Since today is Good Friday let’s start there. Sometimes I feel like people gloss over what actually happened on Good Friday wanting to get on to Easter Sunday as quickly as possible. Good Friday is the day that Jesus died, but there is so much more to the story then “He died”.
There were so many things that happened to Jesus before any physical injury took place. First one of His closest friends conspired against Him and then betrayed Him with a kiss. Another of his closest friends denied knowing Jesus while Jesus was on trail and then sentenced to death. Jesus was taken by a crowd of people who basically just didn’t like him and put on trail, and ultimately found Him guilty for saying that He was the Son of God. One man tried to free him, not seeing how this made Jesus worthy of death, but the crowd insisted on crucifying Jesus and letting a murderer go instead. Jesus was then mocked by the people guarding Him, and His clothing was taken and divided among the same men. They also made Him walk through the town to place where He was to be crucified, and the crowds of people came up and ridiculed Him the entire way. This was only the mental abuse that Jesus endured, it then continued on to the physical.
The Physical injuries that Jesus suffered were some of the worst things that you could ever think up. While Jesus was being mock by the guards they placed a crown of thorns on his head, and then beat him with a stick until he bled. The beating continued as they made Jesus walk through town, carrying the cross that He was to crucified upon, as the crowd hurled rocks at Him. Then they nailed Jesus to a cross and made him hang there until he died. I think that death by crucifixion would probably be one of the worst ways to die. It would be extremely painful and it would also be a very slow death, the Bible says that it took nine hours for Jesus to die.
Through all the suffering that Jesus undertook He never once faltered, He knew what had to be done. I think that the truly amazing thing is that Jesus always knew that this was the way that he was going to die. All through the time that he was preaching, and helping others, He knew that He was going to die. Jesus told His disciples what was going to happen, and that it was necessary for it to happen, and never once did he say “I don’t want to do it, but you know it’s God plan”. Jesus had real strength, and commitment.
The other thing that truly amazes me is that Jesus went through all this suffering for us. To think that we are so important to God that he sent His son to earth to teach us, and then to, ultimately, die for us. That in itself makes me feel really special.
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