"Easter Sunday: He Came, He Saw, He Conquered"

It has been a very busy week. Traveling with the controversial, self-proclaimed "King of Kings" or "Son of God" has been quite an experience!  First there was "Palm Sunday", when Jesus rode into town. The crowds were horrible that day. With all of the political tension so thick in the air, it was surprising that Jesus even showed up, but He sure did! In His last trip into Jerusalem, Jesus rode in on a donkey, but just as triumphantly as the King which He is, with His followers waving Palm Fronds in reverence. "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD! Hosanna in the highest!" the crowds yelled. One of the Pharisees were overheard telling Jesus to rebuke the crowds for saying such things, but He answered in a strange way. "If they kept quiet, the stones along the path would burst into cheers!" He told them.

Next on the agenda for this week was The Last Supper. It was held in the guest room of a house in Jerusalem. The exact location is being withheld to protect the owner's identity. Peter and John went ahead to prepare the meal and they did a terrific job. All of this occurred on Holy (Maundy) Thursday. All 12 of Jesus's disciples were in attendance Jesus had very interesting things to say during this feast. During a very serious moment, Jesus told them all that one of them would betray Him and that Peter would deny even knowing Him, not once but three times! Well, with the political upheaval that was happening, this was not too hard to believe. It is not exactly smiled upon to be a follower of Jesus. Jesus also told everyone in attendance that He was going to be crucified.

Bread loaves, and wine was among the food which was served. At one point, Jesus took a cup of wine and said thanks over it. Then He passed it to the 12 men and told them to share it among themselves. He also took a loaf of bread and tore it into pieces after thanking God for it also. While handing it out to His disciples, He said, "This is my body, given for you, This do in remembrance of me. This wine is the token of God's new covenant to save you, an agreement sealed with the blood I will pour out for you." It was a foreboding moment, and Jesus seemed to be in a rare solemn mood. Incidentally, Jesus was seen praying in the garden after supper, asking God to please let Him escape the horrors to come if it were at all possible. He seemed to be sweating blood. "Not My will but Thine be done," He added. It seems that Jesus trusts His Father unconditionally.

While He was in the garden, soldiers came to arrest Him. Judas, one of His 12 disciples, was with them, and betrayed Jesus with a kiss. Judas told the soldiers to arrest the one which he greeted with a kiss, and then walked over to kiss Jesus. He was paid 30 pieces of silver for his trouble. It is unclear if he ever got to spend any of it, since he committed suicide by hanging himself soon after Jesus was arrested. The disciples tried to stop the arrest, and one even cut off a soldier's ear, but Jesus simply placed the ear back on the man's head, and healed him.

Good Friday turned out to show exactly why Jesus was so serious during the supper. The masses eventually got to Pilot, it seems. Everyone wanted Jesus to be crucified, but Pilot was having a hard time understanding why this man should die. He had committed no crime, and had never harmed anyone. In fact, He had healed many people, and spoke of loving others on many occasions. Of course, politically it was the right thing for Pilot's career to follow the majority's wishes. He did try to appease them with a thief named Barabbas, but they wanted to see Jesus die. It was obviously with reluctance that Pilot conceded and let Barabbas go. He then handed Jesus over to be beaten with a lead tipped whip. While Jesus was being questioned by the religious and political leaders, three different people asked Peter if he knew Jesus. He denied that he did, three different times.

According to witnesses, Jesus had never been seen harming anyone. He spent 33 years of His life doing only good for the people around Him. They beat Him. It was a horrific event to see. The whips were swung until it seemed the soldier's arms would fall off, and then they would switch up. He bled, His skin was shredded, yet He never cursed at them. It was said that He took those stripes so that healing would be available to His people. "For by His stripes we are healed." 

The soldiers made fun of Him, and laughed at the fact that He had called Himself the "King of Kings." Placing a purple robe on Him, they made a crown of long, painful looking thorns and shoved it onto His head. Several of them hit Him in the head with sticks. They saluted Him sarcastically saying "Behold the King of the Jews!" The soldiers spit on Him, and then fell to their knees in mock worship, and stood to spit on Him again. Not until they had exhausted themselves of mocking Him did they finally lead Him away to be crucified. They placed a very large, heavy wooden cross on Jesus's shoulder and demanded that He carry it up Golgatha's Hill, to the town's crucifixion site. He finally fell under the strain, having lost so much blood from the torture which they made Him endure. A man named Simon, from Cyrene was made to carry the cross the rest of the way up the hill. Two thieves were also being crucified that day, however they were not tortured the way Jesus was.

After the beating He had already endured, the soldiers decided to nail Jesus to the cross. While masses of people who Jesus had came to earth to save screamed "Crucify Him!", soldiers nailed His arms and feet to the cross, each strike of the hammer echoed through the town. It was almost unbearable to see. They suspended Him in the air, between the two thieves. The usual custom is to break the legs of those being crucified, but they did not break His legs. He asked for something to drink, but they gave Him vinegar. One soldier stabbed Jesus in the side. Jesus suffered for quite a long time. At one point He was overheard asking "My God, My God, Why have you forsaken me?" Amazingly enough He still offered no curses or ill will to his torturers.

As He was dying, and looking down at those who had spat on Him, tortured Him, beaten Him, stabbed him in the side, shoved a crown made of thorns into His head, and nailed his arms and feet to a cross, which they then suspended Him from to die….as He hung between life and death watching His torturers, He offered no curses, no ill will, no hate. He only offered love with the words He prayed to God, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” As He gasped for His last few breaths, He could be heard saying "It is finished." Then Jesus died. His crucifixion was held at 9 am on Friday morning. Immediately the earth turned dark as night. Earthquakes shook the land, and lightening flashed angrily. One soldier shouted "Surely this was the Son of God!" The curtain in the temple, which kept man separated from God was ripped down the middle, forever allowing man to pray to God himself, and ask forgiveness for his own sins. No longer will a sacrifice by a high priest be necessary, for Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice. Jesus's body was then taken to be buried. The soldiers made sure that the stone door of Jesus's tomb was sealed tightly.

Saturday was a sad day of mourning for Jesus's followers. Some of them finally fell alseep, exhausted on Saturday night. They woke to the screams of Mary Magdalene. She was insisting that Jesus was no longer in His grave! Apparently, sometime during the early morning hours, an angel rolled the stone away from the tomb, and Jesus woke up! He was resurrected from the dead in a miracle not seen since Lazareth. Although Thomas did not believe it at first, Jesus allowed him to touch the scars in His hands where the nails had been. Jesus had CAME to this earth knowing exactly what His sacrifice was to be. He SAW the condition of the world, and the sadness and sin in it. And He CONQUERED death, hell , and the grave. He gave His own life to be the sacrifice for sin, so that man could be forgiven.

He was resurrected on the first Easter Sunday, and after visiting with many of his followers, He ascended into heaven to be with His Father once again. He waits there for everyone who has accepted His gift of Salvation. His ultimate sacrifice was for everyone who has had breath since His was extinguished. The blood He shed was to cover the sin of man. If anyone wants to be forgiven for their sins and have the blood of Jesus cover their lives, He died to make that possible. The only requirements are to believe that He died on the cross for you. Pray to Him and ask Him to come into your heart and forgive you for your wrongdoings. Jesus did not teach people to judge. He did not even judge his torturers, He offered forgiveness and love. That is what Christianity is truly about. I suspect this day will go down in history, and people will be thanking Jesus for His great sacrifice for thousands of years to come. I am honored to have had the chance to witness these events, and wish to take a moment to thank Jesus for giving His life for me. Please watch the embedded video which portrays these events below.