Lesson 5: The Messiah and the Cross

Before you do this lesson, lead these verses from the Injil:

John 18:1-40 -- When he had finished praying, Jesus left with his disciples and crossed the Kidron Valley. On the other side there was an olive grove, and he and his disciples went into it.
2 Now Judas, who betrayed him, knew the place, because Jesus had often met there with his disciples. 3 So Judas came to the grove, guiding a detachment of soldiers and some officials from the chief priests and Pharisees. They were carrying torches, lanterns and weapons.
4 Jesus, knowing all that was going to happen to him, went out and asked them, "Who is it you want?"
5 "Jesus of Nazareth," they replied.
"I am he," Jesus said. (And Judas the traitor was standing there with them.) 6 When Jesus said, "I am he," they drew back and fell to the ground.
7 Again he asked them, "Who is it you want?"
And they said, "Jesus of Nazareth."
8 "I told you that I am he," Jesus answered. "If you are looking for me, then let these men go." 9 This happened so that the words he had spoken would be fulfilled: "I have not lost one of those you gave me."
10 Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest's servant, cutting off his right ear. (The servant's name was Malchus.)
11 Jesus commanded Peter, "Put your sword away! Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?"
12 Then the detachment of soldiers with its commander and the Jewish officials arrested Jesus. They bound him 13 and brought him first to Annas, who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest that year. 14 Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jews that it would be good if one man died for the people.
15 Simon Peter and another disciple were following Jesus. Because this disciple was known to the high priest, he went with Jesus into the high priest's courtyard, 16 but Peter had to wait outside at the door. The other disciple, who was known to the high priest, came back, spoke to the girl on duty there and brought Peter in.
17 "You are not one of his disciples, are you?" the girl at the door asked Peter.
He replied, "I am not."
18 It was cold, and the servants and officials stood around a fire they had made to keep warm. Peter also was standing with them, warming himself.
19 Meanwhile, the high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching.
20 "I have spoken openly to the world," Jesus replied. "I always taught in synagogues or at the temple, where all the Jews come together. I said nothing in secret. 21 Why question me? Ask those who heard me. Surely they know what I said."
22 When Jesus said this, one of the officials nearby struck him in the face. "Is this the way you answer the high priest?" he demanded.
23 "If I said something wrong," Jesus replied, "testify as to what is wrong. But if I spoke the truth, why did you strike me?" 24 Then Annas sent him, still bound, to Caiaphas the high priest.
25 As Simon Peter stood warming himself, he was asked, "You are not one of his disciples, are you?"
He denied it, saying, "I am not."
26 One of the high priest's servants, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, challenged him, "Didn't I see you with him in the olive grove?" 27 Again Peter denied it, and at that moment a rooster began to crow.
28 Then the Jews led Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness the Jews did not enter the palace; they wanted to be able to eat the Passover. 29 So Pilate came out to them and asked, "What charges are you bringing against this man?"
30 "If he were not a criminal," they replied, "we would not have handed him over to you."
31 Pilate said, "Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law."
"But we have no right to execute anyone," the Jews objected. 32 This happened so that the words Jesus had spoken indicating the kind of death he was going to die would be fulfilled.
33 Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?"
34 "Is that your own idea," Jesus asked, "or did others talk to you about me?"
35 "Am I a Jew?" Pilate replied. "It was your people and your chief priests who handed you over to me. What is it you have done?"
36 Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place."
37 "You are a king, then!" said Pilate.
Jesus answered, "You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me."
38 "What is truth?" Pilate asked. With this he went out again to the Jews and said, "I find no basis for a charge against him. 39 But it is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the time of the Passover. Do you want me to release 'the king of the Jews'?"
40 They shouted back, "No, not him! Give us Barabbas!" Now Barabbas had taken part in a rebellion.

John 19:1-42 -- Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. 2 The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe 3 and went up to him again and again, saying, "Hail, king of the Jews!" And they struck him in the face.
4 Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews, "Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him." 5 When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, "Here is the man!"
6 As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, "Crucify! Crucify!"
But Pilate answered, "You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him."
7 The Jews insisted, "We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God."
8 When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, 9 and he went back inside the palace. "Where do you come from?" he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer. 10 "Do you refuse to speak to me?" Pilate said. "Don't you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?"
11 Jesus answered, "You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin."
12 From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jews kept shouting, "If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar."
13 When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge's seat at a place known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic is Gabbatha). 14 It was the day of Preparation of Passover Week, about the sixth hour.
"Here is your king," Pilate said to the Jews.
15 But they shouted, "Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!"
"Shall I crucify your king?" Pilate asked.
"We have no king but Caesar," the chief priests answered.
16 Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified. So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. 17 Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). 18 Here they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle.
19 Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read:|sc JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. 20 Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. 21 The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, "Do not write 'The King of the Jews,' but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews."
22 Pilate answered, "What I have written, I have written."
23 When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom.
24 "Let's not tear it," they said to one another. "Let's decide by lot who will get it."
This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled which said, "They divided my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing." So this is what the soldiers did.
25 Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, "Dear woman, here is your son," 27 and to the disciple, "Here is your mother." From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.
28 Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, "I am thirsty." 29 A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus' lips. 30 When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
31 Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jews did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. 32 The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. 33 But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. 35 The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. 36 These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: "Not one of his bones will be broken," 37 and, as another scripture says, "They will look on the one they have pierced."
38 Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jews. With Pilate's permission, he came and took the body away. 39 He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. 40 Taking Jesus' body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. 41 At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. 42 Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

Now read the lesson and do the test at the end. The lesson explains what you have read in the Injil.

Jesus was crucified at Passover time. This is what happened.

For three years Jesus had been preaching and healing people in Palestine and some nearby countries. Then he travelled to the city of Jerusalem. Jerusalem was the centre of Jewish religion.

Jesus was not proud. He chose to ride into Jerusalem on a donkey*. God had revealed to the Prophet Zechariah 500 years earlier that the Messiah would ride into Jerusalem on a donkey (Zechariah 9:9).

When the people saw Jesus riding into Jerusalem, they began to sing: "Praise God! God bless him who comes in the name of the Lord! God bless the King of Israel" (John 12:13). The people hoped that Jesus would become a king. They hoped that he would free them from Roman colonialism.

The religious and government leaders were not happy. They thought Jesus was becoming too famous. They hated him because the people believed that Jesus was the Holy One from God. So the leaders planned to kill him. A disciple of Jesus called Judas agreed to help them.

The Passover Meal

The night before Jesus was crucified, he ate the Passover meal with his disciples. They were alone in a room which a friend let them use.

During the Passover meal, Jesus took bread, broke it and shared it with his disciples. Then he took a cup of drink and shared it also with the disciples. He said that the bread and the drink were a sign that he was giving his life as a sacrifice "for many for the forgiveness of sins" (Matthew 26:26-28).

The Religions Leaders Judged Jesus (John 18:1-40)

After the Passover meal, Jesus and his disciples went to a garden outside Jerusalem. It was night. Jesus was very sad. He went away from the disciples to pray alone in another part of the garden.

Soon the soldiers came with Judas, who had been one of Jesus' disciples. Now he helped the soldiers find Jesus. The other disciples were afraid and ran away. The soldiers took Jesus to the religious leaders. They asked him many questions. But they could not find anything wrong that he had done.

At last they asked him, "Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed God?"

Jesus said, "I am" (Mark 14:61, 62).

This made the soldiers very angry. They put a cloth over Jesus' eyes and hit his face and said, "Who hit you? Guess!" (Luke 22:63, 64).

The next morning they took him to the Roman governor and demanded that he be killed. Finally the governor agreed. He ordered that Jesus be put on a cross to die.

Death on the Cross (John 19:1-42)

The soldiers beat Jesus until they had cut his back deeply. They took a crown made of thorns and beat it down into his head until the blood ran down his face. Then they put the clothing of a king on him and bowed down to make fun of him (John 19:1-7).

Finally they took him to a hill called Golgotha. At Golgotha they hung Jesus on a wooden cross by nailing his hands and feet to the cross. Two thieves were also put on crosses to die. One was on each side of Jesus (John 19:16-18).

The people laughed at Jesus and shouted at him, "Save yourself if you are God's Son! Come on down from the cross" (Matthew 27:39-44). The Roman governor put a sign over his head which said: Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews. The soldiers divided his clothing among them and threw lots for his coat (John 19:19-24).

When Jesus the Messiah saw how .much the people hated him, he cried out, "Forgive them, Father! They don't know what they are doing" (Luke 23:34).

At noon it became very dark. People were afraid. The darkness lasted for three hours (Luke 23:44).

About three o'clock in the afternoon Jesus cried out, "Father! In your hands I place my spirit" (Luke 23:46)! Once again he cried, 'It is finished!' He bowed his head and gave up his spirit (John 19:30). Then a soldier pushed a spear into Jesus' side. Blood and water flowed from the wound (John 19:34).

At that moment there was a great earthquake and the rocks split. Also the curtain in the temple which divided the Most Holy Place from the Holy Place tore into two parts from the top to the bottom (Luke 23:44-45).

The people around the cross started to cry. They hurried home very sad. Suddenly they knew that they had sinned greatly. Even the leader of the soldiers cried out, "Certainly he was a good man" (Luke 23 :47)!

A Rich Man Put the Body of Jesus in a Grave

A rich man called Joseph took the body of Jesus. He put it in his own new grave in a rock. Then he put a great stone over the grave. Some women watched where he put the body of Jesus. They went home to prepare spices* to put on Jesus' body. The religious leaders brought soldiers to guard the grave carefully (John 19:38-42).

But only three days later Jesus rose from the dead. He is alive even today! We will read about how Jesus rose from the dead in the next lesson.

Here is a list of difficult words in this lesson.
donkey             -     an animal like a horse only smaller
spices               -     substances used to keep a dead body from spoiling

Learn this verse. John 3:16: "For God so loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not die but have eternal life."

Test 5: God Loves People

Here is the test for Lesson 5. Write the letter of the correct answer on the line on the right side of the page.
1)   The night before Jesus the Messiah was crucified
      a)   he preached in the temple.
      b)   he ate the Passover meal with his disciples.
      c)   he went to visit his mother.                                                                             ___
2)   The disciple who helped the soldiers find Jesus the Messiah was called
      a)   Judas.
      b)   Thomas.
      c)   Peter.                                                                                                               ___
3)   When the soldiers came for Jesus the Messiah, his disciples
      a)   fought the soldiers and defeated them.
      b)   helped the soldiers take Jesus to court.
      c)   became afraid and ran away.                                                                           ___
4)   The religious leaders became very angry when Jesus the Messiah agreed that
      a)   he was a prophet of God.
      b)   he was the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed.
      c)   he was a great teacher.                                                                                   ___
5)   Jesus the Messiah gave up his spirit at
      a)   three o'clock in the afternoon.
      b)   twelve o'clock in the middle of the day.
      c)   nine o'clock in the morning.                                                                            ___
Write "True" or "False" after each of the following sentences.
6)   God revealed to the Prophet Zechariah that the Messiah would ride into Jerusalem on a donkey.       ______
7)   The soldiers put a crown of thorns on the head of Jesus the Messiah.       ______
8)   The soldiers nailed the hands and feet of Jesus the Messiah to the cross. ______
9)   When Jesus the Messiah gave up his spirit, all the people were happy.     ______
10) Christians remember the sacrifice of Jesus the Messiah on the cross, when they have fellowship called the Passover.       ______