Jesus was betrayed by Judas and arrested. He underwent religious and political trials where he was falsely accused of sedition against Rome. Jesus was crucified, the cruelest form of Roman execution. His death was not just as a martyr but to save mankind from sin, as the Suffering Servant foretold in Isaiah who would justify many.

1. LESSON 12
June 21, 2015
The Death of Jesus
Golden Text
Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my
spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last. (Luke 23:46)
Useful Practice
Jesus did not die as a martyr or a hero, but as the Savior of mankind.
Scripture Reading
Luke 23. 44-50
44 - It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until
three in the afternoon,
45 - For the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in
two.
46 - Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit
my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.
47 - The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said,
“Surely this was a righteous man.”
48 - When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what
took place, they beat their breasts and went away.
49 - But all those who knew him, including the women who had followed
him from Galilee,stood at a distance, watching these things.
50 - Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the Council, a good
and upright man.
General Objective
To present the first cause that led Jesus to the cross: our sins.
Specific Objectives

2. I – To point out the inner and outer sufferings of Christ.
II – To explain the dramatic account of the betrayal of Jesus.
III – To list the two types of trials faced by Jesus, the religious and the
political one.
IV – To teach about the method and meaning of the crucifixion and death
of Christ.
Introduction
The moments leading to the arrest and trial of Jesus were extremely hard
and painful for him and his followers. The Jewish authorities had already
decided, in council, to kill him, and were just waiting for the right time to
do it. They did not intend to take action during the Passover, in order not to
cause unrest. At that moment, Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, comes out
with the proposal to deliver Jesus to those leaders. And that's what he did.
Arrested, Jesus soon underwent a trial that condemned him and
delivered him to be crucified! Nailed to the cross, Jesus, the perfect man,
felt the pain of the nails and the burden of the sins of mankind.
I - THE LAST WARNINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Inner suffering. Knowing that his hour had come, Jesus decides to give
his disciples the last warnings and recommendations. All the Gospels
record the warning that Jesus gave Peter (Mt 26:31-35; Mk 14:27-31 ...).
The Master was about to be arrested, and both He and his disciples would
go through an unprecedented inner conflict. Hence the need for them to be
spiritually prepared for this moment (Mt 26:41). Peter is warned that Satan
wanted to sift all of him as wheat (Luke 22:31-34). On the Mount of Olives,
just before his arrest, He warned everyone about the need for prayer to
endure the trials that lay ahead (Luke 22:39-46). We can fail and we often
do it, however, it is not for lack of warning.
2. Outer suffering. The text of Luke 22:35-38 has drawn the attention of
biblical scholars. Was Jesus here preaching armed struggle? No! Just
because the use of force as part of his Kingdom is flatly contrary to his
teachings (Matthew 5:9, 22:38-47). Jesus quotes the prophecy of Isaiah
53:12 as being fulfilled at that very moment, and the disciples, in solidarity
with his mission, would suffer the consequences. Like their Master, they
would also face outer suffering as a consequence of prison. They should
therefore be prepared for that time. Jesus would be numbered with the
transgressors and his disciples would be identified likewise (Mark 14:69).

3. II - JESUS IS BETRAYED AND ARRESTED
1. The greed. The betrayal of Jesus is one of the most dramatic and sad
accounts recorded in the New Testament. Jesus was betrayed by someone
who shared in his intimacy (Psalm 41:9). Judas, as reported by Luke, was
chosen by Christ to be one of his apostles (Luke 6:16).
What then led Judas to act that way? Parallel texts on the account of the
betrayal show that Judas was greedy, he loved money and ambition led him
to betray the Lord (John 12:4-6).
2. The trading. The religious leaders had long been looking for an
opportunity to kill Jesus, but besides not finding it, they still feared the
people (Mt 26: 3-5; Luke 22:2). The third Gospel had already shown at the
time of the temptation that the devil had left Jesus until an opportune time
(Luke 4:13). Knowing that Judas was dominated by greed, Satan incites him
to seek religious leaders to sell Jesus (Luke 22: 2-6). The price was set at 30
pieces of silver (Mt 26:15). By holding him accountable for his act, the
Scripture shows that Judas was not predestined to betray Jesus (Mark
14:21). He did it because he was not vigilant (Lk 6:13; 22:40). Whoever is
not watchful ends up selling or trading their faith.
III – THE TRIAL AND CONDEMNATION OF JESUS
1. In the religious sphere. The conflicts between Jesus and the religious
leaders of Israel began very early (Mk 3:6). The liberations, the healings
and the authority with which he spoke the Word of God caused the crowds
to begin to follow Jesus (Luke 5:1). Such popularity among the masses
caused envy and jealousy of religious leaders who were losing ground day
after day (John 12:19). For these leaders, something had to be done. So they
gathered the Sanhedrin. The decision was for the death of Jesus (John 11:
47-57). The next step was to make a formal complaint against Jesus in
which He would be falsely accused of being a seditious person who had
caused Israel to go astray.
2. In the political sphere. For the religious leaders, Jesus was a heretic,
accused of having blasphemed, who should be put out of the way at any
cost, even if they had to kill him. However, in Jesus' day, Israel was under
Roman rule and the Jewish leaders could not reach their purpose without
the approval of the empire (John 18:31). Luke makes it clear that the
accusation made by the Jewish leaders against Jesus was threefold: to
divert the nation; to prohibit the Jews from paying taxes to Rome and to
affirm that he, not Caesar, was king (Luke 23: 2,5,14). In other words, Jesus

4. was accused of sedition. Diverting the Jews from their faith was not a crime
to Rome, but sedition, inciting the people against the empire, was! Jesus,
therefore, would be leading his disciples into a political revolt. The Romans
did not tolerate any form of uprising against the State and established the
death penalty for this type of crime.
IV - THE CRUCIFIXION AND DEATH OF JESUS
1. The method. The capital punishment imposed by the Roman empire on
convicted persons was carried out through crucifixion. Scholars are
unanimous in affirming that this was the most cruel and painful form of
execution! Jewish historian Josephus reports that, before the execution, the
condemned were beaten and subjected to all kinds of torture and then
were crucified on the opposite side of the city walls. Cicero, a Roman
historian, referring to the crucifixion, stated that there was no word to
describe such a horrendous act. The message of the Roman Empire was
clear - that would happen to those who rose up against the state. Jesus,
therefore, suffered the horrors of the cross. According to the Gospels, He
was flogged, mocked, ridiculed, blasphemed, tortured, forced to carry the
cross and, finally, crucified (John 19: 1-28).
2. The meaning. For many critics, Jesus was just a martyr as were so many
other Jewish leaders who lived before him. However, Luke's theology
argues against this idea. What is expected of the death of a martyr cannot
be found in the narrative of Jesus' death. For Luke, Jesus died vicariously
for humanity. The connection made by Luke about the Passion narrative
with that of the Suffering Servant in Isaiah 53 shows this. The Suffering
Servant, Jesus, justifies many. The universality of salvation present in Isaiah
53 also appears in Luke. Jesus, therefore, is the Suffering Servant who
humbled himself until his death on the cross, but was exalted and glorified
by God for the work he did.
CONCLUSION
It is a historical fact that Jesus was condemned by religious leaders
and executed by the Roman laws. However, we must remember that the
first cause that led Jesus to the cross were in fact our sins (Isaiah 53:5). The
apostle Paul also highlights this fact: "who had no sin to be sin for us, so
that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians
5:21). The cross solved the problem of sin, and we all could finally enjoy
peace with God (Rom 5:1). Praise God!