Holy Week - Part Five

I know that Good Friday and its events speak for themselves. Simple, it is the day our Lord was crucified on the cross. I do believe, however, that it is very critical to contextualize the night and morning as much as possible.

After leaving the upper room with His disciples, they walked through a vineyard where His Olivet Discourse, found primarily in John's Gospel, was delivered (John 15). They then entered the Garden of Gethsane, where He offers an incredible intercessory prayer on behalf of all of His followers, including us (John 17). A lot then transpires between midnight and nine on Friday morning. I am going to assume you will not be able to read about it all from four different perspectives. Just know that each part had great significance and please remember as you do reflect on it all that it was an extraordinarily difficult night. All of it done wrongly while being done to the most innocent man ever convicted. One more thing: while we get these details from our Bibles, these accounts, while studied by historians as well as skeptics that do not deny their occurrences, who Jesus was and what happened to His crucified body are frequently asked questions, but the details of a man named Jesus' death have never been disproven.

Jesus betrayed and arrested - Mark 14:43-50
Jesus is questioned by Annas - John 18:12-24
Jesus is condemned by Caiaphas - Mark 14:53-65
Peter denies Christ three times - John 18:15-27
Jesus is formally condemned by the Sanhedrin - Luke 22:66-71
Judas commits suicide - Matthew 27:1-10
Jesus is tried by Pilate - Luke 23:1-5
Jesus appears before Herod Antipas - Luke 23:6-12
Jesus is sentenced by Pilate - Luke 23:13-25
Barabbas is released - John 18:39-40
Jesus is mocked, beaten and whipped - John 19:1-4
Jesus is crucified and buried - John 19:5-42

My goal one day is to compose a combined reading of all the text as a true chronological order of events from Saturday as it all began to the Ascension. I promise to get that done soon.

I can only hope and pray that this will be a weekend of thoughtfulness, seriousness, sadness as well as jubilation. Happy Easter!


In Christ,
Pastor Todd