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crucified

Pause V Day 14 Paid In Full

November 11, 2021 by Marietta Taylor Leave a Comment

Pause V, Day 14

Betrayed. Arrested. Denied. Questioned. Beaten. Crucified. Buried.

These words capture the last moments of the human life of Jesus. Sure doesn’t sound triumphant does it?

Still, true to God’s nature, what we see with human eyes isn’t what happens in the spiritual realm. In those last moments, Jesus was conquering sin. Not His own, because He had none, but ours.

All throughout the Gospel of John, Jesus spoke of what would happen to Him. In today’s reading, the foretelling begins unfolding. But knowing something will happen and experiencing it feels different as it surely did for His disciples. Knowing Jesus was Messiah and watching Him live that out as the Sacrificial Lamb who would take away the sin of the world through His atoning death was not what the disciples or anyone else had imagined. (John 1:29) Anyone, that is, besides Jesus.

While Pilate could find no reason to crucify Jesus, the religious leaders insisted they had more than enough evidence.

“We have a law,” the Jews replied to Pilate, “and according to that law He ought to die, because He made himself the Son of God.”

They sent the Messiah they’d been looking for to the cross because He proclaimed to be the Messiah.

It feels like we should be upset over this. But in that moment where Jesus said it was finished and breathed His last breath, our debt of sin was wiped out. Paid. In. Full.

I cannot be grateful enough. Sisters, we should be praising God every day for the way He uses even the foolish and greedy, like the Jewish religious leaders, to achieve His will. We are free from the chains of sin. Praise Him!

Today's Invitation

1) Be a scribe and copy the precious words of Scripture down word for word. Make space in your journal to write down all of John 19:28-30 today. As you copy, lookup a cross reference or two as you come to them (they are the small letters next to certain words in your study Bible or online at www.biblia.com).

2) Take time to read through the other Gospel accounts of the crucifixion and death of Jesus. Copy down onto notecards the verse or verses about His death that most move you.  s and place in prominent spots in your home so you can memorize them in the coming days. Share them with someone and why they touched your heart.

3) Memorize John 17:23

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John 18

After Jesus had said these things, he went out with his disciples across the Kidron Valley, where there was a garden, and he and his disciples went into it. 2 Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place, because Jesus often met there with his disciples. 3 So Judas took a company of soldiers and some officials from the chief priests and the Pharisees and came there with lanterns, torches, and weapons.

4 Then Jesus, knowing everything that was about to happen to him, went out and said to them, “Who is it that you’re seeking?”

5 “Jesus of Nazareth,” they answered.

“I Am He,” Jesus told them.

Judas, who betrayed him, was also standing with them. 6 When Jesus told them, “I Am He,” they stepped back and fell to the ground.

7 Then he asked them again, “Who is it that you’re seeking?”

“Jesus of Nazareth,” they said.

8 “I told you I Am He,” Jesus replied. “So if you’re looking for me, let these men go.” 9 This was to fulfill the words he had said: “I have not lost one of those you have given me.”

10 Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it, struck the high priest’s servant, and cut off his right ear. (The servant’s name was Malchus.) 11 At that, Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword away! Am I not to drink the cup the Father has given me?”

12 Then the company of soldiers, the commander, and the Jewish officials arrested Jesus and tied him up. 13 First they led him to Annas, since he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year. 14 Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jews that it would be better for one man to die for the people.

15 Simon Peter was following Jesus, as was another disciple. That disciple was an acquaintance of the high priest; so he went with Jesus into the high priest’s courtyard. 16 But Peter remained standing outside by the door. So the other disciple, the one known to the high priest, went out and spoke to the girl who was the doorkeeper and brought Peter in.

17 Then the servant girl who was the doorkeeper said to Peter, “You aren’t one of this man’s disciples too, are you?”

“I am not,” he said.

18 Now the servants and the officials had made a charcoal fire, because it was cold. They were standing there warming themselves, and Peter was standing with them, warming himself.

19 The high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and about his teaching.

20 “I have spoken openly to the world,” Jesus answered him. “I have always taught in the synagogue and in the temple, where all the Jews gather, and I haven’t spoken anything in secret. 21 Why do you question me? Question those who heard what I told them. Look, they know what I said.”

22 When he had said these things, one of the officials standing by slapped Jesus, saying, “Is this the way you answer the high priest?”

23 “If I have spoken wrongly,” Jesus answered him, “give evidence about the wrong; but if rightly, why do you hit me?” 24 Then Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.

25 Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself.
They said to him, “You aren’t one of his disciples too, are you?”

He denied it and said, “I am not.”

26 One of the high priest’s servants, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, said, “Didn’t I see you with him in the garden?”
27 Peter denied it again. Immediately a rooster crowed.

28 Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas to the governor’s headquarters. It was early morning. They did not enter the headquarters themselves; otherwise they would be defiled and unable to eat the Passover.

29 So Pilate came out to them and said, “What charge do you bring against this man?”

30 They answered him, “If this man weren’t a criminal, we wouldn’t have handed him over to you.”

31 Pilate told them, “You take him and judge him according to your law.”

“It’s not legal for us to put anyone to death,” the Jews declared. 32 They said this so that Jesus’s words might be fulfilled indicating what kind of death he was going to die.

33 Then Pilate went back into the headquarters, summoned Jesus,
and said to him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

34 Jesus answered, “Are you asking this on your own, or have others told you about me?”

35 “I’m not a Jew, am I?” Pilate replied. “Your own nation and the chief priests handed you over to me. What have you done?”

36 “My kingdom is not of this world,” said Jesus.
“If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight, so that I wouldn’t be handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.”

37 “You are a king then?” Pilate asked.

“You say that I’m a king,” Jesus replied. “I was born for this, and I have come into the world for this: to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”

38 “What is truth?” said Pilate.

After he had said this, he went out to the Jews again and told them, “I find no grounds for charging him. 39 You have a custom that I release one prisoner to you at the Passover. So, do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?”

40 They shouted back, “Not this man, but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a revolutionary.

 

John 19

Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. 2 The soldiers also twisted together a crown of thorns, put it on his head, and clothed him in a purple robe. 3 And they kept coming up to him and saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” and were slapping his face.

4 Pilate went outside again and said to them, “Look, I’m bringing him out to you to let you know I find no grounds for charging him.” 5 Then Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!”

6 When the chief priests and the temple servants saw him,
they shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!”

Pilate responded, “Take him and crucify him yourselves,
since I find no grounds for charging him.”

7 “We have a law,” the Jews replied to him, “and according to that law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.”

8 When Pilate heard this statement, he was more afraid than ever. 9 He went back into the headquarters and asked Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus did not give him an answer. 10 So Pilate said to him, “Do you refuse to speak to me? Don’t you know that I have the authority to release you and the authority to crucify you?”

11 “You would have no authority over me at all,” Jesus answered him, “if it hadn’t been given you from above. This is why the one who handed me over to you has the greater sin.”

12 From that moment Pilate kept trying to release him.
But the Jews shouted, “If you release this man, you are not Caesar’s friend. Anyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar!”

13 When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus outside. He sat down on the judge’s seat in a place called the Stone Pavement (but in Aramaic, Gabbatha). 14 It was the preparation day for the Passover, and it was about noon.
Then he told the Jews, “Here is your king!”

15 They shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!”

Pilate said to them, “Should I crucify your king?”

“We have no king but Caesar!” the chief priests answered.

16 Then he handed him over to be crucified.

Then they took Jesus away.
17 Carrying the cross by himself, he went out to what is called Place of the Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. 18 There they crucified him and two others with him, one on either side, with Jesus in the middle. 19 Pilate also had a sign made and put on the cross. It said: Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. 20 Many of the Jews read this sign, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, Latin, and Greek. 21 So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Don’t write, ‘The king of the Jews,’ but that he said, ‘I am the king of the Jews.’” 22 Pilate replied, “What I have written, I have written.”

23 When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, a part for each soldier. They also took the tunic, which was seamless, woven in one piece from the top. 24 So they said to one another, “Let’s not tear it, but cast lots for it, to see who gets it.” This happened that the Scripture might be fulfilled that says: They divided my clothes among themselves, and they cast lots for my clothing. This is what the soldiers did.

25 Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple he loved standing there, he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son.” 27 Then he said to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.

28 After this, when Jesus knew that everything was now finished that the Scripture might be fulfilled, he said, “I’m thirsty.” 29 A jar full of sour wine was sitting there; so they fixed a sponge full of sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it up to his mouth.

30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished.”
Then bowing his head, he gave up his spirit.

31 Since it was the preparation day, the Jews did not want the bodies to remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a special day). They requested that Pilate have the men’s legs broken and that their bodies be taken away. 32 So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man and of the other one who had been crucified with him. 33 When they came to Jesus, they did not break his legs since they saw that he was already dead. 34 But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once blood and water came out.

35 He who saw this has testified so that you also may believe. His testimony is true, and he knows he is telling the truth. 36 For these things happened so that the Scripture would be fulfilled: Not one of his bones will be broken. 37 Also, another Scripture says: They will look at the one they pierced.

38 After this, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus—but secretly because of his fear of the Jews—asked Pilate that he might remove Jesus’s body. Pilate gave him permission; so he came and took his body away. 39 Nicodemus (who had previously come to him at night) also came, bringing a mixture of about seventy-five pounds of myrrh and aloes. 40 They took Jesus’s body and wrapped it in linen cloths with the fragrant spices, according to the burial custom of the Jews. 41 There was a garden in the place where he was crucified. A new tomb was in the garden; no one had yet been placed in it. 42 They placed Jesus there because of the Jewish day of preparation and since the tomb was nearby.

How Does “Pause” Work?
1. Each day, Monday through Friday, for 3 weeks, we will provide you with an invitation to get away with the Savior. Each one is designed for you to engage with the Almighty in a deeper way and perhaps in a new way than you have been recently.

2. Having a journal is a must! You’ll want to take notes as you walk this special Journey of Pause.

3. Each week focuses on one or two passage of Scripture and we walk with you as you study and flesh these out for yourself. As you write your thoughts, read His Word, and pray, questions might come up. That’s Perfect! Ask a trusted fellow believer, a pastor, or send us an email as you work through them!

4. Jumping in at the middle? No problem! Here is the entire Journey Theme.

5. Connect with others on Facebook by visiting our GT Community Group!

Embracing God’s fullness in our lives is rooted in scripture and memorizing His word is vital to our continued growth and depth with Jesus. Tap and hold from your mobile device to download this week’s verse and make it your phone’s lockscreen!

Thanks for joining us today as we journeyed into Pause V Week Three!
Don’t miss out on the discussion below – we’d love to hear your thoughts!

Looking for other journeys from this theme? Here’s a link to all past studies
in Pause V!

Posted in: Freedom, God, Gospel, Jesus, Life, Pause, Praise, Sin Tagged: Betrayal, crucified, Messiah, Nature, Paid in Full, questions, Triumphant

Sketched IV Day 13 Thomas

August 15, 2018 by Sara Cissell Leave a Comment

Read His Words Before Ours!

John 11:1-16
John 14:1-11
John 20:24-29 

Sketched IV, Day 13

“Thomas, we saw Him!”
“Jesus was here.”
“He just appeared!”
“…His hands and side.”
“We’ve seen the Lord!” 

I looked from man to man, closing the door behind me.
What had I missed while out walking in the darkness?
Peter gestured with an intensity typically displayed when trying to clear a path for Jesus in a crowd, or when his favorite meal was placed before him. Passion was not something he lacked.
Luke responded with the focus of a doctor, describing Jesus’ wounds.
James and John spoke with animated gestures belying the fact they were related. 

Regardless of their excited reactions, all of them relayed one thing: they had seen Jesus.
Really?
The crucified Jesus was alive?
And everyone, but me, had seen Him?
How could that be?

These brothers of mine have played practical jokes on me before…
Telling me the new type of knot used to create the net would hold my weight.
It’s a good thing Luke is a doctor!
Or the time we all agreed to meet at a certain spot in the marketplace while they all met somewhere else to see how long it would take me to find them.
Half an hour, thank you very much. 

Surely, they wouldn’t joke about Jesus, would they?
My eyes threatened to fill with tears as the emotions of loss of my Savior, combined with hurt at being left out of seeing Jesus, and perhaps the root, arrogant pride as I distanced myself by throwing up walls.  

“If I don’t see the mark of the nails in his hands, put my finger into the mark of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will never believe.”
I moved past them quickly working to control my emotions.
The room felt smaller by the second as they bantered on about “Jesus’ appearance”.  

I slept fitfully that night, my eyes staring above me, mind whirling at the thought of Jesus being alive. Possibly.  

How? He had been nailed to the cross and breathed His last.
No, it wasn’t possible!  

However, Mary had come running to us yesterday morning, saying she’d encountered the Lord. No one discounted her completely, but I’m not sure any of us wholeheartedly believed her either.
We’d walked with Jesus so closely.
Why would He first reveal Himself to a woman instead?
No, it simply can not be…could it? 

Now my brothers were saying the same thing.
Everyone had seen Jesus….but me. 

I tossed again, frustrated at my insomnia and the endless war in my head. 

Why was I left out?
They’d said they were behind closed, locked doors when Jesus just appeared in their midst.
So, He’d risen from the dead and didn’t need doors?
This was too much. And I vehemently turned over, deciding to leave the matter alone.

But the war inside wouldn’t be silent. 
If He had supernatural ability to move around, why wouldn’t He wait when we were all together? He knew how much I loved Him! 

When Lazarus died and we were weighing the pros and cons of going to Bethany, wasn’t I the one that said we would go with Him, despite the logical side that said we would surely be killed or arrested? I was right, Jesus’ death was indeed waiting in Jerusalem.
Logic and emotion….I’ve battled these my whole life.
Alive again?
How do I embrace that?
I want to believe, I do!
How do I accept what I cannot experience? 
My emotion wants more than anything to believe, but I simply cannot.
I must have proof; I must. 

I think the guys could tell I hadn’t slept well, nor did I appreciate the joy they exuded every time they talked about Jesus’ miraculous appearance. I wanted to believe, but it hurt too much to acknowledge the rejection caused by the timing of His visit, and deeper still, the constant, forced acknowledgment that I could not believe “their word” as my inner battle raged on.  

A week later, wearied and worn from my inner turmoil, I knew I couldn’t carry on like this. I would need to either decide to believe my brothers that Jesus was alive, or I would need to walk away from them, shutting off everything that had happened in the last 3 years of our lives together. I couldn’t do this anymore….the war inside had to end; I was too tired. I was at my end.
And at that moment, when I seemed most hopeless, Jesus once again ignored locked doors and arrived in our midst.

“Peace be with you”, and my head jerked up with shock, and instant grief gripped me, as I knew I had ignored the truth that had been right in front of me these past 8 days.
The sense of peace that blanketed the room felt gloriously weighted.
Jesus turned to me, eyes gentle, knowing my unbelief, meeting me where I was with total acceptance, He invited, “Put your finger here and look at my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Don’t be faithless, but believe.”

I reached out and with trembling hands felt the wounds.
Warm flesh met my finger tips. Jesus was alive!  

“My Lord and my God!”, I exclaimed!
“Because you have seen Me, have you believed?
Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.”

Hours later I laid staring at the ceiling again, pondering Jesus’ words.
I believed because I touched Him, but He said, blessed are those who believed without seeing.
Suddenly, it came together.
I had been seeing all along….I saw the truth in the faces of my brothers.
I heard it in their constant testimony.
I ignored it when I heard truth from Mary.
His evidence was there; it was my pride to shun it.

I would have saved myself much misery this past week if I had just believed the truth in front of me. I knew it had taken more energy to doubt than to believe.
Yet, He loved me enough to meet me where I was.
Just as He has always done. 
And with that, I drifted off into the first solid night’s sleep in some time. 

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A Note About Sketched
In this series, we are stepping into the shoes of various characters throughout history. Some are biblical, some are well-known in modern day times, and some are people our writers know personally. We do our best to research the culture and times surrounding these individuals to give an accurate representation of their first-person perspectives on life and the world, but we can’t be 100% accurate. “Sketched” is our best interpretation of how these characters view(ed) God, themselves, and the world around them. Our hope is that by stepping into their everyday, we will see our own lives a little differently!
Enjoy!
And keep watching for Sketched Themes to pop up throughout the year!

Join the GT Community and share your thoughts!

Embracing God’s fullness in our lives is rooted in scripture and memorizing His word is vital to our continued growth and depth with Jesus. Tap and hold from your mobile device to download this week’s verse and make it your phone’s lockscreen!

Thanks for joining us today as we journeyed into Sketched IV Week Three! Don’t miss out on the discussion below – we’d love to hear your thoughts!

Looking for other journeys from this theme?
Here’s a link to all past studies in Sketched IV!

Posted in: Believe, Faith, Fellowship, Follow, God, Gospel, Grace, Hope, Identity, Jesus, Loss, Love, Overwhelmed, Relationship, Seeking, Struggle, Truth Tagged: animated, believe, crucified, excited, focus, intensity, Jesus, passion, seeing, Truth

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And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14