THE DAYS BEFORE THE CROSS | Northstar Church

“He went on a little farther and bowed with his face to the ground, praying, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.” ― Matthew 26:39.

Think of a time when a crisis arose, and you could not do anything about it. It may have felt like your only option was to sit back and do nothing. A person on death row lives in a state of constant uncertainty over when they will be executed, but with the knowledge that they will die in a calculated, planned manner, barring a miracle. Jesus knew when He would die; even worse, He knew how He would die.

The night before His crucifixion, Jesus went to the garden of Gethsemane with His disciples. He said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray” (Matthew 26:36). Jesus knew His time had arrived. He knew what was coming. “Jesus fully realized all that was going to happen to him, so he stepped forward to meet them. “Who are you looking for?” he asked” (John 18:4).

Judas came along with soldiers to arrest Jesus. As soon as He was arrested, all His friends and disciples fled into the darkness. The next few hours were a blur of beatings, mockings, and whippings with leather thongs tipped with balls of metal and shards of bone. Jesus’ skin was flayed off, and blood dripped off His head from the long thorns in His crown.

He also suffered the humiliation of numerous illegal mock trials before Annas (John 18:13), Caiaphas, and the religious leaders (Matthew 26:57–68); and Roman trials before Pontius Pilate, Herod, and Pilate again. The people shouted to release Barabbas instead of Jesus (Matthew 27:15-31). Wanting to release Jesus, Pilate appealed to them again. But they kept shouting, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” Pilate, who knew Jesus was innocent, finally bent to the crowd’s will and sent Jesus to the cross (Luke 23:1–25).

Through all this, Jesus never fought back. Although He could have called down lightning to destroy them all or dispatched an army of angels from Heaven to wipe them all out, He just took every physical punishment and every false accusation.

The trials we face in our lives never approach those that Jesus faced. But we have the same recourse that He did when faced with trials: prayer. When we face trials, Jesus urges us to keep praying. It may be that we will not get the outcome we desire, but we can learn from Jesus to be open with God about our innermost thoughts, boldly asking Him for what we want while at the same time recognizing that He loves us and can strengthen us even in trials.

Discussion Questions:

Christ remained calm, and His speech was gracious to those who persecuted Him. How does our speech represent Christ to the world?
Jesus spoke confidently about His identity before Pilate and the Jewish leaders. How can we live confidently as Christians to display Christ to those around us?