Holy Week: Good Friday (April 3, AD 33)

Good Friday: Betrayal, Arrest, Trials, Crucifixion (April 3, AD 33)

Matt 26:47-27:61; Mark 14:43-15:47; Luke 22:47-23:56; John 18-19

The familiar events surrounding Jesus’ crucifixion ensue. He is betrayed by Judas, arrested by the authorities, tried by the Jewish Sanhedrin and brought to the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, who alone can ratify a death sentence. He does so reluctantly, after considerable pressure from the Jewish authorities. Several floggings ensue, and then Jesus is on his way to the cross—our cross. Several hours later, he is dead, and hastily laid in a borrowed tomb.

“When Jesus calls a man, he bids him come and die,” the German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer once wrote. Jesus didn’t call us merely to live a life of entertainment, tourism, sports-watching, and family fun. He called us to follow him—the Crucified One, the Man of Sorrows who was despised and rejected. What have you and I suffered for Jesus? Are we willing to be rejected by the culture the way Jesus was? As Jesus’ followers, we must take up our cross and follow him.

Note: This is an excerpt from a blog that originally appeared on Songtime.com. You can view the original post here.