JESUS IS CRUCIFIED
MEMORY VERSE
1 Peter 3:18a, ESV
For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God...
DAY 1
Mark 15:1-15, NIrV
1 It was very early in the morning. The chief priests, with the elders, the teachers of the law, and the whole Sanhedrin, made their plans. So they tied Jesus up and led him away. Then they handed him over to Pilate.
2 “Are you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate.
“You have said so,” Jesus replied.
3 The chief priests brought many charges against him. 4 So Pilate asked him again, “Aren’t you going to answer? See how many things they charge you with.”
5 But Jesus still did not reply. Pilate was amazed.
6 It was the usual practice at the Passover Feast to let one prisoner go free. The people could choose the one they wanted. 7 A man named Barabbas was in prison. He was there with some other people who had fought against the country’s rulers. They had committed murder while they were fighting against the rulers. 8 The crowd came up and asked Pilate to do for them what he usually did.
9 “Do you want me to let the king of the Jews go free?” asked Pilate. 10 He knew that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him because they wanted to get their own way. 11 But the chief priests stirred up the crowd. So the crowd asked Pilate to let Barabbas go free instead.
12 “Then what should I do with the one you call the king of the Jews?” Pilate asked them.
13 “Crucify him!” the crowd shouted.
14 “Why? What wrong has he done?” asked Pilate.
But they shouted even louder, “Crucify him!”
15 Pilate wanted to satisfy the crowd. So he let Barabbas go free. He ordered that Jesus be whipped. Then he handed him over to be nailed to a cross.
BIBLE STUDY
Pilate was the Roman leader in charge of Jerusalem. As he listened to men accuse Jesus of all sorts of evil things, he saw through their lies. Jesus hadn’t done anything wrong! But Pilate had a plan. Every year, during the Passover feast, he gave the Jewish people a gift: he let one of the Jewish prisoners go free. This year, he gave the crowd an easy choice: Jesus, the sinless Son of God, or Barabbas, a robber and murderer. But his plan backfired. The chief priests convinced the crowd to cry out, “Release Barabbas!” And what they shouted next was even worse: “Crucify (or kill) Jesus!”
+ What was Jesus’ response to the evil things the chief priests said about him? (vs. 5)
+ What does it mean to be crucified? (The “Cruci” part of that word means “cross.”)
DAY 2
Matthew 27:26-31, NIrV
26 Pilate let Barabbas go free. But he had Jesus whipped. Then he handed him over to be nailed to a cross.
27 The governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the palace, which was called the Praetorium. All the rest of the soldiers gathered around him. 28 They took off his clothes and put a purple robe on him. 29 Then they twisted thorns together to make a crown. They placed it on his head. They put a stick in his right hand. Then they fell on their knees in front of him and made fun of him. “We honor you, king of the Jews!” they said. 30 They spit on him. They hit him on the head with the stick again and again. 31 After they had made fun of him, they took off the robe. They put his own clothes back on him. Then they led him away to nail him to a cross.
BIBLE STUDY
After the crowd chose Barabbas, Pilate directed his men to “scourge” Jesus. They tied him to a pole and whipped him over and over. This cruel weapon had sharp pieces of bone or metal at its many tips. After ripping Jesus’ back to shreds, the soldiers played a cruel game. They dressed him up like a king, wrapping a robe around his body and forcing a crown of painful thorns on his head. They beat him, spit on him, and made fun of him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” This was a sick joke, of course, but their jokes were actually true. Jesus was king – king of the entire universe!
+ What things did the soldiers do to pretend to treat Jesus like a king? (vs. 28-29)
+ Why would we say Jesus is the king of the universe?
DAY 3
Luke 23:32-43, NIrV
32 Two other men were also led out with Jesus to be killed. Both of them had broken the law. 33 The soldiers brought them to the place called the Skull. There they nailed Jesus to the cross. He hung between the two criminals. One was on his right and one was on his left. 34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they are doing.” The soldiers divided up his clothes by casting lots.
35 The people stood there watching. The rulers even made fun of Jesus. They said, “He saved others. Let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.”
36 The soldiers also came up and poked fun at him. They offered him wine vinegar. 37 They said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.”
38 A written sign had been placed above him. It read,
This is the King of the Jews.
39 One of the criminals hanging there made fun of Jesus. He said, “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself! Save us!”
40 But the other criminal scolded him. “Don’t you have any respect for God?” he said. “Remember, you are under the same sentence of death. 41 We are being punished fairly. We are getting just what our actions call for. But this man hasn’t done anything wrong.”
42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
43 Jesus answered him, “What I’m about to tell you is true. Today you will be with me in paradise.”
BIBLE STUDY
The cross was a punishment designed for the worst of the worst. The Romans nailed criminals to crosses in crowded places to teach a lesson: "This is what happens to rebels who disobey Rome!" As Jesus hung there, the crowd mocked him. "How can you save us if you can't even save yourself?" The truth is: if Jesus wanted to escape, no nail was strong enough to hold his powerful hands to the cross. He could have easily saved himself, but he didn’t. Why? Because he was the Messiah, sent to earth to rescue us from sin. In order to save sinners like us, Jesus couldn’t save himself!
+ What did Jesus ask God to do for the people who were crucifying him? (vs. 34)
+ What good news did Jesus give to the criminal on the cross who believed in him? (vs. 43)
DAY 4
Matthew 27:45-46 and John 19:28-30, NIRV
45 From noon until three o’clock, the whole land was covered with darkness. 46 About three o’clock, Jesus cried out in a loud voice. He said, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” This means “My God, my God, why have you deserted me?”
...
28 Later, Jesus knew that everything had now been finished. He also knew that what Scripture said must come true. So he said, “I am thirsty.” 29 A jar of wine vinegar was there. So they soaked a sponge in it. They put the sponge on the stem of a hyssop plant. Then they lifted it up to Jesus’ lips. 30 After Jesus drank he said, “It is finished.” Then he bowed his head and died.
BIBLE STUDY
The Bible tells us seven things Jesus said from the cross. Today, we've read three of them. First is "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" These words come from a song written 1000 years before Jesus was born. Tomorrow, we'll learn what that song means. Jesus also said, "I thirst." That reminds us of something easy to forget: Jesus was a real human being suffering on the cross in a real human body. Lastly, Jesus cried out, "It is finished." Was Jesus giving up? No way! In fact, it was the complete opposite. Those words meant, “I’ve done it! My mission to save my people is complete!”
+ What did the sky look like when Jesus was dying? (Matthew 27:45)
+ "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani" are Hebrew words. What do they mean? (Matthew 27:46)
DAY 5
Psalm 22:1-8 and 15-18, NIRV
1 My God, my God, why have you deserted me?
Why do you seem so far away when I need you to save me?
Why do you seem so far away that you can’t hear my groans?
2 My God, I cry out in the daytime. But you don’t answer.
I cry out at night. But you don’t let me sleep.
3 But you rule from your throne as the Holy One.
You are the God Israel praises.
4 Our people of long ago put their trust in you.
They trusted in you, and you saved them.
5 They cried out to you and were saved.
They trusted in you, and you didn’t let them down.
6 Everyone treats me like a worm and not a man.
They hate me and look down on me.
7 All those who see me laugh at me.
They shout at me and make fun of me.
They shake their heads at me.
8 They say, “He trusts in the Lord.
Let the Lord help him.
If the Lord is pleased with him,
let him save him.”
...
15 My mouth is dried up like a piece of broken pottery.
My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth.
You bring me down to the edge of the grave.
16 A group of sinful people has closed in on me.
They are all around me like a pack of dogs.
They have pierced my hands and my feet.
17 Everyone can see all my bones right through my skin.
People stare at me. They laugh when I suffer.
18 They divide up my clothes among them.
They cast lots for what I am wearing.
BIBLE STUDY
Psalm 22 is a song written by King David the Giant Slayer 1,000 years before Jesus lived. It begins with a question: "God, why have you forsaken me?” Why haven't you rescued me from my troubles? David wrote about hands and feet being pierced and enemies splitting up his clothes. People mocked David, saying, "If God is pleased with you, why doesn't he save you?" Amazingly, all those things also describe what happened to Jesus on the cross a thousand years later. By shouting words from David’s song, Jesus was telling us, “King David was actually singing about me!”
+ What part of this psalm/song did Jesus shout from the cross? (vs. 1)
+ How does verse 16 remind you of what happened to Jesus?
DAY 6
Matthew 27:45-51 and 54, NIRV
45 From noon until three o’clock, the whole land was covered with darkness. 46 About three o’clock, Jesus cried out in a loud voice. He said, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” This means “My God, my God, why have you deserted me?” (Psalm 22:1)
47 Some of those standing there heard Jesus cry out. They said, “He’s calling for Elijah.”
48 Right away one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar and put it on a stick. He offered it to Jesus to drink. 49 The rest said, “Leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to save him.”
50 After Jesus cried out again in a loud voice, he died.
51 At that moment the temple curtain was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook. The rocks split.
...
54 The Roman commander and those guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened. They were terrified. They exclaimed, “He was surely the Son of God!”
BIBLE STUDY
The instant Jesus died on the cross, a whole bunch of incredible things happened. And each of these wonders was done by God. He covered the land in darkness for three hours. He sent a great earthquake. And he ripped the special curtain in the temple building in two, from top to bottom.
The Romans had nailed countless numbers of criminals to crosses. To the watching crowd, Jesus was just another ordinary rebel killed for his crimes. But Jesus was far from ordinary; he was God’s Son! And his death was no ordinary death, either. By darkening the sky above and quaking the ground below, God let everyone who saw Jesus die know that something extra-ordinary was happening. But why did God also choose to split the temple curtain down the middle?
Way back when the first two human beings sinned, two terrible things happened. First, they earned the curse of death. One day, their bodies would no longer live and decay into dust. Second, they were kicked out of God’s garden. Their sin caused them to be separated from God’s goodness. These two things, death and separation, have been a problem for every human who has ever sinned (including you and me)!
This is where the temple comes in. It was a special building God commanded his people to build. Though sin separated us from God, the temple was the one place on earth where a holy and sinless God could meet with his unholy and sinful people.
The most special room in the temple was called the “Most Holy Place.” This room was so sacred, only one person, the high priest, was allowed in. And even he could only go in one day a year. Even more, he could only go in the Most Holy Place if he carried with him the blood of a special animal who had died as a sacrifice. If he went in any other day or without the proper sacrifice, the priest would drop dead!
A large, beautiful, and very thick curtain separated the Most Holy Place from the rest of the temple. It kept sinful people from marching in to meet with their sinless God. But the moment Jesus died, that curtain ripped in two, from top to bottom. God opened up the way to the Most Holy Place so that anyone could enter at any time!
When Jesus died on the cross, he was un-doing the mess Adam and Eve had made. Their sin earned the curse of death, but Jesus died to pay the curse of death for everyone. Their sin caused humans to be separated from God, but Jesus’ death opened the way for everyone to come to God. That’s why God tore the curtain of the temple from top to bottom, from heaven to earth. He was letting us know that Jesus’ death had opened the way for everyone who believes the good news about his Son, Jesus!
+ What three things happened as Jesus died? (vs. 45 and 51)
+ When the soldier saw what happened when Jesus died, what did he say? (vs. 54)
© 2023 Andrew Doane. All rights reserved.