It was Thursday. On Friday afternoon the lambs would be killed for the Passover, and on Friday evening all good Jews would sit down to eat the lambs at the Passover feast. The disciples wondered where Jesus was planning to celebrate the feast with them.
But Jesus did not wait until Friday to have a meal with all his disciples. On Thursday he sent two of them into Jerusalem from Bethany. He told them the name of the man to whom they were to go.
"Go to this man," said Jesus, "and tell him that I said the time has come. He will show you where we are going to have supper tonight. Then you can get the supper ready."
That evening Jesus and the twelve disciples met together at the house in Jerusalem. On the second floor there was a room, where food was spread upon the table.
As they were eating supper, Jesus suddenly spoke.
"One of you is a traitor!"
Everyone stopped eating. And each one of the twelve disciples thought of his own sins. Each onewondered if he were loyal enough to Jesus. Each one cried out:
"Master, is it I?"
Jesus only answered:
"It is one of you twelve men, eating with me now. It would have been better for that traitor if he had never been born!"
A moment later Judas Iscariot slipped quietly out of the door. The other disciples did not know where he had gone.
Jesus spoke again: "I wanted so much to eat the Passover feast with you this year, before I suffer. But I shall not eat it again with you until a better day, when we shall all be together once more."
He took up a piece of bread, and said a prayer of thanks to God. Then he broke the bread, and passed the pieces among the disciples—only eleven of them now. He said words that they did not understand.
"Take and eat this. This is my body."
He took a cup of wine, and once more he gave thanks. Then he passed the cup among the disciples, saying:
"Drink—all of you—drink of this wine. It is my blood, which I am going to shed so that the sins of many people may be forgiven. And in the days to come, do this same thing often, always remembering me."
Then they sang a hymn together and walked out into the night air and went up the Mount of Olives.
As they walked, Jesus said to the disciples:
"You will all desert me tonight. For it is written in the Scriptures that when something happens to the shepherd the sheep will go away in all directions. However, I shall meet you again."
Peter spoke up, and said bravely,
"Even if everyone else deserts you, I will not!"
Jesus answered: "Before the rooster crows at sunrise to tell you that morning has come, you will have said three times that you do not even know me."
But Peter cried out that even if he died for it he would be true to Jesus. And all the other disciples said the same.
Presently they came to a grove called Gethsemane. It was late. Jesus said to the disciples,
"Sit here, while I go and pray."
He took only Peter and James and John with him,and went a little way apart from the rest. To the three disciples he said:
"I am greatly troubled. I do not know how I can bear it any longer. Wait here, and stay awake with me."
Going a few steps farther on, Jesus fell on his knees and began to pray aloud:
"O my Father, if it is possible, take this cup away; do not let these things happen to me! Yet not my will, but thine, be done."
When he had prayed this way, he came back to Peter and James and John. All three were fast asleep. Jesus woke Peter up, and said:
"What! Couldn't you stay with me for one short hour? Stay awake and pray. Pray for yourselves. You are going to need strength. You are not so strong as you want to be."
He left them again, and once more he fell on his knees and prayed,
"O my Father, if I must suffer these things, thy will be done."
When he returned, the disciples again were sleeping. They were too tired to stay awake.
A third time he went apart from them and prayed. He prayed in the same words he had used before. And suddenly he began to feel stronger. He rose from his knees at last, and came back to the disciples. His voice broke in upon their sleep: "Are you still sleeping? Well, you've slept longenough! My time is up. I am going to be turned over to sinners now! Get up! Look, the traitor is coming!"
While he was still speaking, a crowd of soldiers carrying swords and clubs burst into the grove. Judas Iscariot was leading them. Judas ran to Jesus and kissed him, saying,
"Hail, Master!"
Jesus answered, "Well, friend—what have you come to do?"
Then a band of men laid their hands on Jesus, and held him so that he could not escape.
Peter was wide-awake by now. He had brought a sword with him. Pulling it out, he cut off the ear of a man in the crowd.
Jesus said to Peter: "Put your sword away. My Father gave me these things to suffer. He would save me now if I asked him. But that is not the way it is to be."
Then Jesus turned to the crowd of soldiers, and said:
"Have you come to arrest me with swords and clubs, as though I were a robber? Every day I was in the Temple teaching, and you could have taken me then, but you never laid a hand on me. But this is what the Scriptures said would happen to the Messiah."
The disciples could stand no more. They left Jesus standing there, and in terror they fled away.
The soldiers bound Jesus and led him back to Jerusalem. They took him to the palace of the high priest. All the chief priests and rulers were gathered there in a council meeting.
The council had already decided that Jesus would have to die, but it was hard to find a reason for killing him. They had to prove that Jesus had said or done something for which he could be put to death. They found a great many people who came and told lies about Jesus, but no two of them told the same story.
At last the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, stood up and said to Jesus:
"You hear all the things that are being said about you. Aren't you going to defend yourself?"
Jesus did not say a word.
The high priest spoke again:
"In the name of the living God I ask you: Are you the Christ—the Messiah—the Son of God?"
Jesus answered:
"You have said it."
That was all the council wanted to hear. Caiaphas tore his own clothes in anger, and shouted:
"Why do we need any more witnesses? You have heard him say it with his own mouth. He says he's God! What do you think about it?"
And the whole council answered,
"He ought to be put to death."
Then some of them spat in his face. They covered his eyes, and slapped him, and shouted:
"If you were the Messiah, you would know who hit you! Tell us, you Messiah you—tell us who hit you!"
Meanwhile, in another room of the palace, there stood a disciple who was losing whatever faith he had once had. It was Peter. One of the other disciples, who knew the high priest, had gone ahead, and he had told the maid to let Peter in.
The maid looked at Peter and said, "You were with Jesus, weren't you?"
"I don't know what you're talking about," said Peter.
The night was cool, and the servants of the high priest were standing around a fire they had made to keep themselves warm. Peter went over and began to warm himself too. Somebody else said to him,
"You are one of Jesus' disciples."
Peter's faith was all gone.
"Man," he said, "I certainly am not!"
But after a while another person spoke up and said:
"Of course you are one of Jesus' disciples. You are from Galilee. We can tell from the way you talk."
Peter began to curse and swear, saying, "I don't even know this Jesus that you are talking about!"
At that moment the rooster began to crow. At the same time Jesus passed by the doorway, and looked at Peter.
Peter remembered what Jesus had said, "Before the rooster crows, you will three times say that you do not know me."
Peter went out of the palace, and wept bitterly.
The great council of the Jews might say that a man deserved to die, but they could not put anyone to death. Only the Roman governor could do that.
The Roman governor, whose name was Pontius Pilate, was in Jerusalem for the Passover. As soon as it was daylight, the council took Jesus over to Pilate's palace.
When Judas Iscariot saw what was happening, he suddenly realized what he had done. He came to the chief priests, and brought them back the thirty piecesof silver they had given him for turning traitor. He cried out:
"I have sinned! I betrayed a man who never did any wrong!"
The chief priests shrugged their shoulders.
"That's nothing to us," they said. "Take your money and go!"
But Judas threw the money down on the floor and ran out. He took a rope, and found a tree, and hanged himself, for, after betraying Jesus, he could not bear to live.
Meanwhile Jesus was standing before Pilate. The council had told Pilate that Jesus was claiming to be the King of the Jews. They said that he was stirring up the whole country against Caesar. They thought that Pilate would put him to death for that, because the Romans would be afraid that Jesus would lead a revolt against the Roman government.
Pilate said to Jesus,
"Well, are you the King of the Jews?"
Jesus answered simply,
"You have said it."
Then the priests and rulers burst out with all kinds of evil stories about Jesus.
Pilate spoke to Jesus again, and said:
"Aren't you going to say anything? Listen to what they are saying about you!"
But Jesus did not speak. Pilate was astonished. He could see that the only reason the council had broughtJesus to him was that they were jealous of Jesus and hated him.
By now a large crowd had gathered to watch the trial. Many of the people in it had been Jesus' followers, but they followed him no longer. When they saw Jesus being tried like a criminal they decided that their priests and rulers had been right all along. They began to talk against Jesus, among themselves.
Pilate wondered how he could let Jesus go. Suddenly he remembered a Jewish custom: every Passover a prisoner was set free.
Pilate said: "Every year at this time I set a prisoner free. Now you can have your choice. You know we have a man named Barabbas in jail—he's the fellow that started a rebellion a little while ago. We were going to crucify him. And now here is Jesus. Whichone shall I let go? Barabbas the murderer or Jesus who is called the Christ?"
A great shout went up,
"Barabbas!"
Pilate did not know what to do now. He spoke again to the crowd,
"Well, what shall I do to Jesus who is called the Christ?"
Again there was a great shout:
"Crucify him! Hang him up on a cross till he is dead!"
Everyone seemed to be against Jesus now. However, Pilate tried once more.
"But," he protested, "I can't find that he has been guilty of any crime!"
The Jewish rulers replied, "We have a law which says he ought to die because he pretends to be the Son of God."
Pilate was worried now. He spoke to Jesus again, and again Jesus did not answer.
"Aren't you going to speak to me?" Pilate asked. "Don't you know that I can crucify you or let you go?"
Jesus answered, "You wouldn't have any power over me unless God had given it to you."
Pilate, when he heard this, tried once more to save Jesus. But the crowd was bigger, and louder, and more bloodthirsty than ever. Everyone was shouting:
"Crucify! Crucify!"
"Shall I crucify your king?" asked Pilate.
The chief priests of the Jews, who hated Caesar, answered,
"We have no king except Caesar!"
Pilate was too weak to hold out any longer. He was beginning to wonder what Caesar would say if he heard that Pilate refused to crucify a man who claimed to be king of the Jews.
"Take him," Pilate said. "Take him, and crucify him."
But before the crucifixion came the scourging. Jesus was bound and beaten with long leather thongs which had cruel pieces of glass and lead fastened to them so that they would hurt all the more. When that was over, and his back was covered with cuts and bruises, the Roman soldiers who had scourged him wanted some more sport. They dressed Jesus in a purple robe. They made a wreath, like the one that the Roman emperor wore—only this one was made of thorns, which stuck into Jesus' head so that the blood ran down his face. Some of the soldiers spat on him; others made fun of him, bowing down and saying,
"Hail, king of the Jews!"
Then the soldiers stripped the purple clothes off Jesus, and put his own clothes back on him, and led him outside the city to be crucified. He was too worn out to carry his own cross, as those who were to be crucified usually did, so the soldiers forced a man of Cyrene named Simon to carry it for him.
When they reached a hill called Calvary, they laid the cross down on the ground, and stripped Jesus of his clothes. They put Jesus on the cross, and stretched out his arms. They drove a nail through each hand, and one through his feet, fastening him to the cross. Then they stood the cross upright, and let Jesus hang there. On the top of it was written: "This is the King of the Jews." There was a cross on either side of him, with a thief hanging on each one.
Jesus said, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do."
The soldiers took his clothes, and divided them up among themselves. His coat was too good to tear up, so they threw dice to see which one of them would get it.
Jesus was offered a drink which would have made the pain easier to bear, but he would not take it. People passed to and fro in front of the cross, shouting insults.
"He saved others, but he can't save himself." One of the thieves turned his head and called out to him angrily,
"If you are the Christ, save yourself and us too!"
But the other thief spoke out of his pain:
"Don't you fear God, seeing that we are all going to die? Aren't you afraid to talk that way? We deserve to die; but this man never did anything wrong."
Then, turning to Jesus, he said, "Lord, remember me when you come to your Kingdom."
Jesus said to him,
"I tell you, today you will be with me in heaven."
Near the cross stood Jesus' mother and other women who loved him. John the disciple was also there. Jesus called to his mother and John, and said:
"Mother, from now on John will be your son. John, this is your mother."
John took Jesus' mother to his own house.
The hours passed by. It was about time for the Passover lambs to be killed in the city. Clouds were beginning to cover the sun, and it was growing dark although it was not yet night.
Jesus cried out,
"My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"
There was a stir of interest in the crowd.Let's see what will happen now, they thought.
Jesus was becoming weaker. He said, "I am thirsty."
A soldier dipped a sponge in vinegar, and held it up on a stick to Jesus' lips so that he could drink.
Jesus cried out once more:
"It is finished. Father, into thy hands I give my spirit."
His head sank down upon his chest. There was a loud sound like a clap of thunder, and the earth shook.
In the silence that followed, a Roman soldier spoke.
"This man—" he said, "this man was indeed the Son of God."
But Jesus did not hear him. For Jesus was dead.
When evening came, a man named Joseph of Arimathaea went to see Pilate. Joseph was a rich man, and much respected; and he had believed in Jesus. He went secretly to Pilate, for he was afraid of the Jews. He asked Pilate if he might have Jesus' body, and Pilate gave permission.
Joseph came then to the cross, and took down Jesus' body. He wrapped it in a white linen cloth, and had it carried away to a tomb which had been dug out of the rock. Not until after the Sabbath could Jesus' family and friends come to put spices on the body of him whom they loved.
Jesus' body was laid inside the tomb, and a great stone was rolled against the door.
Standing there was a woman named Mary Magdalene with Mary the mother of Jesus. They watched while the body of Jesus, so dear to them, was laid away to rest.
At sunrise the day following the Sabbath, three women came to the garden where Jesus was buried. They came, as the custom was, to put ointments and spices on the body of Jesus.
On the way they remembered that a great stone had been rolled against the door of the tomb. They wondered how they would get in.
"Who will roll the stone away?" they asked each other.
But when they reached the tomb, they found that the stone had been rolled back. Someone had been there before them; the door was open.
The women went through the door of the tomb. A young man in white clothes was sitting on one side. Seeing their amazement, the young man spoke:
"Do not be surprised. You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is not here. He is risen from the dead. Look! There is the place where he was!"
They looked, and they saw that his body was no longer there.
The young man went on, "Go quickly, and tell this to his disciples: 'Jesus is alive.'"
The women ran out of the tomb, trembling with fright and with surprise. One of the women was Mary Magdalene. As she ran, she saw two of the disciples coming, John and Peter. She cried out to them:
"Someone has taken Jesus' body out of the tomb. We don't know where they have put it!"
John and Peter began to run toward the tomb. John ran faster, and got there first. He looked through the door, and there he saw the white cloths that Jesus' body had been wrapped in, but there was no body in them any longer. Peter caught up to John, and ran right into the tomb. He too saw the folded cloths. John and Peter went away to their homes, not knowing what to think.
Meanwhile Mary Magdalene had come back. She stood in the garden near the tomb, weeping as though her heart would break. She turned around, and saw that a man was standing near her. He spoke to her, and said:
"Why are you crying? For whom are you looking?"
Mary thought that the man must be the gardener.Through her tears she said:
"Sir, if you have carried away the body of my Lord, tell me where you have laid him, and I will go and take him away."
The man said softly,
"Mary!"
She looked again. She knew that voice. It was Jesus—Jesus calling her name!
She cried out,
"Master!"
She moved as though to take hold of him. Jesus spoke again. It was really he.
"Do not try to hold me here. I am going to my Father in heaven. But now go and tell that to the disciples. Tell them that I am going to my Father."
And Mary went and told the disciples,
"I have seen the Lord!"
Afterward, no one could ever remember clearly all that happened on that day. No one knew what to make of it all. No one knew whether to believe that Jesus was really alive.
Late that afternoon, two disciples were walking along the road from Jerusalem to the village of Emmaus. They talked of what had happened on Friday, and now on Sunday. As they were talking, a stranger joined them. The stranger said,
"What is it that you are talking about?"
The disciples stopped. They were almost toosad to speak any more, but one of them answered,
"Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who doesn't know the things that have been happening there these last few days?"
"What things?" the stranger asked.
The disciples replied:
"Why, all about Jesus of Nazareth. He was a great prophet and teacher. The chief priests and the rulers had him crucified. We had hoped that he was the Messiah, who was going to save the Jewish people.But now it is two days since he was put to death, and nothing has happened—though there were some women who went to the tomb and came away saying that he was risen from the dead."
The stranger said:
"O you foolish men—so slow to believe what it says in the Prophets! Don't you see that the Messiah had to suffer this way in order to be King?"
Then he explained everything in the Scriptures about the Messiah. He spoke to them of how the Prophet Isaiah had said long ago:
"He was despised and cast out by men; a man of sorrows and full of grief; and no one would look at him. He was hurt, because we were so sinful. He suffered for our sakes. He was killed like a lamb, and he did not try to defend himself."
"He was despised and cast out by men; a man of sorrows and full of grief; and no one would look at him. He was hurt, because we were so sinful. He suffered for our sakes. He was killed like a lamb, and he did not try to defend himself."
The stranger explained that Isaiah was talking about the Messiah. The Messiah was to be humble, and sacrifice himself, like one of the lambs at the Passover feast. Isaiah meant that the only one who could help others was the one who was willing to suffer for others. The Messiah never wanted to be a king like other kings. He did not want to lord it over others. He wanted to love them, and to give his life for them.
"And so," the stranger went on, "you ought not to be sad, thinking that Jesus is not the Messiah after all. Jesus has lived and died as the Scriptures said the Messiah would. His love and his sufferings prove thathe really is the Messiah. And if his believers love one another, as he has loved them, and sacrifice themselves as he has done, they will have peace and joy."
As the three walked on, the stranger talked. When they reached Emmaus, they came to the home of one of the disciples. They said to the stranger:
"Come in and stay with us. It is evening. The day is nearly over."
They went into the house. Someone lighted the lamps, and food was placed before them.
The stranger took some bread, and said a prayer of thanks, and broke the bread.
The disciples had seen something like that before—breaking bread. They looked up quickly.
Why! This man was not a stranger at all. It was Jesus. They knew him as they looked into his face. And as they looked, he vanished out of their sight, and they were alone again.
They said to each other,
"Didn't you have a strange feeling, as he talked to us along the road and explained the Scriptures?"
Although it was now night, they returned to Jerusalem at once. They found the other disciples and told their story.
"The Lord is indeed alive!" they said. "We knew him the moment he broke the bread!"
While they were speaking, Jesus was suddenly among them once again. Jesus said,
"Peace be with you."
They were frightened then, but Jesus spoke again.
"Do not be afraid," he said. "I am not a spirit."
They still could hardly believe it. It seemed too good to be true. And while they stood there, not daring to believe that Jesus was alive, he said,
"Have you anything here to eat?"
They set a piece of broiled fish before him, and Jesus sat down to supper.
One of the disciples was not there when Jesus appeared to the others. His name was Thomas. And no matter what the others said, Thomas could not believe that Jesus was alive again.
"Unless," he said, "I see in his hands the marks that the nails made when they crucified him, and unless I put my finger into those marks, I will not believe."
Eight days later the disciples were all together. This time Thomas was with the others. The doors were shut.
Suddenly Jesus appeared again, and said as he had said before,
"Peace be with you."
Then Jesus turned to Thomas, and said,
"Put your finger into the nail holes in my hand, and doubt no more, but believe in me!"
Thomas fell down on his knees. He cried out, "My Lord and my God!"
Jesus said to him:
"You believe in me because you have seen me with your own eyes. It is still better when people believe even though they have not seen me."
After this the disciples saw Jesus many times and at many places. But a day came at last after which they did not see him on earth again.
On this day Jesus appeared to them outside Jerusalem, and said:
"All power has been given to me in heaven and earth. I am Lord and King of all men. Go and tell people of every nation about me, so that they will believe in me. Baptize everybody in my name. Teach them everything that I have taught you. You will not be alone, for although you do not see me, I shall be with you always."
Then Jesus said to them: "Wait a little while. Wait in Jerusalem, and someday soon you will know that the time has come to go out and preach. God will give you the power to make other people believe in me as their Saviour. You shall tell about me in Jerusalem, and in the country all around; in Samaria, and in the farthest parts of the earth."
He lifted up his hands, and blessed them. And as he blessed them, a cloud covered him, and they did not see him any more.
Jesus had gone home to his Father.
They stared up into the sky, where he seemed to have gone. As they looked, they heard voices saying:
"You men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up into the sky? The Lord Jesus will come again!"
Then they remembered that they had work to do before they again would see Jesus. They had to go and preach, as Jesus had told them. They had to tell about him to all people everywhere.
They walked back into Jerusalem. They had to wait; but now they were not waiting for Christ the Saviour to come. They were waiting only for the sign that would tell them it was time to go out and preach that Christ had already come.
The Passover was finished for another year, and the farmers of Palestine had work to do. The warm spring weather spread over the land, and the wheat was growing in the fields and on the hillsides. Farmers reaped their crops, and gathered in the grain, and got ready for another feast at Jerusalem. For when the wheat was gathered, it was time to go and give thanks to God for the harvest, at the Feast of Pentecost.
The disciples waited while the weeks of spring went by. Every day they went to the Temple and praised God for his goodness, because they knew that Christ had come.
Seven weeks passed by. The hot sun ripened the crops, and the farmers cut their grain. The Day of Pentecost came around, and the streets of Jerusalem were thronged again. There were men there from near and far, from every country of which anyone had ever heard. The harvest was over, and the feast was on!
That morning the disciples were all together when they heard the sound. It was a sound like the rushing wind, bringing messages from God. They saw a vision too, and what they saw seemed like tongues of fire,coming down to each one of them so that all could speak what God wanted them to say.
The disciples went out and began to speak. Everyone who heard them understood what they were saying.
Excitement went through the city.
"This is strange!" the people said. "We have come from near and far. We speak many different languages. Yet when these men tell us about the wonderful things that God has done, we understand what they are telling us. What is it that has happened?"
Peter stood up beside the other disciples, and boldly raised his voice:
"Listen to me, everyone who is here at Jerusalem! You have read in the Scriptures how God said that he would send his Holy Spirit to his people. That is what has happened! The time has come to preach to you! Therefore, listen to my words.
"God sent Jesus of Nazareth to you, and he did many wonderful things among you, which you saw for yourselves. God let you take him and put him to death with your own wicked hands. But it was not possible for him to be held forever by death. God has raised him up from the dead, and we have seen it! He is King; and he has given us the power to tell you about him, and you can hear what we are telling you. Let everybody know this for a fact: this very Jesus whom you crucified is Lord and Christ!"
And when the people heard these words, they were greatly troubled.
"What shall we do?" they cried.
Peter answered:
"Repent! Give up your sins, and begin a new life! Believe in Jesus Christ, and let us baptize you in his name. Then your sins will be forgiven, and he will send his Holy Spirit to change you!"
Many were glad when they heard this, and they were baptized in Jesus' name. That very day about three thousand people became believers and followers of Christ. They joined with those who had been disciples before, praying together, and sharing with each other everything they had. Jesus had a Church, which believed that he was Christ the Saviour.
Every day many more were added to the Church. Every day the Church of Jesus Christ grew stronger.
It grew like the grainfields in the spring.