Passover, Gethsemane, the Trials, the Cross

Before you start todays devotional, ask the Lord to use it to grow you up in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ

In the intimacy of the last meal Jesus and His disciples shared, a special Passover, Jesus announces one of them will betray Him.

Every one of us has it in our heart to betray Christ. We would turn on Him in the next five minutes if He didn't keep His hand on us. That alone ought to keep us close to Him.

Even so, over the dying ashes of a fading feast of Passover, Jesus stood and instituted a new celebration.

…Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.” Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. For this is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” -Matthew 26:26-28

Sound familiar? For centuries the Passover looked forward to His coming, but now He said we should look back on it. During the Millennium, He will share it again with us.

A couple hours later, Jesus prays in a garden called Gethsemane where He talks about another cup, the cup of suffering. This “cup” represents His cross and its contents are the sins of the whole world.

It is impossible for us to enter into the full significance of Gethsemane. Jesus knew Satan was there. He had wrestled with an unseen foe as He did in the wilderness temptation. Yet Jesus persevered and accepted the cup and God’s will. He overcame the enemy there, and the victory of Calvary was won in Gethsemane.

Jesus’ Crucifixion

We have come to the apex of the gospel message: Jesus’ death on the cross.

None of the four Gospel writers give a record of the actual crucifixion. They merely tell what went on around the cross. It is as if God placed the mantle of darkness over the last three hours of Jesus’ life on the cross and said, “This is something you cannot look at. It is beyond human comprehension. The suffering cannot be fathomed.” It was a transaction between the Father in heaven and the Son on the cross.

More than the death itself and the terrible suffering of crucifixion is something else so significant. Jesus—holy, harmless, and separate from sinners—was made sin for us. There on the cross the sin of humanity was put on Him—not in some forensic or academic manner, but in reality. Think not about this for the masses only; it was for you. The horror He felt when that sin was placed upon Him must have been unimaginable. Even so, Jesus did not ask to escape the cross, but He wanted God's will to be done.

Everything happened according to Scripture. This was the most significant day in history—and in your history.

Our Lord was put on the cross at nine o'clock in the morning. By noon, man had done all he could to the Son of God. Then darkness covered the land and that cross became an altar on which the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world was offered.

1. What can Judas’ betrayal teach us about our own sinfulness and tendencies?

2. Peter and Judas both betrayed Jesus. What is the difference in the two betrayals, and what can that teach us about our own sins?

3. The brutality of the crucifixion, and even the suffering which led up to it, can be difficult to grapple with. Why would the Father allow His Son to die in such a wicked and savage way?

Additional Resources

Listen to Dr. J. Vernon McGee’s complete teachings on Matthew 26:23-75 and Matthew 27:1-50.