In this lesson, students learn that Jesus bore our sins as he suffered on Good Friday.
Devotion
Wednesday, April 6, 2022
Psalm 22:6-10ESV But I am a worm and not a man,
scorned by mankind and despised by the people.
All who see me mock me;
they make mouths at me; they wag their heads;
“He trusts in the Lord; let him deliver him;
let him rescue him, for he delights in him!”
Yet you are he who took me from the womb;
you made me trust you at my mother's breasts.
On you was I cast from my birth,
and from my mother's womb you have been my God.
Christ Ridiculed by Men
Let us consider another portion of Psalm 22. Again I would again encourage anyone who is looking for a section of Scripture to include in their personal meditation in these final days of Lent to consider this Psalm in its entirety in your personal devotional time. It is a powerful depiction of Christ’s sacrifice for our sins.
Words can really hurt. I’m guessing that most of you reading this also grew up hearing the old ‘sticks and stones’ saw. While we often try to save face or don’t admit to the hurt we feel from the things people say, slander and ridicule can cut deep. And how hard is it to not retort, especially when we have done nothing wrong!
Now we look upon Jesus, as He is mocked on the cross. The people around Him shouted the very words of this Psalm at Him! And Jesus certainly had the power to set them straight, to answer their insults and silence their taunts!
Yet Christ suffered in silence. In His humiliation He endured, for He WAS a worm, made so for our sake. In His humiliation, Christ took on the sum total of all mankind’s sin; in this state He even refers to Himself as a worm, bearing all these sufferings on our behalf. Despite the depths of woe He suffered, Christ still trusted God. As a result, we too can trust God’s steadfast love, the grace and mercy won for us by Christ on Calvary.
Matthew 27:21-22 "Which of the two do you want me to release to you?" They said, "Barabbas!" Pilate said to them, "What then shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?" They all said to him, "Let Him be crucified!"
It must be boggling to the Christian mind every time this Biblical account is read or heard. Upon hearing this account, perhaps our minds think, “People seriously picked a loveless insurrectionist over the Son of God?” Not only that, but to add insult to injury, the angry mob directs Pontius Pilate to crucify Jesus. It seems so backwards! It seems so reckless! These observations are true, but, on top of that, let’s first ask ourselves the same question Pilate asked the crowd, “What shall I do with Jesus?” Our knee jerk reaction may be, “Follow Him, serve Him, praise Him, pray to Him, trust Him...” But just like the people went from “Hosanna” to “Crucify Him,” are we not capable of the same? In our battles with our sinful flesh, haven’t we done the same. Every time you sin, aren’t you asking for Barabbas instead of Jesus?
And though your reckless, sinful behavior has too often picked temptation, remember that the unjust demand for Jesus’ crucifixion turned out for your good. He turned the lowest moment in Israel’s history into the salvation of your soul. Jesus took this death sentence with a determined spirit to save you, as He follows the loving will of His Father. This moment of Christ’s passion calls to mind a particular hymn stanza that depicts Christ’s saving love:
This Lamb is Christ, the soul’s great Friend,
The Lamb of God, our Savior;
Him God the Father chose to send
To gain for us His favor.
‘Go forth, My Son,’ the Father saith,
‘And free men from the fear of death,
From guilt and condemnation.
The wrath and stripes are hard to bear,
But by Thy Passion men shall share
The fruit of Thy salvation.’”
The lesson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rs-nHYYmors from Mormon church.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frmdt4x9Xmo&list=PL1njwxozo9kqGL2pmL684sStxfJfNvATC&index=18 Video from John 18. Can be shown as split video.
19 The high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching.
20 Jesus answered him, “I have spoken openly to the world. I always taught in a synagogue or at the temple, where all the Jews gather. I said nothing in secret. 21 Why are you questioning me? Ask those who heard what I told them. Look, they know what I said.”
22 When he said this, one of the guards standing there hit Jesus in the face. “Is that how you answer the high priest?” he demanded.
23 “If I said something wrong,” Jesus answered, “testify about what was wrong. But if I was right, why did you hit me?”
24 Then Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.
25 Simon Peter continued to stand there warming himself. So they said to him, “You are not one of his disciples too, are you?”
He denied it, saying, “I am not!”
26 One of the servants of the high priest, 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, and just then a rooster crowed.
28 Early in the morning, the Jews led Jesus from Caiaphas to the Praetorium. They did not enter the Praetorium themselves, so that they would not become ceremonially unclean. (They wanted to be able to eat the Passover meal.) 29 So Pilate went out to them and said, “What charge do you bring against this man?”
30 They answered him, “If this man were not a criminal, we would not have handed him over to you.”
31 Pilate told them, “Take him yourselves and judge him according to your law.”
The Jews said, “It’s not legal for us to put anyone to death.” 32 This happened so that the statement Jesus had spoken indicating what kind of death he was going to die would be fulfilled.
33 Pilate went back into the Praetorium and summoned Jesus. He asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?”
34 Jesus answered, “Are you saying this on your own, or did others tell you about me?”
35 Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What have you done?”
36 Jesus replied, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight so that I would not be handed over to the Jews. But now my kingdom is not from here.”
37 “You are a king then?” Pilate asked.
Jesus answered, “I am, as you say, a king. For this reason I was born, and for this reason I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”
38 “What is truth?” Pilate said to him.
After he said this, he went out again to the Jews and told them, “I find no basis for a charge against him. 39 But you have a custom that I release one prisoner to you at the Passover. So do you want me to release the King of the Jews for you?”
40 Then they shouted back, “Not this man, but Barabbas!” (Now Barabbas was a rebel.)
11 When Jesus stood in the presence of the governor, the governor asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?”
Jesus said to him, “It is as you say.”
12 When he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing. 13 Then Pilate said to him, “Don’t you hear how many things they are testifying against you?”
14 But he did not answer him—not even one word, so that the governor was very surprised.
15 At the time of the Festival the governor had a custom to release to the crowd any one prisoner they wanted. 16 At that time they were holding a notorious prisoner named Barabbas. 17 So when they were assembled, Pilate said to them, “Which one do you want me to release to you? Barabbas—or Jesus, who is called Christ?” 18 For Pilate knew that they had handed Jesus over to him because of envy.
19 While he was sitting on the judgment seat, Pilate’s wife sent him a message. “Have nothing to do with that righteous man,” she said, “since I have suffered many things today in a dream because of him.” 20 But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus put to death. 21 The governor asked them, “Which of the two do you want me to release to you?”
“Barabbas!” they said.
22 Pilate said to them, “Then what should I do with Jesus, who is called Christ?”
They all said to him, “Crucify him!”
23 But the governor said, “Why? What has he done wrong?”
But they kept shouting even louder: “Crucify him!”
24 When Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing and that instead it was turning into a riot, he took water, washed his hands in front of the crowd, and said, “I am innocent of this righteous man’s blood. It is your responsibility.”
25 And all the people answered, “Let his blood be on us and on our children!”
26 Then he released Barabbas to them, but he had Jesus flogged and handed him over to be crucified.
23 The whole group of them got up and brought him before Pilate. 2 They began to accuse him, saying, “We found this fellow misleading our nation, forbidding the payment of taxes to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ, a king.”
3 Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?”
“It is as you say,” Jesus replied.
4 Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, “I find no basis for a charge against this man.”
5 But they kept insisting, “He stirs up the people, teaching all through Judea, beginning from Galilee all the way here.”
13 Pilate called together the chief priests, the rulers, and the people, 14 and said to them, “You brought this man to me as one who is misleading the people. Look, I have examined him in your presence. I have found in this man no basis for the charges you are bringing against him. 15 Herod did not either, for he sent him back to us.[a] See, he has done nothing worthy of death. 16 So I will have him flogged and release him.”
17 Pilate needed to release one prisoner to them at the Festival.[b] 18 But they all shouted together with one voice: “Take him away! Release Barabbas to us!” 19 Barabbas had been thrown in prison for a rebellion in the city and for murder.
20 Pilate addressed them again, because he wanted to release Jesus. 21 But they kept shouting, “Crucify! Crucify him!”
22 He said to them the third time, “Why? What evil has he done? I have found no grounds for sentencing him to death. So I will whip him and release him.” 23 But they kept pressuring him with loud voices, demanding that he be crucified. And their voices[c] were overwhelming. 24 So Pilate decided that what they demanded would be done. 25 He released the one they had asked for, who had been thrown in prison for rebellion and murder, but he handed Jesus over to their will.
Luke 23:17 A few witnesses to the text omit verse 17. See Matthew 27:15 and Mark 15:6.
Luke 23:23 Some witnesses to the text add and the voices of the high priests.
Questions.