The Path of Suffering to the Promise of Resurrection

Embark on a journey to the heart of Christianity's most pivotal moment as we unravel the historical and spiritual dimensions of Jesus Christ's trial, suffering, and resurrection. Step into the past with us and witness the events that have shaped faith across millennia, from the paradoxical motives of the Pharisees to Pilate's infamous hesitance and the political undercurrents of ancient Rome. Our conversation is a tapestry, weaving together the strands of evidence—from Roman records to Islamic acknowledgement—that affirm the existence and profound influence of Jesus, challenging the modern desire to rationalize faith and erase pivotal narratives.

Feel the cobblestones of the Via Dolorosa beneath your feet and stand at the foot of the cross as we contemplate the profound sacrifice and love central to the Christian belief. Our exploration doesn't shy away from the stark contrast between the promises of contemporary Christian teachings and the reality of Jesus's experiences, discussing the transformative power of the resurrection as a beacon of hope and renewal. Join us in celebrating this testament of triumph over death, which promises every believer a purpose and the opportunity for eternal life beyond the trials of this world. This is an invitation to grasp the full gravity of the cross and appreciate the depth of salvation and God's unwavering love for humanity.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 1:05

You know the idea that the cross is foolish to those who don't believe. I think it's funny because I see that, probably now more than ever, we live in a culture that tries to explain away faith. They try to explain away religion. They try to explain away Jesus. I was watching a video the other day and the person sharing introduced themselves and they gave themselves a fancy little title. And you know someone that if you were not really paying attention, you would think, hey, they must know what they're talking about. And so they went on this 10 minute video about how there's no historic evidence for Jesus anywhere. And I'm watching this and I'm like, yeah, that's not true.

Speaker 1: 2:01

The Romans wrote about him, like the historians in Rome wrote about Jesus, because they were so enamored with what was going on. They had no reason to keep record of him. He was a problem for them, but they were good historians and so they mentioned him. So all throughout scripture there's these historical writings of his existence and this person sharing this video is going and using a bunch of big words and trying to explain away and say this is not true. And I'm like listen to anyone who doesn't know you're being lied to.

Speaker 1: 2:40

Jesus made such a huge impact in the world, that those who practice Islam, who follow Muhammad, have to recognize that Muhammad recognized Jesus Right, he understood. So we live in a world that tries to take away the one thing that sets Christianity apart. When they break it down, they try to make it about a bunch of rules and legalism, and what they try to do is they try to remove Jesus from the equation. So without Jesus, there's no Christianity. Without Jesus, there's no Easter. Without Jesus, there's no salvation. So if the world can take Jesus out of it, then none of this makes sense. I stand here every Sunday and I argue that you have to understand that Jesus is part of it. He will always be part of it. He always had a plan, he always had a purpose. He entered into Jerusalem knowing what he had to accomplish. He found himself in the garden praying God. If you could take this from me, but not my will, but your will be done. There was so much confusion about what was happening that when the guards came to arrest him, peter stood up and lopped a man's ear off of the sword because he had in his mind he had to fight for him, and Jesus was like what are you doing? You don't understand my ways or not your ways. You don't understand what I have to do, but you will. And so Jesus finds himself arrested.

Speaker 1: 4:38

A man who has done nothing but heal the broken, feed the hungry. A man who didn't even oppose Rome. He tells his followers listen, you pay the Caesar. What is Caesar's? A man who caused no problems other than the leaders of his day were threatened by him because the Pharisees knew that if he stuck around they would lose everything. Their arrogance, their pride, their desire to control what they didn't understand cost a man his life.

Speaker 1: 5:30

John 18, 28 through 40 says in the Jewish leaders took Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness, they did not enter the palace because they wanted to be able to eat the Passover. It's kind of ironic, right. They wanted to avoid being unclean, so they didn't enter the palace. But they had no problem crucifying an innocent man. So Pilate came out to them and he asked what charges are you bringing against this man If he were a criminal? If he were not a criminal, they replied we would not hand him over to you. Pilate said take him yourselves and judge him by your own law, but we have no right to execute anyone. They objected. They're right. They couldn't take his life. This took place to fulfill what Jesus had said about the kind of death he was going to die.

Speaker 1: 6:36

Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him are you the king of the Jews? You replied that is your own. Is that your own idea? Jesus asked or did others talk to you about me? Am I a Jew? Father, replied your own people and chief priest handed you over to me. What is it that you have done? Jesus said my kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is for another place. You are a king. Then, said Pilate. Jesus answered you say that I am a king. In fact I reason. I was born and came into this world to testify to the truth, that everyone on the side of truth listens to me. What is truth? Ritualed Pilate.

Speaker 1: 7:27

With this, he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said I find no basis for a charge against him, but is your custom for me to release to you one person at a time in the Passover? Do you want me to release the king of the Jews? They shouted back no, not him, give us Barabbas. I'm Barabbas, a taken part in uprising. Can you imagine Jesus entering into the place where Pilate stood? And if you pay attention, pilate is trying everything he can to remove himself from the situation. He sees no basis, no legal basis to kill this man none whatsoever. He asked him a couple really pointed questions. He refers to him as a king. Pilate doesn't understand what is their problem with this man.

Speaker 1: 8:28

Pilate was in a province. If you were in, if you were a Roman, being over Jerusalem was like kind of like the low end. You didn't really want to be there, but if you had to be, you would. That wasn't the goal, though, right. And so Pilate was like most Romans, had this desire to please Caesar. And how do I rank up? And one of the things that one of the tasks that he was given historically was listen, you have to go there and just control these people. That is all you have to do. You just have to keep them from causing rebellion.

Speaker 1: 9:09

And so Pilate sees this unfolding before him, that, as these crowds, as these Pharisees, continue to push for the execution of Jesus, pilate tries to set him free. He tries to relieve the tension. He says all right, so it's custom this time every year we will set a prisoner free. Do you want Jesus? And he refers to him as the king of the Jews Do you want Barabbas? We don't know a lot about Barabbas.

Speaker 1: 9:44

Historically, they believe he was a murderer. He had caused insurrection. He was a problem for Rome. He was a problem for the nation of Israel. He was part of an uprising. He was a man who, by all accounts, deserved death, and death on a cross. And so Pilate compares these two men and says listen, you can have Jesus your king or you can have this man, and you all know his name. He's probably killed people that you know. And the crowd's response is give us the murderer, give us the rebel, give us the man who, the moment he leaves, will probably take another person's life. But the one who has done nothing but improve the lives of the people that he's been around. Him you can keep. So. After talking to Jesus, pilot determines that he has no real issue with him. He offers his acuters accusers Jesus's freedom. But the accusers again fail to see the irony of their fault Acquisitions against Jesus leading to death and their desire to blame, put the blame on pilot. Refusing pilots offer, they again call for his death and pilots in Jesus out to be flogged.

Speaker 1: 11:22

Constanburger lays out the concept of Flogging, from least to most severe. There are three forms of flogging administered by the Romans the Festigato, which is a beating given for a smaller offense, such as whole organism. It was often accompanied by a severe warning. The Flagallio show, a more brutal flogging to which criminals were subject subjected whose offenses were more serious. And the Viboratio, the most terrible form of punishment, that regularly associated with other reprisals such as crucifixion.

Speaker 1: 11:58

In the moment that this happens and pilot realizes that they're not gonna set Jesus free, john 19, starting in verse 1, says then, pilot to Jesus and he had him flawed. They they believe it was the first flogging the, the less severe just, which sounds weird when you read it right. So the their historians that there was there's almost two flogging. Is that happen here? Pilot does a flogging and he kind of sends it back and says listen, this is what it is. But but as the crowd continues to To call for his crucifixion, it gets worse. Right, and so the one that we read about in John 19 is sorry. The third one, the the most severe, but it wouldn't been uncommon for them to have been flogged more than once. Once again, pilot is trying everything he can to remove himself from the situation, but he realizes that that will not happen. So John 19 1, 16 through 16 this is them.

Speaker 1: 13:02

Pilot took Jesus and had him flogged. The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and they put on his head. They clothed them in a purple robe and won up to him again and saying hail, king of the Jews, they slapped him in the face. I, once more in, pilate, came out and said to the Jews God there, look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him. When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, pilate said to them here's the man. As soon as the chief priest and their official saw him, they shouted crucify, crucify. Pilate answered you take him, you crucify. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him.

Speaker 1: 14:00

The Jewish leaders insisted we have a law and according to that law he must die because he claimed to be the Son of God. When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid and he went back inside the palace and said where do you come from? He asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer. Do you refuse to speak to me? Pilate said don't you realize that I have power to set you free or to crucify you? Jesus answered you would have no power over me if we're not given to you from above. Therefore, the one who is handing me over to you is guilty of a greater sin. From then on, pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jewish leaders kept shouting if you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar. When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out, sat down at the judge's seat, a place known as the Stone Pavement, which in Aramaic is a Gabbathah.

Speaker 1: 15:06

It was the day of preparation, the Passover. It was about noon. Here is your king, pilate, said to the Jews. But they shouted take him away. Take him away and crucify him. Shall I crucify your king, said Pilate. We have no king. But Caesar, the chief priest, answered. Finally, pilate handed him over to them to be crucified and the soldiers took charge of Jesus.

Speaker 1: 15:36

It's such an interesting. There's so much that happens in this moment One. They appeal to Caesar against Pilate, saying listen, you're a Roman governor, you're trying to come up in the world and if you let this man live, you're against Caesar. And that can't be. And it's interesting because when he calls Jesus and he says listen, shall I crucify your king? Their response is that we have no king, but Caesar. Their allegiance was to this world. They established that in this moment that they are choosing a man over God, and so Jesus was led away. What happens next is some of the darkest moments in the history of humanity.

Speaker 1: 16:46

Roman crucifixion wasn't pretty. It's interesting because in today's culture, when we talk about the death penalty and things like this, the goal is always that the person's life you're taking is to try to make it as quick and painless as possible. For the Romans, it was quite the opposite. These Roman guards were. They were frustrated, they were tired of these Jews, they were tired of being assigned to this assignment, and so, when they had the moment to punish someone, they beat them relentlessly, they brutalized them. They did everything they could as long as it didn't kill them. They didn't kill them as long as it didn't kill them. There was a post floating around Facebook today to talk Yesterday.

Speaker 1: 17:42

They was talking about the 39 lashes that Jesus took. I think there's two reasons that happened. One is 39 lashes Typically, most people wouldn't make it to 40. And a lot of times, culturally, if they made it to 40, they could actually be set free. There was this understanding that enough had been done, that your punishment had been given. And so Jesus takes 39 lashes, and not just from like a whip, but a whip that has shards of glass and pottery and rocks. And it's not just this like, it's like he's just getting beat with a leather bounty. He's being literally ripping the skin off of his body. And I know, I know, I realize this is a lot, but I just I think we need to understand.

Speaker 1: 18:43

Like when he came into Jerusalem, he knew this was coming and he did it anyways. If I knew that in order to accomplish something great in my life, I had to go through suffering, I probably would stay at home and watch TV, because my human nature we don't like to suffer, we want everything to be peachy, keen all the time. But Jesus 100% knew what was coming and he let it happen because he had to. He needed to, we needed it. We were at lunch on Friday and Seth was with us and Seth asked us why didn't Jesus say anything? Why would he just let himself be taken? And in the simple answers, because he knew that he had to. You realize, jesus could have like called down fire right From heaven. He could have wiped them all out. Thousands of angels would have been in his back and call. He could have made the nation of Rome disappear from existence, but he didn't, because he understood the sacrifice that he had to make. Because you and I can't, we will never be enough without him.

Speaker 1: 20:13

The Via della Rosa and I'll share an article about this later so the stages of the cross if you've ever done any kind of study on this, this is the suffering that Jesus went through and it talks about the different areas and from the suffering, from the moment he's beaten to the crown of thorns, on his head there's a robe, he falls with the cross twice, he meets a couple of people along the way, but there's this. So the Via della Rosa is this explanation, and it's this time around, this time of year, that a lot of people use that to just kind of focus on the suffering of Christ and what he went through. And there's a lot. There's a lot there, but the idea is to just kind of focus in on what's going on in this moment. I mean, he was, he was beaten, he was bloodied. They put a robe on him, he had to carry his own cross, everything that he did, everything he did, was on purpose, it was intentional. No one made it.

Speaker 1: 21:39

I love what he says to Pilate, that you only have power over me because I've been given to you. You don't understand what I can do, but he understood that salvation, the only way for salvation to come, was through him. Someone had to die, someone had to be the final sacrifice, someone had to suffer so that you and I so you and I don't have to. I know we spent the last couple weeks talking about this In my prayer, as I said before, as I hope that it's been sitting heavy on you, because we, I think sometimes we forget what has been done on our behalf. And I say that because our response sometimes to the gospel, our response sometimes to God, is well, god, you're not doing what I want. God, you're not giving me what I want.

Speaker 1: 23:14

There's a whole lot of things going on right now in our world, but there's a lot of churches that there's a teaching sometimes that I think is dangerous, and they teach that you and I won't suffer, that everything's going to be good all the time and our bank accounts are always going to be full. I was a TikTok, I'm a TikTok, but I hate it. I've sat there on TikTok and I've watched preachers tell people that you know, if you give me money, you'll be blessed. Give me $10,000. God will give you a million. Yeah, I mean, I don't know, never worked out for me. You know, I also don't give money to people, but you know.

Speaker 1: 24:02

But there, really, I think there's this idea that we we talk about Christianity and there's a part of us that you know we talk about how it's just all good all the time and no one has to suffer and no one goes anything. And then you look at the cross and you're like, yeah, that doesn't really make sense. Like part of professing faith, part of believing, is, is that struggle with a world that really doesn't like you very much, a world that doesn't understand us. Right, the cross is foolishness to those who don't know, because it doesn't make sense to them why, when a man who has never met me die in such a way and I think that that's why the world is trying to erase it. The world is trying to get rid of the historical side of Jesus, because if Jesus doesn't exist, then it doesn't matter. But if he does and I believe he does if he really went through all of this suffering to save me and to save you, that changes everything. That that should make us realize not only what it took to save us, but man, how much we are loved, how much God cares about those that he has created. That he was willing to give up His Son to the point of death so that you and I don't have to experience separation from Him anymore.

Speaker 1: 25:55

That when we die, there is something waiting for us that is glorious no more pain, no more suffering, no more hunger. I don't even know, I don't even know what that's like, but I could tell you that I cannot wait until it happens. I cannot wait. It sounds weird, right, but there are moments where I can't wait until my life ends, and it's not that I don't want to be here, and I love my family and I love them. There are moments where I can't wait because I want to step into that glorious, I want to be in that kingdom, I want to walk the streets of gold, I want to play a game of basketball and not feel like my heart's beating out of my chest. I want to be able to spend time watching the people that I love enjoyed life and never have to hurt, ever again. I cannot wait for that moment, and that moment is only possible because Jesus endured some of the greatest suffering in the world is ever known. All of it, every single breath of it, so that you and I don't have to.

Speaker 1: 27:24

And the world wants to take that away from us. The world wants to convince us that it's not real. But if not Jesus, then who? Where else are you gonna find that kind of hope, that kind of promise, that kind of love that they will sacrifice everything, that they will, that he would be beaten and tortured and mocked and spit on and he died a horrible, horrible death, just so you and I could one day live forever.

Speaker 1: 28:11

I love Easter, I love the celebration of it, I love Jesus coming out of the tomb. By the way, that's why this story is so great, because that death was not near the end. The Romans had no idea what they were getting into. His disciples had no idea what was coming. But, man, it was great, it was glorious See when he rose from that grave and he overcame death. And I just can't even imagine and I tell people this all the time and I know that I've said this here like doubting.

Speaker 1: 28:44

Thomas to me is the realist person in that entire group, like he witnessed everything that Jesus went through and they're like Jesus is back and Thomas is like, yeah, are you sure? That sounds weird to me. I need to see it and I love it, because Jesus shows up and he shows him the scars and Thomas is like, oh, praise God. And, like I said, I know he's doubting. I think he's realist, he's an honest person.

Speaker 1: 29:15

Because it didn't make sense to them, because they had watched one of their beloved friends be crucified and beaten and sacrificed and then he rose from the dead and he changed the history of the world forever. He overcame the one thing no one else could. He saved humanity in one weekend and that is why, as heavy as this is, and as much as we focus on the suffering, as much as I believe we have to understand what he went through, it's the resurrection that saved my life. It's the resurrection that gives me hope. It's the resurrection that shows me that there's hope for anyone who will come to the cross. It's the resurrection that shows me the humanity has not been forgotten. It's the resurrection that teaches me that as long as we're still breathing, there's a chance that every person we come across has the opportunity to not only understand the sacrifice of Jesus but to accept it and then be raised to life with him in the same way he was.

Speaker 1: 30:43

But none of this, none of that is possible unless he was willing to die first. It'll change your life when you understand that, when you understand that let's put all the church stuff aside, let's put all of the Sunday mornings, all of the community groups, all of the things that we do. If you put all of that aside and if we never did any of this, none of that ever changes. The Christ was crucified and then he rose again from the grave, and that's why I believe when Paul, it is you kind of progress.

Speaker 1: 31:29

Through Paul's writings he even says that my purpose, his purpose, is to preach Christ and him crucified, and then he understands that everything else, in light of that, really doesn't matter, because if people understand the sacrifice and they accept the sacrifice, it changes them, and and that's that's why we're here is is to tell people To walk into a dark world and say guess what? It's not over yet, your story Is not over yet. Your life is not over yet. You still have a chance, you still have a purpose and God made you. When God made you, when God created you, he had you in mind from the moment that you were created and he had you in mind the same moment that Jesus died in the cross. He thought about you, he loved you, he cared about you, he wanted to give you hope for the future and In Christ, you and I have that. So, yes, the cross is heavy should be but you never understand salvation until you understand the suffering. They always go together. Jesus died, but thank God he didn't stay that way. Hi, let's pray.