This week’s post will be mostly in an outline form. I trust it will be helpful. To hear more, please watch the April 17, 2022, live stream Easter Worship service on our “GRACE of Marshfield” YouTube channel.
THE MOB – John 18
The Stand-- 18:4-10. They come for Jesus and Jesus inquires as to who they seek. They recoil at His answer and fall down. Some see this as the fulfillment of Psalm 27:2. Perhaps these were the same servants who came for Jesus in John 7:46? None of them wanted to be the first to lay hands on Jesus. Jesus voluntarily surrenders to the aggressors.
The Submission – 18:11-12. Jesus had wrought many miraculous works. He had turned water into wine, made the blind to see, healed lepers, calmed a violent storm with His words, and even raised the dead to new life. They bound Jesus, but clearly no restraints could hold back Jesus. Jesus submitted to the will of God the father.
Take your stand for Jesus, with Jesus, and yield to God’s way!
THE MANDATE – John 18-19
Options. After the arrest of Jesus, the religious leaders and the political leaders went back and forth over how to deal with the new detainee. Here are the options they came up with:
1. Pilate tells the religious leaders to judge him yourselves (18:29-31). Pilate could not see a reason for judgment. When he asked the religious leaders what his crimes were, they redirected back to Pilate without answering the question.
2. Pilate suggests releasing Jesus as the one prison released per their customs (18:39-40). The religious leaders decline the offer.
3. The religious leaders and the crowds yell, “Crucify Him (19:6, 14-16)!”
There is one option missing. They never considered choosing Jesus!
Oppression. What follows is horrifying. It would be horrifying if it happened to anyone, but here it happens to the Son of God – for ME and YOU. Jesus is beaten and mocked relentlessly (19:2-3). The actual crucifixion was not enough. The beat down and humiliation was evil. Then the most cruel and heartless execution followed (19:17-18).
The Martyr – John 19-20
The death of Jesus Christ was not earned by His own crimes, but by the crimes of you and me. There are three important things about the death of Jesus we must remember.
It was a complete sacrifice (19:30 – “It is finished”). Jesus’ death paid the debt I owe. This is an accounting term from this time in history. It means, “paid in full!”
He was a willing sacrifice (19:30). The Bible does not record that someone killed Jesus. Instead, we read that He “gave up the ghost.” Jesus willingly gave up His life for each of us.
Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice (19:40-42). Jesus did indeed die. In fact, He was buried.
THE MIRACLE – John 20
Gone! When some of the followers of Jesus came to visit the tomb, their heart must have skipped a beat or two. He was gone. A great stone had been rolled away and He was not there (20:2-9; Mtt 27:62-66)! The guards at His tomb did not have an answer. How does a dead man escape a tomb under the watchful eyes of the Roman guard? The religious leaders saw their great victory unraveling before their eyes and there was no small stir among the church.
Alive (Matthew 28:5-6)! The resurrection of Jesus is central to the celebration of Easter, but less than half of adult Americans link the two. The Barna Group found that only 42% of adults tied Easter to the Resurrection. David Kinnaman, president of the Barna Group, said, “The Easter holiday in particular still has a distinctly religious connection for people, but the specifics of it are really fading in a lot of people’s minds.” (Source: The Houston Chronicle, March 18, 2010). This Barna Group study was published in 2010. With atheism being one of the fastest growing religions among 18 to 25-year-olds today, where does this leave the world view of the future American leadership today?
When Sir Michael Faraday (a great scientist from the 1800s), was dying, some journalists questioned him about his speculations for a life after death. “Speculations!” he said, “I know nothing about speculations. I’m resting on certainties. I know that my Redeemer liveth, and because He lives, I shall live also.” (Source: The Speaker’s Quote Book, Roy B. Zuck)
The response of “Gone” and “Alive” is -- GO! (Matthew 28:7).
The British minister, W. E. Sangster, began to lose his voice and mobility in the mid-1950s. He had a disease that caused progressive muscular atrophy. He recognized the end was near, so he threw himself into writing and praying. In the midst of his suffering he pleaded, “Let me stay in the struggle, Lord. I don’t mind if I can no longer be a general but give me just a regiment to lead.”
Sangster’s voice eventually failed completely, and his legs became useless. On Easter morning just a few weeks before his death, he took a pen and shakily wrote his daughter a letter. In it he said,
“It is terrible to wake up on Easter morning and have no voice with which to shout, ‘He is risen!’—but it would be still more terrible to have a voice and not want to shout.”
(Source: The Speaker’s Quote Book, Roy B. Zuck)
So church, go out this day…this week, and tell others of what Jesus has done for you. Then tell them that Jesus has done the same for them!