Why Did Christ Have to Suffer

Well, good morning, everyone. Good to see all of you here on this beautiful, beautiful Sabbath day, as has been talked about here. Olive trees are not the prettiest kind of tree. If you've ever seen one, you'll know they look at least very old olive trees. Look a lot like this. As the trees get older, they tend to be short and squat as the limbs, which are fairly fragile, tend to break off. So they send out limbs that are often kind of gnarled and twisted. And the bark is rather rough. So olive trees are not really a very majestic tree at all. They're actually kind of an ugly tree.

And the older they get, generally the uglier they get. Might be said of us human beings at times here. But at the bottom of the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, where this photo is taken, facing the old city, there is a grove there of truly ancient olive trees.

Many people think these trees may be as much as 2,000 years old, meaning they existed at the time of Jesus Christ. And olive trees, like a lot of trees when they're cut down, they send out shoots from the roots. And it's also possible that these trees, like we're looking at here on screen, may have grown up from the roots of trees that existed at that time, because the Jewish historian Josephus records that when the Romans besieged Jerusalem in 70 AD, that they cut down literally every tree for miles around to build siege engines, siege towers, and to crucify thousands of Jewish prisoners. So it is quite possible that these trees may have existed in Christ's time, or may have grown up from the roots of trees that existed in the time of Jesus Christ when the Roman legions surrounded Jerusalem and destroyed it. And not far from this grove of trees, just 50, 100 yards, something like that, is a shallow cave there in the Mount of Olives that archaeologists explored a number of decades ago. And in the floor of this cave, I would say it's just about the size of this room, maybe a little bit bigger, more and more wide here. But when archaeologists explored and excavated this cave there, they found, buried under the rubble of many centuries, the remains of an old olive oil press dating back to the time of the first century.

And at that time, 2,000 years ago, workmen would have harvested olives from the olive trees that grew on the Mount of Olives, from where it gets its name. And they would have taken the olives, brought them to this olive oil press, and would have crushed them to produce olive oil, which is used for food, much like we do today, for fuel for their oil lamps, and also for medicine, in some cases at that time.

And in the Gospels, we see mentioned a number of times there, the name of this particular location. It's called Gethsemane. A word in Hebrew or Aramaic that means an olive oil press. And the location of this cave and these ancient trees would fit very well with a biblical description of Gethsemane that's mentioned in the Bible. And you can go there and visit it sometimes. Very popular tourist location there, and I know some of you have visited this area. In one month, we will gather together here in this room to commemorate events that began there in the Garden of Gethsemane 2,000 years ago, approximately.

But before we do that, we are commanded to examine ourselves, to consider the meaning of those events, to reflect on them, on their significance for all of us as a body, and particularly for what they mean for us individually. So what we'll do in the sermon time today with Passover coming up in just a month—I think it's 31 days from this evening, from now—is to review those events, to go through them, to read through them, to think about them, to consider their meaning, their implications for us, and to hopefully gain some additional insights into what Jesus Christ went through in becoming our Passover sacrifice for us.

The title of today's sermon is, Why Did Jesus Christ Have to Suffer? Why Did Jesus Christ Have to Suffer? Every year during the Passover service, we read through the gospel accounts of Christ's last Passover with his disciples. We read about him washing their feet. We read about Peter protesting, you know, good old Peter, protesting, saying, No, Lord, you will never wash my feet. And Jesus gently rebukes him. We read about Judas leaving the Passover meal, going away to carry out his mission of betraying Jesus.

We read about Jesus instituting the symbols of the bread and the wine that would symbolize him giving his body and his blood for us. We then read through portions of several chapters of John's gospel that contain his last instructions to his followers. And finally, we close the Passover service every year with Matthew 26 and verse 30, which describes how they ended that Passover with a hymn, and then they went out to the Mount of Olives. So what we'll do in the sermon today is we'll pick it up, that story beginning in Matthew 26 and verse 30, and we'll read through the story of what happened after that Passover gathering of Jesus and his apostles.

We'll continue reading about the symbolism of the bread and the wine, the symbols that Christ gave, how those were fulfilled in the next 24 hours, and take a closer look at Christ's sacrifice for us. So let's pick up the story. I'll be projecting all of the scriptures here on screen so you can follow along better here. So it says here, Matthew 26, verse 30, And when they had hung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

And what happens next? They finished the meal in a house in Jerusalem, and now they're on their way to the Mount of Olives. So what transpires next is apparently Jesus is giving them some further teaching as they are walking from the house where they had the Passover, walking down past the temple grounds, or through the temple grounds, and going down into the Kidron Valley and over to Gethsemane here. So let's continue reading about this as apparently Jesus is talking, teaching, if you will, as they are walking along on this Passover night under the full moon there in Jerusalem. So verse 31, That Jesus said to them, All of you will be made to stumble because of me this night, for it is written, I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.

But after I have been raised, I will go before you to Galilee. And Peter answered and said to him, Even if all are made to stumble because of you, I will never be made to stumble. And Jesus said to him, Assuredly I say to you, that this night before the rooster crows in the morning, you will deny me three times. And Peter said to him, Even if I have to die with you, I will not deny you.

And so said all of the disciples, so we tend to single out Peter, but this is all of them, said the same thing. They all pledged their undying loyalty to Jesus. They all said they would defend him, even to death. And yet, as sometimes we show with our own actions, sometimes our words, our actions, don't live up to what we would want them to be. Continuing in verse 36, Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to the disciples, Sit here while I go and pray over there.

And Gethsemane is apparently a place that they go to quite regularly when they go to Jerusalem three times a year for the feasts. For the feasts of Passover of Pentecost and the Feast of Tabernacles. The cave, and I've been in this cave. I wouldn't show you photos of it, but it's been modified into a modern-day chapel, so it doesn't really look anything like it would have looked like in the first century, so I'm not showing it for that reason.

But the cave, again, roughly the size of this room here, it's warm, it's dry, and during Passover it can at times be fairly rainy, in the Holy Land. That's when the spring rains start falling. So this would have been a warm and dry place where these 13 men could stay for the night. And it would not have been in use at that time because olives are harvested in the fall of the year, so this is the springtime, so it would not have been used there. And it would have been a nice warm spot for travelers coming to Jerusalem to keep the feast like Jesus and his band of disciples.

Also, this location, this is roughly what the view from Gethsemane would have been looking back toward Jerusalem, toward the west, with the city walls and the temple there and the full moon. And you can see in the foreground there some of the olive trees there of the grove. So this would have also been a relatively quiet and peaceful place where Jesus could spend time with his disciples or spend time in prayer, as we'll see he does on this evening. So they go to this place, Gethsemane, this quiet olive grove just outside Jerusalem, and then a string of very ugly, very twisted events begin to unfold.

Because on that night, and in this place, Jesus would begin what would later come to be commonly called his agony. His agony. Continuing in verse 37, he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, this is the apostles James and John, and he began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed.

Notice here Jesus Christ, state of mind, he is sorrowful and deeply distressed. What is being described here is he is in absolute mental agony. The translators unfortunately tended to tone down, if you might say, the emotional impact of what is taking place here.

But he's in mental agony because he knows what is going to happen, and he knows from any number of Bible prophecies exactly what is going to happen, when it's going to happen. He knows when he's going to die. He's going to die at the time of the afternoon sacrifice, 3 p.m. the next day, and the pressure is weighing down on him, heavier and heavier.

And then he says to them in verse 38, my soul is exceedingly sorrowful even to death. That's easy to read through those words and not really catch the emotional impact of what we're being told here. What Jesus is really saying is he would rather die right then and there than go through what he knows is coming.

Over the coming hours, he is so mentally tormented that he wants to die.

Continuing, he says, stay here and watch with me. He went a little further and fell on his face and prayed, saying, oh my father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will. Notice it says here that he fell on his face and prayed. He's not kneeling and praying. He is spread out, spread an eagle on the ground, on his chest and belly, with his face in the dirt, and probably his hands clutching at the dirt on the ground, as he prays that this cup pass from him. It's an incredibly powerful scene here, depicting the mental agony that he's going through. And what is this cup that he prays will pass from him? It's the same cup that he had talked about just a few hours earlier, at the Passover with his disciples, the cup of his blood that he knows is going to be poured out over the coming hours as a sacrifice. Verse 40, he finishes his prayer. He came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, What could you not watch with me one hour?

Watch and pray lest you enter into temptation. The Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. And again, a second time he went away and prayed, saying, Oh, my father, if this cup cannot pass away from me, unless I drink it, your will be done. So again, he pleads with his heavenly father that this pass from him, if there's any way that he can avoid this, that it pass from him. Verse 43, And he came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy. It had been a long night. They'd had their Passover meal together. Probably had several cups of wine there. And it's late, maybe getting into the early hours of morning after midnight by this point.

Continuing, verse 44, So he left them, went away, and prayed the third time. Saying the same words. So what is going on in his mind as he's doing this? Praying three times. He's so distressed that, as Luke adds, Luke 22, verse 44, Being in agony, he prayed more earnestly. Then his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. This is actually a known medical condition called hematopoiesis, and it's where it was first identified during World War II among anglish medical doctors when the citizens of London would go underground and they would hide in the fallout shelters and the subway tunnels under the city as the German bombers were flying overhead and the bombs are falling and the ground is shaking and they saw people literally bleeding from their skin.

And they figured out what is going on. The capillaries under the skin would literally rupture under extreme stress and the blood would lose into the sweat glands, sweat pores, and you would literally sweat blood. And this is what is going on with the stress that Jesus Christ is feeling. So he urgently pleads with God not to have to go through what he knows is coming.

What is going through his mind? That's what I want us to think about as we go through this. What is going through his mind as he is enduring these things? I think what Jesus Christ is feeling here is pure, raw dread. Pure, raw dread of what he knows is coming that he's going to have to face in the coming hours. His agony included not just the fear of death. He knows that's happening at the time of the evening sacrifice, the afternoon sacrifice, death that he knew, absolutely knew, is going to happen the next afternoon. But he's feeling dread of the things that are going to take place before then. And again, these things he knew. They were very detailed prophecies of fuel, which we'll look at later on here. I think a lot of times we tend to look at Christ's sacrifice in maybe too narrow terms. We're used to thinking of it as his death for us. We know that. We understand it. We read the scriptures about it every year. But if we think of it only in terms of his death, of him giving his life to pay the penalty for our sins, the penalty that we deserve because of those sins, but his death was actually only the final act of a whole series of events that played out that are recorded there in the Gospels for us.

Intellectually, we know the meaning of the words that he shed his blood to pay the penalty for our sins, but how much do we really grasp all that that entailed and all that that means? As we'll come to see today, his sacrifice included a lot more than just his death.

We understand that Jesus died for our sins, but why was it necessary for him to go through all the suffering, the agony, the pain? If it were just a matter of death, the Roman soldiers could have taken him outside the city walls and stoned him to death, and it'd be over three, four, five minutes. Or they could have taken him outside and beheaded him as he had dead the Apostle Paul several decades later, be over in a few seconds, and he's dead. He's accomplished his purpose of dying for our sins. But why did he have to suffer the title of the sermon? Why did Jesus Christ have to suffer? Why did he have to go through the agony? Is there more to the sacrifice that we haven't necessarily thought about?

Well, the bottom line is that sin brings a great deal more to our lives than just death.

Think about that for a minute, because for every one of us, as we go through life, we experience a lot of suffering, a lot of mental torment, a lot of anxiousness, a lot of agony that results from sin. Sin brings frustration. It brings hurt. It brings a lot of miserable things into our lives that result not even necessarily the result of our own personal sins, but the sins of other people around us. Sometimes the sins of people that we don't even know can tremendously affect our lives. One of the first ladies I met in the church years ago was crippled because a drunk driver ran into her car, and she spent years crippled as a result of someone else's sins. Nothing that she had done happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. A drunk driver walked away fine. He was so inebriated he didn't feel it, but she was crippled for life. So sometimes the sins of people we don't even know can affect us. The penalty for sin is not just dying. You could say dying is the easy part. It's the suffering that comes along with sin. That's the hard part. Jesus never sinned, so he never should have died.

He never sinned, so he never should have suffered.

But he did suffer, and he did die, because he took on himself the suffering and the dying that resulted from sin. And that is part of the lesson of the suffering and the question, why did Jesus Christ have to suffer before he died?

Let's consider it's hard to go through a lifetime without at some point being betrayed. It's part of our emotional makeup to want to be around people, to trust other people. God designed us, male and female, so we would want to be in a loving and lifelong relationship with our spouse, to be in a relationship that's based on trust and mutual love. But yet it's inevitable, because we are human, that we will at some point, or many points, let other people down.

We might betray others. We will be betrayed in turn by others. People that we know and trust are going to let us down. Sometimes that betrayal can come from friends, from family, from spouses, maybe even other church members at times. Betrayal can come in many forms or many different places.

So what do we see at the beginning of Christ's agony here? We see an act of supreme betrayal by someone he loved. An act of supreme betrayal, because betrayal is one of the results of sin.

And as a result of our sins that were placed on Jesus, it was necessary that he suffer betrayal as part of his human experiences. As the book of Hebrews tells us, we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize without our weaknesses, but with all points tempted, or the word can mean tested, as we are, yet without sin. What that means is that although Jesus was God himself, he came in the flesh to live as a physical human being, and he had to go through all of the experiences that we as physical human beings go through. And again, he never sinned, so he should not have suffered. But he did suffer for a reason—that he might be our faithful high priest and understand and be able to help us when we go through those things.

So we had to endure the results of sin, and that includes the suffering that comes as a result of sin. So that is part of the reason that Jesus, in his last hours there in Gethsemane, prayed, and we had wept, and literally sweated blood, because, as I said earlier, he was filled with dread. Now, does that sound shocking to you that Jesus would be filled with dread? I'm not saying Jesus did not have faith. Many people of the Bible had faith, but there are times when they greatly feared.

You can have faith, but it doesn't mean you're never going to be afraid of things.

And I think that's what Jesus is going through. Three times we've read, he went to pray to his father, laying on his chest and belly to the ground, hands in the dirt, begging his father, if there's any way, let this cup pass from me.

So I think it's hard to argue that he wasn't feeling dread and fear at that time.

Yet he is our faithful high priest and had to experience those things.

Consider, for example, a situation with somebody who's diagnosed with terminal cancer.

And I've known a number of people, sadly, where that's been the case.

What if you were in those shoes? What if your doctor came in and said, I'm sorry to share this with you, but you've got six months, or six weeks, or six days.

What are you going to feel? You're probably going to feel dread. You're going to feel fear.

What kind of emotions would go through your mind in a case like that? What kind of dread would you have of the unknown? What's going to happen to your family? What's going to happen to your loved ones? What's going to happen to your spouse? What's going to happen to your body as it begins to break down and shut down? Will your final days be filled with agonizing pain as Jesus' last day was? It would be natural to feel absolute fear and dread in a case like that. That's why I have no doubt that Jesus felt absolute fear and dread, because he knew what was going to happen. What was going to happen to him would be far worse than any death from any horrible disease you can imagine.

To put it in terms, it might make it a little more real to us. What would go through your mind? Let's do a little mental exercise here. What would go through your mind as you're sitting here listening to the sermon if you knew that you were going to walk out those doors after services today? And there's going to be a bloodthirsty mob out there waiting for you.

They're determined to murder you. They're going to beat you. They're going to bind you. They're going to spit on you. They're going to insult you. They're going to lie about you. They're going to strip you naked. And they are going to kill you in the most brutal way you can imagine.

And not only that, but no one would come to help you.

No one sitting in this room, and you consider your closest friends, your spiritual family, would come to help you. And you absolutely know that it's going to happen. What would be going through your mind? That's part of what is going through Jesus Christ's mind, because he knows that the shepherd is going to be struck and the sheep are going to be scattered. And that's the kind of dread and mental agony and distress that Jesus would have been feeling that night there. And Gethsemane, when he prays repeatedly, Father, please let this cup pass from me. If there's any other way, nevertheless not my will, but your will be done.

So we face this dread of wanting you to lay ahead for him. To give you some idea of how severe this was. Luke 22-43 records that even an angel appeared to him from heaven, strengthening him.

It's easy to gloss over that. Any of you ever had an angel to come to strengthen you visibly, physically there with you? Maybe, maybe, maybe they did in a hospital waiting room or something like that. But it's easy to gloss over, to read over that and not think about that, but it shows some of the pressure that the incredible mental torment that Jesus is under, that God the Father sends an angel to strengthen him. Why would he do that if he weren't feeling an incredible level of mental torment and anxious and anxiety and agony? Being strengthened, Jesus really arises from prayer the third time to face what?

To face the betrayal that we talked about a few minutes ago from one of his chosen disciples. Back to Matthew 26 in verse 45. Then he came to his disciples and said to them, Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going. See, my betrayer is at hand.

I've been there to Gethsemane several times, and again, this is very much what it would have looked like at night. There with the full moon, with the city walls, the temple lit up even at night. It's not very far. It's only maybe 500 yards, 15-minute walk, something like that, from Gethsemane up to the temple there. That's one of the reasons they stayed in this particular location.

Having walked around that area, I know that as Jesus is praying there, that third and final time, he can probably hear the noise, the noise of a band of armed men coming down the hillside, crossing the Qudron Valley there at the bottom and starting up the hill toward him. He can probably hear the clinking, the clanking of the armor, the swords, the clubs.

And he knows they're coming for him.

He can probably hear their voices, probably see their torches as they're coming down the hillside and crossing the valley and coming toward him.

And he knows they're coming for him, and he knows what they intend to do to him.

He knows what is on their mind.

The first time I went to Gethsemane, I stood there trying to imagine that night. And I thought about how easy it would have been for him to have escaped that.

Because from Gethsemane, looking at this photo, the few lights at the bottom are the Qudron Valley, that's referred to many times in Scripture. He could walk down to the Qudron Valley five minutes or less, maybe three minutes. He's a fit young man in his prime of life, in his 30s. He could easily run away off to the left side of this photo. Where does that valley go? It goes down maybe a quarter, half a mile, and then it takes a sharp angle downhill to go down to the Dead Sea region. And the region between there and the Dead Sea is wilderness, called the wilderness of Judea. That's where David hid out from his pursuers for many years, as he's being chased by men who want to kill him. Jesus could have also gone uphill the Mount of Olives, up over the top of the hill, past the village of Bethany, home of Martha and Mary and Lazarus, and also in 15 minutes could have been in the Judean wilderness and escaped. Ten or 15 minutes, that's all it would have taken. And he could have escaped his fate. But he didn't. And he couldn't, because he knew he had to go through what was coming.

Again, it would have only taken about 15 minutes, 10 minutes, to escape and save his life. He had a full moon at night, so it's easily traveling there under the full moon. That wouldn't have been a problem. But he didn't. For our sakes, he did not do that. And he could not do that.

Verse 47, And while he was still speaking, behold, Judas, one of the twelve, with a great multitude with swords and clubs, came from the chief priests and elders of the people. Now his betrayer had given them a sign saying, Whomever I kiss, he is the one who sees him. Immediately he went up to Jesus and said, Greetings, Rabbi, and kissed him. This word, Rabbi, means master or teacher. So Judas is calling Jesus his master or his teacher, even as he is betraying him with a kiss, with a sign of love and affection. Verse 50, But Jesus said to him, Friend, why have you come?

And I can't read that verse without choking up every time I read it. Friend, why have you come?

Jesus knew why he came.

Judas knew that Jesus knew why he came.

I can't imagine the depth of sadness that had to be in Jesus' voice when he asked that question. Friend, why have you come?

But Jesus doesn't condemn Judas. He simply calls him friend.

So Jesus experiences one of the worst kinds of betrayal imaginable.

Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and took him. And suddenly one of those who were with Jesus stretched out his hand and drew his sword, struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his ear. But Jesus said to him, Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Do you think that I cannot now pray to my father and he will provide me with more than 12 legions of angels? That's roughly 100,000, based on the size of a Roman legion at that time. How then could the scriptures be fulfilled that it must happen this way?

Again, he could have escaped, but he chose not to.

For your sake and for my sake, for the sake of all of us and for all of humanity.

Luke adds the interesting detail that Jesus reached out his hand, took them hands here, and made him hold again. Continuing in Matthew 26, verse 55, In that hour Jesus said to the multitudes, Have you come out as against a robber with swords and clubs to take me? I sat daily with you, teaching in the temple, and you did not seize me then.

But all this was done that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples forsook him and fled.

John's account says, essentially, Jesus says, I'm the one you're looking for. Let these go. They're innocent. You're after me, so take me and let them go. And go they did. They did what Jesus could have done, which is run away into the night and disappeared.

But even at that point, Jesus is looking out for them. He's concerned about their well-being, seeing that they could escape, that none of them would be injured, would be captured or killed.

Jesus knew what was coming, and he knew he had to face it all alone. The betrayal of Judas was part of Christ's sacrifice because enduring betrayal is one of the things that happens to us in this life because of sin.

Because sin does not have consequences just for the sinner.

Sin affects everyone else, the lives of everyone. To give an example, one of the greatest acts of betrayal that a man or woman can commit is to betray a spouse or her spouse, leaving them with agonizing pain, leaving their children with agonizing pain, perhaps ruining their lives. One who betrays their spouse sets the stage for a lifetime of suffering for their children because of the abandonment of their life. Because of the abandonment of the family breaking up that household.

Same way whether it's a wife or a husband. So it was necessary for Jesus Christ, who never sinned, to experience the shame and the agony of betrayal, to know what it's like.

And again, sin has consequences, not just for the sinner but for everyone else in that circle. Just as children, abandoned by one of their parents, will suffer that kind of betrayal and abandonment. So Jesus had to suffer betrayal and abandonment by those he loved the most, by a spiritual family, by those whom he trusted, by those who trusted him, those closest to him, to know what it feels like when we go through something like that. Next in the story, we find Jesus being made the victim of lies.

Anybody here ever been lied about? Don't have to raise your hands. It's probably happened to all of us at some time or another. How did it make you feel?

Probably made you feel dirty, disgusted, violated.

I know I've had it happen to me in the church, in the private work world.

And Jesus, we see, had to experience many lies told about him.

Verse 57, And those who had laid hold of Jesus led him away to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were assembled. But Peter followed him at a distance to the high priest's courtyard, and he went in and sat with the servants to see the end. And the chief priests, the elders, and all the counsels sought false testimony against Jesus to put him to death, but they found none. Even though many false witnesses came forward, they found none. So what this is saying is many false witnesses came forward. But according to the legal rules of that time, you have to have two witnesses whose testimony agrees. And the witnesses have to testify individually, so they can't coordinate their stories on the fly. So that's what is going on there. So they can't find any of these false witnesses whose testimony agree.

Their stories don't match up, but that doesn't stop them.

They just keep going until they can find false witnesses whose stories somewhat agree.

Continuing, continuing, but at last two false witnesses came forward and said, this fellow said, I'm able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days.

Now you might convict somebody of being crazy on that charge because the temple had been under construction for decades, but they deliberately distorted Christ's words. He was talking about his body, destroyed this temple of my body, and I will raise it again three days, three nights later.

But of course, Jesus did not say what the false witnesses said anyway, but they weren't going to let that stop them. Verse 62, And the high priest arose and said to him, Do you answer nothing? What is it these men testify against you? But Jesus kept silent, and the high priest answered and said to him, I put you under oath by the living God. Tell us if you are the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God. And Jesus said to him, It is as you said. Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the power and coming on the clouds of heaven. Then the high priest tore his clothes, saying, He has spoken blasphemy. What further need do we have of witnesses? Look, now you have heard his blasphemy. What do you think? And he answered, He is deserving of death.

So Jesus was convicted not on the testimony of false witnesses, but on his own words. More specifically, their interpretation of his words. Verse 67, Then they spat in his face, and beat him, and others struck him with the palms of their hands, saying, Prophesy to us, Christ, who is the one who struck you?

Why did they say that? Well, Mark's gospel records that they had blindfolded him. So to mock him, they've got a blindfolded man, and they're slapping him on the face, saying, Tell us, Messiah, if you're so great, tell us who it was that slapped you in the face.

Horrifying the mockery that is taking place. But again, this is the kind of suffering that sin brings. And Jesus had to feel that humiliation, that hurt, that pain of being beaten into a bloody pulp by a mob. Why did he have to go through that? Again, he never sinned.

But sin brings humiliation. It brings mocking. It brings pummeling, sometimes physically, but certainly emotionally, mentally, spiritually. Sin leads to bruising and pain and hurt.

And it doesn't really require God to do anything, because sin, for the most part, brings natural consequences. God doesn't have to do anything to necessarily punish us for sin. That brings its own reward, you might say, which are consequences. By its very nature, sin hurts people. Hurts you, hurts those around you, hurts those you love. So Jesus had to suffer that, that humiliation and the beating that was due to us for our sins. Continuing in the next chapter, Matthew 27, verse 1, When morning came, all the chief priests and elders of the people plotted against Jesus to put him to death. So they've determined the verdict. The verdict is death. Now they're just trying to figure out how to carry it out legally, because they don't have the legal authority to execute someone. That has to be authorized by the Romans. So they're trying to find a way now for the Romans to execute Jesus. And when they had bound him, they led him away and delivered him to Pontius Pilate, the governor. Then Judas the betrayer, his betrayer, seeing that Jesus had been condemned, was remorseful and brought back the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, seeing how he was sinned by betraying innocent blood. You know, we have this the saying, what was he thinking? What was he thinking would happen?

Apparently it wasn't until Judas actually saw that Jesus was condemned to death that it really registered on him what he had done, that he had betrayed innocent blood for money.

And he realized what he'd done and he went back to the chief priests and said, no, this has been a terrible mistake. He's an innocent man. Let him go.

And what is their response? That's your problem. That's not our problem.

As they said here, what is that to us? You see to it. Then Judas threw down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed and went and hanged himself. It's a terribly tragic story, but there's a vital lesson about sin in this. And that is that the consequences of sin cannot be undone.

They cannot be undone, not by anything that you or I can do at least. I mean, maybe God can and does at times miraculously undo those consequences. But being sorry is just not enough. Because again, when sin happens, death and suffering are the result of that. Because again, what happens with sin isn't necessarily punishment, but consequences. The natural impact of sin. And there is a difference because God can punish us, and probably does punish us at times, for our own good, for our own blessing and benefit, to keep us to prevent us from doing it again, from doing the same stupid mistakes. And he does that, so we won't hopefully repeat those mistakes. But what happens mostly from sin is in punishment, it's natural consequences that follow from sin. And when it's done, as we see here with Judas, it can't be undone. You can't just say, I'm sorry, and the consequences go away. It doesn't work that way because it's natural law, and it sets in motion events that bring pain and suffering and humiliation and ultimately death. And here in Judas' sad story, we see this being played out, that being sorrowful, being remorseful, isn't enough because sin brings consequences.

And the only way that we can be delivered from those consequences is through the suffering and the shame and the blood of Jesus Christ. Skipping down now to verse 11, He answered him not one word, so that the governor marveled greatly.

Now at the feast, the governor was accustomed to releasing to the multitude one prisoner whom they wished. And at that time they had a notorious prisoner called Barabbas. Therefore, when they had gathered together, Pilate said to them, whom do you want me to release to you, Barabbas, or Jesus, who is called Christ? For he knew that they had handed Jesus over because of envy.

So Pilate recognizes that this is a sham trial. It's a mockery of justice.

And he thought, apparently, that the people would come to their senses and choose to have Barabbas executed and Jesus freed. But that's not the way it played out. And in a sense, we are like Barabbas in the story. Guilty as sin, as this saying goes, but freed because Jesus took our place and our punishment.

Verse 19, while Pilate was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent to him, saying, Have nothing to do with that just man, for I have suffered many things today in a dream because of him. The Romans are an extremely superstitious people. We don't have time to go into that, but that's reflected here in this passage. But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitudes that they should ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus.

The governor answered and said to them, Which of the two do you want me to release to you? And they said, Barabbas! Pilate said to them, What then shall I do with Jesus, who is called the Messiah? And they cried out all the more, saying, Let him be crucified.

When Pilate saw they could not prevail at all, but rather that a riot was rising, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person. You see to it. And all the people answered and said, His blood be on us, and on our children. Then Pilate released Barabbas to them, and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified. And scourging was a terrible punishment in itself. It was done with a short—we call it a cat of nine tales. They're familiar with pirate stories. It looks something like this—a handle with strips of leather that are embedded with pieces of metal that would literally rip a person's flesh to shreds. And there's historical evidence that a number of people who were scourged died just of the scourging before they could even be crucified.

John's Gospel says that after the scourging, Pilate again brought Jesus out to the crowd, apparently thinking, surely they'll see that this man has been punished enough and have him released and let him go. But again, all they did was cry for his death. Continuing in Matthew 27, verse 27, Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the praetorium and gathered the whole garrison around him, and they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him. When they had twisted a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and a reed in his right hand. And they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, king of the Jews! Then they spat on him, took the reed, and struck him on the head. So here's yet another round of humiliation of being beaten, spat upon, insulted, mocked, ridiculed. And yet it was all necessary because there are two elements to the Passover symbols that we take. We know the symbolic significance of the wine. That's easy. Wine is red. It's the color of blood. Jesus Christ's blood that was poured out in our place. But there's also the bread. And the bread symbolizes Jesus Christ bruised and battered and bleeding body. Notice what Paul tells us, 1 Corinthians 11, verses 23 and 24. For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, Take, eat. This is my body which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me.

And what we're seeing here in the record of Matthew and John, we'll get to here shortly, is the record of how Christ's body was broken and bruised and beaten and bloodied and battered, as symbolized by the Passover bread that we take. Because his body was part of the sacrifice, too. Not just the blood. And so was the shame and the humiliation and the spitting and the mocking and everything else that happened. Continuing, Matthew 27, verse 31.

It affects other people, maybe just an innocent bystander like Simon, who's there to enjoy the Feast of Passover and unleavened bread. And he gets drug against his will into the story. So everyone around us bears the penalty of sin as well, even total strangers.

Verse 33, and when they had come to a place called Golgotha, that is to say, place of a skull, they gave him sour wine mingled with gall to drink, but when he had tasted it, he would not drink.

What they're apparently trying to do here is give him some mild pain killer to numb some of the pain that is going through his body at that time.

But there is no pain killer to remove the pain of sin. So he endures it. Verse 35, then they crucified him and divided his garments, casting lots, that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the prophet. They divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots. And sitting down, they kept a watch over him there. So the only two things he has left are his name and his garment. And they take the garment off.

What that means is he's, they're naked, bluntly, they didn't wear underwears, we know it in that time, adding to his humiliation. So they gamble for his clothing, the only item of value that is left to his name. And they put up over his head the accusation written against him, this is Jesus, the King of the Jews. Another final insult, without knowing that it's actually true.

Then two robbers were crucified with him, one on the right and another on the left. And those who passed by blasphemed him, wagging their heads, and saying, You who destroyed the temple, and built it in three days, save yourself. If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.

Likewise, the chief priests also, mocking with the scribes and elders, said he saved others, himself he cannot save. If he is the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. Yeah, right.

He trusted in God, let him deliver him now, if he will have him. For he said, I am the Son of God. Even the robbers who were crucified with him reviled him with the same thing. So even now, just a few hours before his death, the humiliation continues.

And crucifixion was intended to be humiliating. It was commonly done right on the main roads.

It was to be a billboard there, you might say, to advertise what happened if you messed with Rome.

It was meant to be a public skeptical and a deterrent to show to people the cost of rebelling against Rome.

So as Jesus is crucified and hanging there, the people walking by continue to mock and humiliate him. And he experiences not one shred of sympathy, just ongoing continuing ridicule. Let's switch now to the Gospel of John, because John adds a few more important details for us to think about. John 19, verse 25, Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved, referring to John, standing by, he said to his mother, Woman, behold your son. Then he said to the disciple, John, behold your mother. And from that hour, that disciple took her to his own home.

See, many of you are mothers here. You can probably identify with this story in a way that I couldn't. But think of it. Mary, Jesus's mother, is standing there watching her son go through this, and dying in the afternoon sun. And yet she sees him as his death is drawing near. Take this one extra moment to see that his mother is going to be taken care of.

To see that she would be cared for, that she'll have a place to go, that she won't be left alone. And it's sad, too, because Jesus, we know elsewhere in the Gospels, had at least four brothers and at least two sisters that we know about. And where are they?

They're nowhere to be found.

So at this time, when just a little bit of support from his family would have meant so much, he's totally abandoned by everyone. His immediate family, his apostles, except for John, they didn't want to have anything to do with him at this moment when he was being executed as a common criminal. Continuing in verse 28, after this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, said, I thirst. I'm thirsty.

Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there. That's what was commonly given to the Roman soldiers as part of their daily rations. They filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to his mouth. So when Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, it is finished. And bowing his head, he gave up his spirit. Therefore, because it was the preparation day, that the body should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath. For that coming Sabbath was a high day, first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who was crucified with him. And this was to speed up their deaths, because with their legs broken they could no longer raise themselves up. Because death from crucifixion was typically by suffocation. Your body would eventually grow so weak that you could no longer lift yourself up to fill your lungs with air, and you would suffocate. It was an agonizing experience that typically took up to several days to die. Verse 33, but when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. And he who has seen has testified—John is talking about himself here, he was an eyewitness of this—and his testimony is true. And he knows that he is telling the truth so that you may believe, for these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, not one of his bones should be broken. And again another scripture says they shall look on him who they pierced. So John is saying he's an eyewitness. He saw Jesus die, and he knew how he died. He died because a Roman soldier took a spear and thrust it into his side and out gushed blood and water. And what's significant about that? He's saying Jesus bled to death. And it's important that he bled to death because every sacrificial animal for 1,400 years leading back to the Exodus, millions of animals, had died by the shedding of their blood. And they died that way because they were a symbol, they were a picture, of the coming Messiah who would die by the shedding of his blood.

Every year at the Passover we typically also turn back and read some or all of Isaiah 53.

We've read a lot of Matthew's perspective, John's perspective on these events, but Isaiah has another valuable perspective because it's a prophetic perspective. It's looking forward some 700, 800 years before what we've just read about. Yet it ties together very well with what we've read from Matthew and John. But as we read through this, I want us to think about another important aspect that he brings out, and that is the personal aspect. Not for us as part of a group, not for us as part of the Colorado congregations here, and not part of the United Church of God, or the greater body of the Church of God, or humanity as a whole, or any even anything like that. But what this means for us personally and individually, and hopefully we'll come to better understand what Isaiah is telling us here.

Isaiah 53 verse 1, Who has believed our report, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he the Messiah shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness, and when we see him there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected by men. And we've seen that again and again in what we've read through here.

And he was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Again, we've certainly seen that through his humiliation and the suffering of scourging and crucifixion. And we hid, as it were, our faces from him. He was despised, and we did not esteem him. All of his closest followers, his family members, had left him to his fate by himself. They hid their faces from him. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement for our peace was upon him. And by his stripes, his punishment, we are healed. All we, like sheep, have gone astray. We have turned every one to his own way. And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

I want us to put ourselves in Isaiah's sandals for a few minutes here as we wrap this up. To think about it from his perspective, and it was a very personal thing for Isaiah. It's easy for us to think of read through the gospel accounts, and we acknowledge that's a historical record of what happened 2,000 years ago. We know and understand that Jesus had to pour out his blood for us, for our sins, and it's intellectually, fairly easy to understand those concepts from the scriptures we cover today. But what is Isaiah's perspective on that? He wasn't there. Isaiah lived and died 7, 800 years before this.

So how did Isaiah—what was he thinking when he wrote these words, these inspired words?

What happened under the Old Covenant in Isaiah's time?

When you sinned, you took to the temple a little lamb or a goat.

And this little lamb animal had to be perfect, had to be unblemished.

It's a forerunner of Christ's sacrifice. No physical flaws of any kind. You took it up to the temple yourself when you sinned. It was an animal you'd probably raised from birth, maybe like a pet, even, that your kids played with.

And you took it to the temple, and you went to the priest, and you stood before the altar with the priest. And you and the priest would lay your hands on the head of that little lamb or goat, and you'd say, God, I have sinned.

You'd confess your sins before the priest, before God.

And then the priest would hand you a knife. Because the person giving the offering had to do this. It wasn't the priest who did this.

It was the person giving the offering.

And you would take that little lamb or goat, and you would pull back its head and slit its throat.

You did that. Not the priest.

And the blood would pour out over your hands and onto the ground.

And there was no doubt in your mind, when you did that, why that animal died.

That it was your sins that that animal had to shed its blood for us.

Not your countries, not your spouses, not your families, not your neighbors, not your husbands, not your wives. It was your sins that caused that innocent animal to bleed and died before your eyes, dear.

Is that the way we see Jesus Christ's sacrifice?

That's the way it's portrayed here.

That's what the sacrificial system that existed for 1400 years pointed to, and all pointed to the picture of us causing Christ's death.

That process, the trespass offering, as it's called in Scripture, was very effective at making the point that the little lamb or kid died for your personal sins for yours alone and no one else's.

Is that the way we recognize Christ's sacrifice?

Dying because of our sins and what we have done.

Continuing in verse 7, He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before it sheers his silence, so he opened not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment, and who will declare his generation, his offspring? Jesus died without any offspring. For he was cut off from the land of the living, for the transgressions of my people he was stricken. And they made his grave with the wicked, but with the rich at his death, because he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He has put him to grief. When you make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see the labor of his soul and be satisfied. By his knowledge, my righteous servant shall justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities, their sins, in other words. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul unto death. And he was numbered with the transgressors, and he bore the sin of many. And as we've covered day many times, how he bore our transgressions, our sins, taking them on himself. And he made intercession for the transgressors. Even as Jesus was dying, he pleaded for those who were murdering him, fulfilling his prophecy, saying, Father, forgive them, because they don't know what they're doing.

As our high priest, as we read from Hebrews earlier, he now constantly makes intercession for us as well, because he experienced all that we can experience in this life. He went through everything we can go through, including the pain, the suffering, the betrayal, the lying against. And he went through that, and he learned from what he suffered so that he could be our faithful, high priest and intercessor. And as our Lamb of God, our Passover Lamb, he knows the pain and the misery that we experience in this life. He knows what sin brings, and he knows the consequences of it. And he knows what sin brings in a world that is filled with sin and the consequences of that sin. And he knows exactly what we are going through, because he's been there. He's done that. He went through it all for himself, by himself, so that he could be our true Passover Lamb who takes away the sins of the world. And hopefully, in what we've covered today, we can understand why Jesus Christ had to suffer.