only was Jesus scorned by His captors, He was denied three times by Peter, who had pridefully boasted that he would follow His Master to the death Matthew 26:75; Mark 14:30

Despite this humiliating and painful ordeal, the Scripture here records three titles of Jesus revealing His true nature as Messiah, fully divine yet fully man: the Christ, the,Son of the Blessed, and the Son of man (Mark 14:61-62).

After Pilate determined that he could find no fault in Jesus, the people cried out three times that Jesus be put to death:

Matthew 27: 22 Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ? They all say unto him, Let him be crucified.

23 And the governor said, Why, what evil hath he done? But they cried out the more, saying, Let him be crucified.

24 When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it.

25 Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children.

Throughout history, there has always been a small remnant of those who remain true to God even though the multitudes reject Him.

As Christ took the final steps down Calvary’s road where His suffering and death would culminate in our redemption and eternal life, even His closest friends and followers scattered in the face of what seemed to be sure defeat. Far from being thankful that their Messiah was delivering them, the Jews and their religious leaders failed to recognize who He was and clamored for His death.

Yet to the faithful Old Testament saints (Hebrews 11), such as Abraham and Noah, can be added the faithful remnant of those who did not desert Christ as He died for us. Among His closest circle these were His mother Mary, His beloved disciple John, and Mary Magdalene (John 19:25-26). Also in the faithful remnant were the occasional Jew such as Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathaea: (John 19:38-39) and even the Roman centurion who glorified God as realized Jesus was righteous (Luke 23:47). ‘

May each of us be numbered with the faithful remnant honoring God and loving Christ even when the world dishonors and rejects Him.

© 2012 Laurie Collett