» Friday: Jesus Walks Ahead Alone Emmaus Church

Friday: Jesus Walks Ahead Alone

Posted by kenneth - 09/04/09 at 01:04:29 pm

On the Road to Calvary

This week we will explore a few of the many events that took place during the week prior to Christ’s crucifixion and his resurrection from the dead on the first day of the week, the day we call Easter. Let us walk with Jesus as he walked those last steps of his life on the road to Calvary.

FRIDAY, April 10
Reading: John 19:28-42
The Death of Jesus
28Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” 29A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. 30When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
31Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jews did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. 32The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. 33But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. 35The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. 36These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken,” 37and, as another scripture says, “They will look on the one they have pierced.”
The Burial of Jesus
38Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jews. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. 39He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. 40Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. 41At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. 42Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

Devotional: Jesus Walks Ahead Alone

Earlier, Jesus told his disciples he was going where they could not go. The crowds had left him. Even Peter denied him. Yet, Jesus knew this was the plan. There was to be only one perfect sacrifice, the second Adam.

Jesus was completely aware of the history of sin in mankind and its devastation and effect for thousands of years yet to come. His road was to be traveled alone. His earthly destiny would be led by men who had no understanding of who he was or his role in their redemption. God gave his son Jesus the Creator into the hands of the created, those now fallen, corrupted and full of death.

Arrested, mocked, beaten beyond recognition, humiliated, abandoned, falsely condemned, and nailed to a rough cruel cross, Jesus submitted himself to his Father’s plan. Then God placed the sin of all mankind on his only son, from the first sin of the first man Adam to the last sin to be committed by the last man on earth. The burden was so great that only a perfect sacrifice could bear it. And when, at the perfect time, Jesus gave up his spirit and died, Joseph of Arimathea laid his body in a tomb. And there he lay guarded.

Once more Jesus said to them, “I am going away, and you will look for me, … Where I go, you cannot come.” ~ John 8:21

Prayer: Jesus, thank you for loving me so much that you did for me what I could not do, die for my sin. I love you, Jesus. Amen.

Emmaus Church