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Program Transcript (click to view):
You
probably know the old hymn “Were You There When They Crucified My Lord?” To
answer that question, “Yes – you were there,” in a way you may not have thought
about before.
Not
long after Jesus was crucified, one of the first Christian leaders, Stephen,
was hauled before the religious court for blasphemy and heresy. In a bold
speech, he told his accusers who Jesus was, and then said, “you have betrayed
and murdered him” (Acts 7:52).
On
a scruffy hill just outside of Jerusalem, a
troublemaking teacher was killed on a cross. He was not alone. He was
not the only
troublemaker in Jerusalem that spring day.
Jesus Christ
died for us, forgiving all our debts, rescuing us from the slavery of
sin,
redeeming us from its deadly consequences. He has also been raised for us and lives
in us,
empowering us to live in him. I am so thankful for what he has done for
us! The
holy, perfect Son of God gave himself for us to rescue us from our sins. Salvation is truly the best news
possible!
Let me rehearse two
fundamental truths we can learn from Jesus' crucifixion.
In
Matthew 12:40, Jesus says that he will be buried “three days and three nights.”
We used to teach 1) that this is not a figure of speech, 2) that Jesus therefore
had to be in the tomb exactly 72 hours, 3) that since he was put in the tomb at
evening, he came out at evening and 4) that this necessitates a Wednesday
crucifixion.
Jesus Christ spent his final hours of human life nailed to a
cross. Despised and rejected by the world he came to save, history’s only
perfect person took upon himself the consequences of our sins. The Bible
records that on that spring day, from a hill outside Jerusalem, Jesus spoke
several times. No one Gospel writer records all his sayings. Matthew and Mark
describe one. Luke and John each give us three. Together, these sayings
constitute a powerful message from our Savior’s heart during the hours of his greatest
personal agony.
The
Gospels plainly tell us that the
day on which the women discovered that Jesus’ tomb was empty was Sunday
morning. The
Gospels say that the women came to the tomb "at dawn on the first day of
the
week" (Matthew 28:1), "very early on the first day of the week" (Mark
16:2), "on the first day of the week, very early in the morning" (Luke
24:1), or
"early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark" (John
20:1). To
summarize, the women came to the tomb around dawn on the "first day of
the week"
(or Sunday), and found it empty.
In Matthew 12:40, Jesus says that
he will be buried "three days and three nights." Some people teach 1)
that this
is not a figure of speech, 2) that Jesus therefore had to be in
the tomb exactly 72
hours, 3) that since he was put in the tomb at evening, he came out at
evening and 4) that
this necessitates a Wednesday crucifixion. Further, we taught that this
was the only
sign Jesus gave that he was the Christ, and that Jesus had to be in the
tomb exactly 72
hours or else he was not our Savior.
On a spring day in Jerusalem, a man named
Jesus
was tortured and executed by the Roman government. But after he died God
resurrected him, and the world was forever changed.
Jerusalem seemed
to be
gripped by a fanatical hysteria during that fateful day on which Jesus
died.
Some were shouting that he had blasphemed against God and should be
condemned to
death. Others accused him of treason against the state, and clamored for
his
execution.
The governor found himself forced to consider the death penalty for an innocent
man. Powerful political forces pressured him to make an unjust decision. But the
governor knew he couldn’t live with himself if he allowed an innocent man to be
executed.
