The Adventures of Jesus Christ
Episodes from the Life of Jesus for Young Readers
by Vincent Cheung
[ Contents ]
Chapter 28. Jesus Sacrificed Himself
I WILL DO ANYTHING TO SAVE MY PEOPLE
After his arrest in Gethsemane, Jesus was taken to the high priest for questioning. His name was Caiaphas. The religious leaders were determined to find an excuse to put Jesus to death. They had been threatened by his teachings and miracles, and now they saw their chance to silence him once and for all.
As Jesus stood before the leaders, they tried to trap him with their questions, to trick him into saying something that they could use against him. Jesus knew they had decided to find a way to kill him, and they were not going to be fair about this, but he did not make it easy for them. He remained composed and answered them with wisdom and authority.
It was a sham trial. They were going through the motions trying to reach the verdict they wanted. But even then they had a hard time doing it properly. They tried to twist his words, and they brought false witnesses against him. But even the false witnesses did not agree with one another.
Finally, the high priest said, “In the name of God I demand you to tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.” Jesus answered, “You have said it. And in the future you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.”
The high priest exclaimed, “Blasphemy! Do we need more witnesses? You have heard the blasphemy yourself. What is your decision?” What Jesus said was not blasphemy. He did not insult God or steal honor from God, because what he said was true. But the religious leaders said, “He deserves to die!”
Nevertheless, the Jews were under Roman rule, and they did not have the authority to carry out a death penalty. Therefore, the next morning, they brought Jesus to Pilate, who was the Roman governor. They wanted Pilate to hand down the death penalty against Jesus.
As Jesus stood before Pilate, the governor asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” And Jesus replied, “You have said so.” But when the religious leaders made accusations against him, he remained silent.
Finally, Pilate decided Jesus had done nothing wrong, certainly nothing that deserved the death penalty. Pilate even noticed that they wanted Jesus to die because they were jealous of him, and not because Jesus was some dangerous criminal. Pilate wanted to set him free.
However, the faithless religious leaders had gathered a crowd of people at Pilate’s house. They had convinced the people to put pressure on Pilate, and to demand that Jesus be put to death.
When Pilate said that he wanted to release Jesus, the crowd shouted, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” Crucifixion was a way to execute someone by nailing him to a wooden cross until he died. It was a very cruel and painful way to kill someone.
Stop for a moment. Think about this. This is the result of faithless religion. What harm can come from faithless opinions and traditions? What harm can come from a little cessationism and ritualism? What harm can come from sidestepping the teachings of Jesus about faith and miracles? What harm? They murdered him!
Even if some people pretend to be civilized, the same spirit of murder is in their hearts. The outcome is this kind of murderous frenzy and delusion. Faithless religion has been one of the most violent and despicable forces in the history of humanity.
Pilate wanted to release Jesus. Even Pilate’s wife warned him about killing an innocent man. But those who were supposed to be his own people pressured an outsider to kill their own hero. Finally, the crowd shouted, “Anyone who claims to be a king is against Caesar. If you let this man go, you are no friend of the Roman Emperor.”
This made Pilate nervous. He did not want to be accused of committing treason by supporting someone who might be seen as a rival king. So Pilate finally gave in. He ordered that Jesus be flogged and then crucified.
After being beaten, Jesus was forced to carry his own cross to the place called Golgotha, which means “The Place of the Skull.” It was a hill outside the city where criminals were executed. The cross was heavy, and Jesus struggled under its burden. The crowds followed, some weeping for him, while others jeered and mocked.
When they arrived at Golgotha, Jesus was nailed to the cross by his hands and feet. The soldiers placed a sign above his head that read, “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.”
As Jesus hung on the cross, growing weaker with each moment, he looked at the people around him and said, ‘Father, forgive them. They do not understand what they are doing.'” Even as he was suffering a painful death, he used some of his remaining strength to pray for those who hurt him. This was the kind of person faithless religious people decided to kill.
For hours, darkness covered the land as Jesus carried the sins of humanity. He was paying the price for the sins of each person who would believe in him. At last, Jesus cried out, “It is finished! Father, I commit my spirit into your hands!” He had completed the work he came to do. With that, he took his last breath and died.
At that moment, the earth shook, the rocks were split, and the tombs broke open. The curtain in the temple, which separated the presence of God from the world in the Most Holy Place, was torn in two from top to bottom. This emphasized that everyone now has direct access to the presence of God.
Jesus was the final sacrifice for sin. People no longer need a temple or a priest to contact God. Any religious system that appoints priests or offers sacrifices for people to reach God or to receive forgiveness is a fraud.
The centurion and those who were with him saw the earthquake and what happened, and they said, “This man was really the Son of God!”
The faithless religious leaders wanted the people to look up to them and to listen to them, and to follow their complicated teachings and traditions. They made themselves the door or the bridge between God and the people. They wanted people to think that they are reliable guides to God, but in reality, they blocked people from connecting with God. When Jesus came offering people a simple way to God by faith in him, the religious leaders wanted to destroy him.
Faithless religious people are the same today, but now they also block the way to Jesus! They want you to look up to them and to listen to them, and to follow their complicated teachings and traditions. They make themselves the door or the bridge between Jesus and the people.
How? When you overcome them with evidence from the Bible about the teachings of Jesus on faith and miracles, they say that there are things in the Bible you do not understand because you have not studied in their schools. They say you cannot even have the special meal with other disciples to remember Jesus because you have not been appointed by their religious organizations. With many traditions like these, they want to force you into agreement with them.
They are religious bullies. They want to control you. The faithless mafia in the past controlled God’s people, and extracted many benefits from them. Jesus came and overturned the corrupt system. Now the faithless mafia of today wants to control what Jesus started. But if you have faith, you can ignore all the rubbish and reach Jesus directly.
Jesus sends his followers to guide his people and preach his message. This is true. But you do not belong to them. You belong to Jesus. If another follower of Jesus teaches you about walking by faith, only wanting you to know God more fully and correctly, then you can listen to him. But even someone like that can never be a door or bridge between Jesus and you.
By faith, you will always have instant and direct access to Jesus. No one should stand between you and Jesus. No one should control your relationship with God. No one should trick you into serving them and their traditions. A true teacher will stand beside you and explain the way of faith more fully, and then, without blocking your way, he will allow you the freedom to follow Christ for yourself.