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The Burial of Jesus
Matthew 27:57-66
April 13, 2025

Tonight we come to the final event
Leading up to the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.

It is THE BURIAL of Jesus.

Some have found it curious that the gospel writers
Were so adamant about adding details of this reality.

In some ways, I suppose,
The burial seems like an anti-climactic part of the entire scene.

And yet we find that all 4 gospel writers
Determined to include this one detail, that Jesus was buried.

And not only the gospel writers,
but clearly it was important to all of the apostles.

1 Corinthians 15:3-4 “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,”

Paul is specific to include it.

Even after the apostles had died and the early church began to establish a clear systematic theology, we begin to see the various creeds.

You are familiar with the one known as “The Apostle’s Creed”
(They didn’t write it, but those who studied their teaching did)

“I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to hell. The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty. From there he will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic* church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.”

Even there the burial is not overlooked.

We know that burial was an important reality to Jews.

• You will remember that Judas returned the money of his betrayal and you will remember what they used it for.

Matthew 27:7 “And they conferred together and with the money bought the Potter’s Field as a burial place for strangers.”

It was important in Judaism not to leave bodies out to rot.
A dead body just eaten by the birds was grotesque and defiling.

The Law demanded that even the most vile criminals should be buried.

Deuteronomy 21:21-23 “Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death; so you shall remove the evil from your midst, and all Israel will hear of it and fear. “If a man has committed a sin worthy of death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his corpse shall not hang all night on the tree, but you shall surely bury him on the same day (for he who is hanged is accursed of God), so that you do not defile your land which the LORD your God gives you as an inheritance.

Aside from that, we even find Jesus speaking of His own burial.

John 12:1-7 “Jesus, therefore, six days before the Passover, came to Bethany where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. So they made Him a supper there, and Martha was serving; but Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with Him. Mary then took a pound of very costly perfume of pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of His disciples, who was intending to betray Him, said, “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and given to poor people?” Now he said this, not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief, and as he had the money box, he used to pilfer what was put into it. Therefore Jesus said, “Let her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of My burial.”

I think it’s clear to us then that the burial of the Lord
Is far from just one of those insignificant details
That all the writers happened to include.

We should know by now that the gospel writers didn’t play that game.

They were very specific about every detail
As each one gave not only a historical fact,
But a theological point in everything they included.

And the burial of Jesus should be looked upon in the same light.

Tonight, as we examine it, I want to do two main things.

1. I also want to consider the theological ramifications about burial.
• What Jesus burial meant and what it means for us.
• I don’t know that we’ve ever discussed this before,

2. I want us to examine Matthew’s gospel account of the resurrection
• And learn what he would teach us about the event.

So maybe you can already let your mind begin to think about
Why this is important and what it means for us.

So first, let’s just talk about Jesus’ burial from a “birds eye view”

Something that all the gospel writers
Would have unanimously wanted to show you.

And perhaps I would start by just asking you, why the burial matters.
What significant truth do we learn here?

Now before you go too far, I would point out that I think there is one way in which our hymnology has not done us a ton of favors.

We sing the song “One Day” and you are likely familiar with the chorus, which is one of the few hymns that mentions the burial of Jesus.

“Living He loved me, dying He saved me, buried He carried my sins far away…
Rising He justified, freely forever, one day He’s coming, O glorious day!”

That hymn looks upon the burial as that scapegoat in the Old Testament
That Jesus was in some sense carrying our sins away below the ground.

I’ll admit that it is an interesting picture,
But you won’t find that imagery used in Scripture
As a legitimate explanation of His burial.

And yet the burial is theologically significant, WHY?

1) CERTIFICATION OF DEATH

This is, hands down, the most important aspect of the burial of Christ.
IT PROVES HIS DEATH.

You just don’t bury people who are alive.

The Heidelberg Catechism addresses this wonderful clarity:
Question 41: Why was He also “buried”?
Answer: Thereby to prove that He was really dead.

They site only one verse as proof, and it also is enough.
Acts 13:29 “When they had carried out all that was written concerning Him, they took Him down from the cross and laid Him in a tomb.”

The main purpose of revealing the burial of Christ
Is to emphasize the death of Christ.

He did not escape alive.
He died on the cross.

And the gospel accounts in absolute unison verify this fact.

Pilate verified it:
Mark 15:43-45 “Joseph of Arimathea came, a prominent member of the Council, who himself was waiting for the kingdom of God; and he gathered up courage and went in before Pilate, and asked for the body of Jesus. Pilate wondered if He was dead by this time, and summoning the centurion, he questioned him as to whether He was already dead. And ascertaining this from the centurion, he granted the body to Joseph.”

Clearly there the centurion also verified it.

Joseph and Nicodemus then verified it by burying Him.

The women then verified it by watching Him be buried.

This is what the burial is for, to prove death.

As we said this morning, death is a requirement for redemption.
Romans 6:23a “For the wages of sin is death…”

And this goes all the way back to the garden.
Genesis 2:15-17 “Then the LORD God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. The LORD God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”

The original announcement of God is that when sin occurs,
Death is the only acceptable consequence.

And when God’s demands were more clearly spelled out in the Law, we saw it again.
• The demands of the Law also had to be met which required death for sin.
• Over 50 times in the Law the death penalty is prescribed for sin.

Hebrews 9:22 “And according to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”

And it is not just bleeding, it is because the life is in the blood
The cost of sin is death.

If Jesus doesn’t die then the wage of sin has not been paid.
And to verify death, we get the burial.

There’s your chief theological point about the burial of Christ.
The burial proves He died on the cross.

As we examine the Scriptures we also see that out of that flow some other important understandings about the burial of Christ.

2) VERIFICATION OF MINISTRY

That is to say,
Jesus burial is set up to verify His ministry as the Son of God.

HOW?

Remember what Jesus said?
Matthew 12:38-41 “Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.” But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet; for just as JONAH WAS THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS IN THE BELLY OF THE SEA MONSTER, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. “The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment, and will condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.”

The religious elite wanted a sign from Jesus to further prove His authority to say the things He was saying.
• Jesus told them, “No”.
• I’ll only give you one sign, He said.
• Death, burial, and resurrection.

Jesus specifically referenced
Jonah’s stay inside the belly of the sea-monster as evidence.
With the focus there of “three days”

It equates to sure and certain, undeniable, absolute and total death,
With undeniable and absolute resurrection.

The burial proves death,
And coupled with His resurrection validates His entire ministry.

But that’s still not all that the burial speaks of.

3) ILLUSTRATION OF CONVERSION

Since burial is primarily a sign of death,
Christ’s burial even becomes an analogy of Christian conversion.

DO YOU REMEMBER Paul’s argument in Romans to people who thought that once you claimed grace you could just live however you wanted?

Paul balked at such a ridiculous notion and look what he said:
Romans 6:1-4 “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.”

Paul said there that “we have been buried with Him through baptism into death”

Paul there says that as Christians we identify in Christ’s burial.

Again:
Colossians 2:8-12 “See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority; and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.”

Once again you see it, “having been buried with Him in baptism…”

What is Paul talking about?
He is talking about a genuine conversion to Christ.

Those who think you can get saved and live however
Reveal a faulty conversion.

How does a person become a Christian convert?
How does an unbeliever enter the state of salvation?

The answer:
DEATH & RESURRECTION

Matthew 16:24-25 “Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”

Again in:
Luke 17:33 “Whoever seeks to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.”

In short, you must deny yourself; you must lose your life.

What did Paul say?
Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”

Or consider:
Romans 6:6 “knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;”

DEATH IS NECESSARY.

John 12:23-26 “And Jesus answered them, saying, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. “He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal. “If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.”

The way we are converted to Christ is through death.
It is death to self.
It is abandonment of our old life.

But that is not something that can be readily seen.
That is not something that is initially easily identifiable.

So we take a man or a woman who claims to have died to self and given their life to Christ and what do we ask them to do?

We ask them, have you really died?
• And they say, “Yes”.
And we ask them to do what?
• Be buried.

BAPTISM IS THEIR BURIAL.
It is the outward verification of their spiritual death.
Baptism is the only outward mark or sign that we perform.

Scripture teaches that burial is important to verify death,
And that is what our baptism is.

Baptism doesn’t save (it is neither the death nor the resurrection)
But it does serve as a sign of genuine death.

Following that we are raised, and that is also what baptism points to.

There is another important aspect of burial.
4) MAGNIFICATION OF RESURRECTION

Once a person is buried, there is only one thing that they need.
They need resurrection.

BURIAL SORT OF NARROWS THE FOCUS.
• A buried person needs only one thing.
• Jesus cried out to Lazarus and said, “Come forth!”
• There was no other need greater than that.

Now go back to Romans 6:4
Romans 6:4 “Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.”

You see of course that we “were buried with Him through baptism into death”,
But don’t miss the application.

“SO THAT as Christ was raised from the death through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.”

Burial necessitates resurrection, and also pushes for it.
Staying buried is not the goal.

We don’t put people under the water and leave them there,
We bring them up.

And you could actually say there is that one moment of tension while they are under the water.
• Could you imagine if we held people there for a few moments?
• It wouldn’t take long before people started getting nervous.

Burial is not the goal, burial cries for resurrection.

So not only does burial prove death, but burial also pushes for life.
And it magnifies the importance of life.

And that leads us to the 5th aspect of burial.

5) DEMONSTRATION OF FAITH

I often speak of this at the graveside of funerals.

It is a farming analogy.
1 Corinthians 15:35-37 “But someone will say, “How are the dead raised? And with what kind of body do they come?” You fool! That which you sow does not come to life unless it dies; and that which you sow, you do not sow the body which is to be, but a bare grain, perhaps of wheat or of something else.”

I like to talk about the cotton farmers of our area
• Who spend an enormous amount of money, even go into debt in order to buy seed.
• And then they do the strangest thing.
• They go and bury it in the ground and walk away.
• They do it in hopes of a future crop.
• You plant a seed to reap a harvest.

Every planting season is an act of faith and every burial is the same.

It is an act of faith that God will raise the dead.

It is the faith that Jesus was demonstrating
As He said, “Into Your hands I commit My Spirit”

He was trusting that God would bring Him back from death.

Our baptismal burial is our way of doing that too.
1) We declare our death
2) We submit to burial
3) We demonstrate resurrection
4) We trust that the Spirit of God has given us new life in Christ.

So you see the numerous theological aspects that we gain from burial,
And ultimately they all stem from the main purpose
And that is that burial proves death.

1) Jesus was buried because He died.
2) Jesus was buried so that He could rise and prove His ministry.
3) We are baptized to join Him in burial to show that our old life is gone.
4) As we are buried in baptism it focuses our mind to the necessity of the new life found only in resurrection.
5) And when we are buried in baptism it demonstrates our faith that we have been given new life that will soon become visible to everyone.

That is the theology behind the significance of burial,
But most importantly to prove death.

Now you know the main points, so now let’s look at Matthew’s gospel and learn the specific points he wanted us to know in addition to that.

We’ll make it simple as we look at Matthew’s gospel, just two main points.

#1 PROPHECY
Matthew 27:57-61

Introduced for us here is the figure known as Joseph of Arimathea.

If you look at all the information about him in the gospels
We get quite a picture about him.

Mark 15:43 “Joseph of Arimathea came, a prominent member of the Council, who himself was waiting for the kingdom of God; and he gathered up courage and went in before Pilate, and asked for the body of Jesus.”

Luke 23:50-51 “And a man named Joseph, who was a member of the Council, a good and righteous man (he had not consented to their plan and action), a man from Arimathea, a city of the Jews, who was waiting for the kingdom of God;”

John 19:38-39 “After these things Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but a secret one for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus; and Pilate granted permission. So he came and took away His body. Nicodemus, who had first come to Him by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds weight.”

All 3 of those gospel writers are clear that
• Joseph is a good man,
• a righteous man,
• a God-fearing man,
• And even a disciple of Jesus.
• They indicate that he was waiting for the kingdom.

Mark says he was a member of the Sanhedrin,
Luke said he did not participate in the trial of Jesus.

They also mention his fear of public confession of Jesus.
• John’s gospel makes often mention of the fear of being removed from the
synagogue for confessing Jesus.
• Both in John 9 with the parents of the man born blind, and again in John 12.

John 12:42-43 “Nevertheless many even of the rulers believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God.”

It seems that Joseph had fallen into that category.

But as Mark pointed out,
After the death of Jesus, Joseph “gathered up courage”.
• No more a secret disciple; no more a man of fear.
• Joseph, inspired by the death of Christ goes public,
• And John includes that Nicodemus did as well.

All of that is good and important information
That each gospel writer used to make their own points.

But there are two pieces of information that only Matthew includes.
• One, that Joseph was (57) “a rich man”
• And that the tomb where Joseph buried Jesus was (60) “his own new tomb”

And with that we are well-aware of what Matthew wanted us to see.

Isaiah 53:9 “His grave was assigned with wicked men, Yet He was with a rich man in His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.”

Matthew sees 2 very important truths in the burial of Jesus.
1) He is the prophetic redeeming arm of Isaiah
2) He is innocent

By pointing out that Jesus was buried in a rich man’s tomb,
He shows us that Jesus is the One Isaiah spoke of.

He is the one “with a rich man in His death”

And all of those facts we read about in Isaiah 53
About bearing our griefs and our sorrows
Are once again verified in Jesus’ burial.

So not only do you see the redemption of Jesus in His ARREST:
• Defending His own
• Submitting to the arrest, telling Peter it must happen this way
• Healing the servant’s ear

And not only do you see the redemption of Jesus in His TRIAL:
• Testifying that He will be seated at the right hand of power.
• Testifying that He is the Son of God.
• Not seeking to escape condemnation.

And not only do you see the redemption of Jesus in His CRUCIFIXION:
• Bearing God’s wrath
• Interceding for sinners
• Carrying it all the way to death

But you also now see the redemption of Jesus even in His burial:
• He is buried exactly as Isaiah 53 indicated.

Matthew shows you that.

And by showing us that, it opens the door
To another important truth about Jesus.

And that is that the burial of Jesus defends His innocence.

The innocence of Jesus is also a major theme throughout the gospels.
• Pilate publicly declares Jesus innocent 4 times.
• Herod declares Jesus innocent.
• The thief on the cross says “this Man has done nothing wrong”
• The Centurian says, “surely this Man was innocent”

AND NOW THANKS TO THE DOTS MATTHEW CONNECTS
WE ALSO SEE IT IN HIS BURIAL

“Yet He was with a rich man in His death, BECAUSE He had done no violence, nor was there any deceit in His mouth.”

Instead of being buried with the criminals of Rome,
Jesus was vindicated in his death,
• By receiving an honorable burial in a rich man’s tomb just as the prophet’s had proclaimed.

After participating in the “Messiah in the Passover” meal last Sunday night, it’s not hard to see Matthew’s evangelistic purposes as well.

Matthew includes that Jesus body was “wrapped…in a clean linen cloth”
And then hidden away in the tomb.

Now understanding
• The Jewish tradition of that second piece of matza bread,
• How it is wrapped up in linen and hidden away for a time,
• It is not hard to see the point Matthew is making to his Jewish audience.

You see all the symbolism that is important to Matthew.

And certainly we don’t overlook any of that.

Though the ultimate vindication of Jesus
Will come in 3 days when God raises Jesus from the dead,
It is not hard to see that God is already vindicating Him.

God is already declaring
• Jesus is innocent
• Jesus is Isaiah’s “arm of the LORD” who bore our griefs and carried our sorrows.
• Jesus is “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”

So from Matthew’s perspective, the burial is yet another clear indication
That Jesus is in fact our Redeemer.

So that is the first aspect Matthew shows us.

#2 CONSPIRACY
Matthew 27:62-66

Here we run up against the famous conspiracy of the Pharisees.

We read (62) “Now on the next day, the day after the preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered together with Pilate,”

Something interesting here is that this is the Sabbath.
• This is the day of rest.

Incidentally that is exactly what Jesus’ followers are doing.

Luke 23:56 “Then they returned and prepared spices and perfumes. And on the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.”

I wonder if they had any idea that they were truly resting on that day for the first time in their life? Probably not yet.

But while Jesus’ followers are resting,
The religious elite are still scheming.

What are they afraid of?

(63) “and said, “Sir, we remember that when He was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I am to rise again.’”

They are afraid of a resurrection.
• They also fear a faked resurrection in the case that the disciples might come and steal His body.
• So Pilate gives them a guard and permission to make the grave as secure as possible.

It has always been humorous to me here the amount of effort
Put into keeping Jesus dead, and even that won’t work.

Psalms 2:4-6 “He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord scoffs at them. Then He will speak to them in His anger And terrify them in His fury, saying, “But as for Me, I have installed My King Upon Zion, My holy mountain.”

This is a foolish plan, and Matthew exposes it.
They couldn’t kill Him without His help and they can’t keep Him dead.

Peter will say:
Acts 2:24 “But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power.”

BUT MATTHEW WANTS YOU TO SEE THE CONSPIRACY.

Matthew will show another one with regard to the resurrection.
Matthew 28:11-15 “Now while they were on their way, some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests all that had happened. And when they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, and said, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came by night and stole Him away while we were asleep.’ “And if this should come to the governor’s ears, we will win him over and keep you out of trouble.” And they took the money and did as they had been instructed; and this story was widely spread among the Jews, and is to this day.”

Matthew is vindicating His gospel
By showing you the roots of one of the main deceptions of his day.

He shows you what it means and then verifies that it is true
By debunking one of the chief attacks against it.

All of that to say that Christ’s burial is important.
• It matters that He died.
• It matters that He was buried.
• And certainly it will matter that He will be raised.

One other thing, people often ask:
Where did He go for those 3 days?

Well first we return to Jesus’ words on the cross:
Luke 23:43 “And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.”
• That should be a pretty definitive answer.
• Jesus went to paradise.

Where is that?

Remember earlier in Luke’s gospel?
Luke 16:22-26 “Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom; and the rich man also died and was buried. “In Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom. “And he cried out and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.’ “But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony. ‘And besides all this, between us and you there is a great chasm fixed, so that those who wish to come over from here to you will not be able, and that none may cross over from there to us.’”

• There we see the place that the Old Testament refers to as “Sheol” or the place of the dead.
• We see Abraham’s bosom or “paradise” on one side and we see the place of torment or “Hades” on the other.
• This is where Jesus went.

What did He do there?

1 Peter 3:17-20 “For it is better, if God should will it so, that you suffer for doing what is right rather than for doing what is wrong. For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water.”

Jesus declared victory.
“He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison”

He went to all of those demons who have been trapped there since the days of Noah, and any others who have joined them such as the rich man He spoke of in Luke 16.

Jesus went and declared their defeat.

They invited Him into death and that was a mistake.
They were in no way ready for His presence.

Revelation 1:17-18 “When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. And He placed His right hand on me, saying, “Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.”

Jesus, in effect, descended into death and declared “Game over!”
• He eternally condemned all that were in Hades
• He ushered all that were in Paradise into the presence of the Father.
• They are now free to be in His presence now that Christ has paid their debt.

All of the I.O.U.’s that all the Old Testament saints wrote
As they sacrificed sheep after sheep and goat after goat,
Had now been paid off.

Jesus declared victory.
He went to conquer the grave.

But now, we have set the stage.

1) Jesus has been arrested.
2) Jesus has been tried.
3) Jesus has been crucified.
4) Jesus has been buried.

And now we wait.
All of our anticipation moves now to this one point
As we await the resurrection of the Savior.

And we’ll examine that next Sunday morning.

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The Crucifixion of Jesus
Luke 23:26-49
April 13, 2025

As you know we are currently looking at the events
Surrounding the arrest, trial, crucifixion, and burial of the Lord.

TWO WEEKS AGO WE LOOKED AT HIS ARREST,
Specifically in Mark’s gospel and focused primarily on the point that
What Jesus did, He did alone.

• There is no Co-Redeemer.
• No one accompanied Him.
• No one stood with Him.
• Everyone abandoned Him.
• The battle He was fighting, He was fighting alone.

LAST WEEK WE LOOKED AT HIS TRIAL,
We saw just one part of His trial in John’s gospel
As He stood before Pilate the first time.

The point we focused on there was “Who” Jesus was doing all this for.

The answer was that He was doing it for those who are in His kingdom.

WHO IS THAT?
John 19:37b “Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”

Specifically, those in the kingdom
Are those who hear and heed the voice of Christ.

• Those in the kingdom are those who are submitted to the King.
• And for them Jesus was securing a kingdom.

Well THIS MORNING we move forward in the narrative
And look at THE CRUCIFIXION OF CHRIST,

Again, while there are many angles from which one could cover the cross,
And while there are many points that could be made,
We again want to just focus on one.

• In His ARREST we noted He did it alone.
• In His TRIAL we noted He did it for those in His kingdom.

This morning as we examine the crucifixion we want to know one thing:
WHY DID HE DO IT?

• Why did He submit to the arrest in the garden?
• Why did He consent to the trial?
• Why did He offer Himself up to be crucified?
• What was His motive?

And the answer is a simple one:
TO SAVE SINNERS

It is a familiar truth to us.
Luke 19:10 “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

John 12:47 “If anyone hears My sayings and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world.”

1 Timothy 1:15 “It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.”

That is what Jesus came to do,
That is why He offered Himself up to death.

And this morning to examine this more fully
We are going to look at LUKE’S GOSPEL.

You are aware by now that every gospel account comes with a different feel.

Luke’s reads with the most compassion, mercy, and sympathy.

At the arrest:
• Only Luke mentioned Jesus healing the ear of the man Peter attacked.
• Only Luke omitted that all the disciples fled from Jesus.
• Luke was the only one to seemingly give credit to Satan, even over and
above the evil men he was using.

At the trial:
• Only Luke mentions the eye contact Jesus made with Peter as he denied the
third time.
• Only Luke mentions that 3rd trial held at the council chamber where Jesus
willingly offered up that He was not only going to be seated at the right hand
of Power, but that He was also the Son of God.

Luke is keenly focused on the fact that Jesus, who was God,
Came to identify with sinners and that all that is happening to Him
Is a result of that identification.

Luke has tunnel vision.
He is focused on the task at hand.
He sees Jesus in His role as Savior.

As Luke shares his account of the crucifixion of Jesus,
Luke shows us a Jesus who is focused and determined
To accomplish His purpose of saving sinners.

He shows us a Jesus who never loses sight of redemption.

Through all the trials, all the beatings, all the mocking, all the brutality,
Jesus never loses sight of why He is there.

As we look at it this morning,
Let us simply marvel at the Savior
Who perfectly accomplished what He came to do.

We’re going to break this text down into 6 points.
Obviously we can’t cover every aspect of every verse looking at it like that,
But we can draw out that one main theme I want you to see.

Jesus is the Savior and He is focused on saving sinners.

#1 HE DOESN’T MOPE, HE WARNS
Luke 23:26-31

Here we pick back up with the narrative.
• The chief priests and the elders have seemingly won.
• They overpowered Pilate and Pilate has given Jesus to be crucified.
• Now Jesus is being led away with the cross on His back.

But before Luke tells us of the crucifixion, we are first told something of the caravan that is accompanying Him.

And we see a pretty remarkable object lesson.

First you see is “Simon of Cyrene”
(26) “When they led Him away, they seized a man, Simon of Cyrene, coming in from the country, and placed on him the cross to carry behind Jesus.”

• We know all about the Romans and their right to force a man to carry a load.
• We remember Jesus saying if they force you to go one mile, go two.

But just for a moment see the image that is demonstrated here.
What a visual illustration Simon becomes for us.

Here is Jesus being led to Golgotha that He might be crucified
And there is Simon behind Him carrying a cross.

I don’t know if there is a better image for Christianity than this.

Matthew 16:24 “Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.”

Simon becomes a living illustration of that calling.

At the same time, Simon’s involvement is quite a contrast to what we see from the rest of the caravan.

(27) “And following Him was a large crowd of the people, and of women who were mourning and lamenting Him.”

These aren’t followers of Jesus, these are sympathizers of Jesus.
There is a drastic difference here.
• Pilate was a sympathizer, but he was not a follower.

Knowing Jesus was innocent, and feeling remorse for His suffering
Is certainly accurate, but as a requirement of salvation
It is less than the Lord requires.

He requires those who would follow Him to take up a cross and follow.
THIS CROWD ISN’T DOING THAT.

And Jesus addresses them.
(28-31) “But Jesus turning to them said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, stop weeping for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. “For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.’ “Then they will begin TO SAY TO THE MOUNTAINS, ‘FALL ON US,’ AND TO THE HILLS, ‘COVER US.’ “For if they do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”

Jesus turns to these “Daughters of Jerusalem” and warns them.

It was only 4 days ago that Jesus first announced this:
Luke 19:41-44 “When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes. “For the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, and surround you and hem you in on every side, and they will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”

It was only a few moments ago that these people confirmed what Jesus prophesied:
Matthew 27:25 “And all the people said, “His blood shall be on us and on our children!”

And here Jesus warns them again of the judgment that is coming.

• He says that women are going to be grateful that they are barren and won’t have to watch the slaughter of their children.
• He says people are going to pray that mountains and hills will fall on them.

He is talking about the coming day of judgment
That will fall upon all those who have rejected Him.

Some will certainly say He is referring to A.D. 70
When Rome destroyed Jerusalem and that is certainly part of it.

But A.D. 70 was itself just a foreshadow
Of the real judgment that is yet to come.

Revelation 6:12-17 “I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood; and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind. The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”

There is coming a day when God will get even with His enemies.
And Jesus warns these women of that day.

Of particular concern here to Jesus
Is the spiritual blindness of this crowd.

(31) “For if they do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”

• “they” is the Jews who condemned Jesus.
• “these things” are the rebellion against God they have instigated.
• “the tree is green” indicates the obvious ministry of Jesus.
• “dry” indicates when the truth of Christ is not as easy to see.

If men can reject and crucify Christ when He is right in front of them teaching and working miracles, how will they later be led to faith in Him when He is nowhere to be found?

HE IS CONCERNED FOR THEM.

WHAT WE LEARN OF THE SAVIOR HERE!

Here we have Jesus.
• He is maligned and beaten, He is bruised and bloodied.
• These women are weeping for Him.

But He is NOT interested in garnering sympathy.
• He is not interested in an emotional uprising.

Jesus has one focus and that is saving sinners.

So even in this moment of horror as Jesus is being led to death,
He is still preaching salvation and warnings of judgment
To the crowd that condemned Him.

He is headed to Golgotha
But what concerns Him most is sinners head to hell.

How much love does He have for sinners?
Isaiah 53:8 “By oppression and judgment He was taken away; And as for His generation, who considered That He was cut off out of the land of the living For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due?”

The crowd could not see why He was dying, but He knew exactly why.

He doesn’t mope, He warns
#2 HE DOESN’T THREATEN, HE INTERCEDES
Luke 23:32-34

Here we are again confronted with Luke’s constant emphasis
That Jesus was “numbered with the transgressors”.

(32-33) “Two others also, who were criminals, were being led away to be put to death with Him. When they came to the place called The Skull, there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left.”

That is identification at its finest.
Jesus is being treated as a criminal on a cross.

This is the most horrific case of injustice and disrespect
That the world has ever seen or will ever see.

In all the times in your life when you may be disrespected or mistreated or overlooked, it will never even come close to what the Lord faced here.

And I know how we like to respond when we are so treated.
• We like to fire off about it.
• We like to broadcast it.
• We like to get in someone’s face and let them know this is wrong.
• We turn to social media and air our grievances.

But what Jesus does is nothing like that.

Please don’t fly past the most understated phrase in the Bible.
4 words
“there they crucified Him”

• Could such a monumental action really be described with such brevity?
• Is that really it?
• Scripture contains no gruesome details.
• There is no reference to all the medical implications.

Jesus Christ was nailed to a cross like a common criminal
And if you aren’t careful you can read right over it.

But have you ever wondered
• What He said as they stretched Jesus out over that wooden frame?
• What He said as the soldiers drove nails through His hands and feet?

(34) “But Jesus was saying, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”

The verb “was saying” is in the imperfect tense which indicates a repeated action.
• Jesus kept saying it.
• He is repeating it.

• He is interceding for the soldiers that throw Him on the cross.
• He is interceding for the one who drives the nails in His hands.
• He is interceding for the one who drives the nails in His feet.
• He is interceding for those who are genuinely delighted at the scene.

That is what Isaiah said:
Isaiah 53:12 “Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, And He will divide the booty with the strong; Because He poured out Himself to death, And was numbered with the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore the sin of many, And interceded for the transgressors.”

Surrounding Him are those callous soldiers.
• Driving nails in His hands and feet.
• Gambling for His clothes.
• In a moment mocking Him as He hangs on the cross.

You see that clueless crowd.
(35) “And the people stood by, looking on…”

You see those arrogant rulers sneering at Him.
Even the criminals hanging beside Him join in the attacks.

Matthew 27:44 “The robbers who had been crucified with Him were also insulting Him with the same words.”

AND JESUS INTERCEDES FOR THEM.

His reasoning before the Father?
“they do not know what they are doing.”

THIS IS NO SMALL EXPLANATION.
It actually becomes the BASIS FOR HOPE
Throughout the preaching of the apostles.

1 Timothy 1:12-13 “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service, even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief;”

Acts 3:17 “And now, brethren, I know that you acted in ignorance, just as your rulers did also.”

Acts 13:27 “For those who live in Jerusalem, and their rulers, recognizing neither Him nor the utterances of the prophets which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled these by condemning Him.”

1 Corinthians 2:8 “the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory;”

This prayer of Jesus became a great source of hope
Among those who had blown it previously in life.

That Jesus prayed for those who were ignorant.
They didn’t know what they were doing.

And Jesus asked for God’s mercy over this heinous sin.

NO, it wasn’t a prayer that guaranteed salvation for all men for all time.

But it does clearly reveal the motive of Jesus.

Even as these men are nailing Him to the cross
He does not lose sight of why it is happening.

This cross is about Him saving sinners and that is how He prays.

How much does Jesus love sinners that He would pray like this over those who are actively killing Him?

He doesn’t mope, He warns
He doesn’t threaten, He intercedes

#3 HE DOESN’T REACT HE ENDURES
Luke 23:35-39

Every other segment we will look at focuses on
Something Jesus said on the cross before He died.

But not this segment.
• In this segment Jesus is silent.
• It is His enemies who are doing all the talking.

But that is what makes it remarkable.

LISTEN TO THE VERBVAL ABUSE SURROUNDING THE CROSS

Those rulers…
• Masterminds of His arrest in the garden
• Guilty of a corrupt trial
• Hypocrites who won’t go in the Praetorium, but who will condemn an innocent Man.

(35) “He saved others; let Him save Himself if this is the Christ of God, His Chosen One.”

Listen to the soldiers
• Who literally don’t know anything about anything as it pertains to Jesus:

(37) “If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself!”

And then even the lowlife criminals…

(39) “Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!”

They are all mocking Him and daring Him to exit the cross.

Can we first just go on record as saying, “Thank You Jesus for not listening to them!”

“save Himself…save Yourself…save Yourself”
We should be grateful He didn’t.

But as they hurl abuse after abuse at Him, He remains silent.

WHY?
Because He is at work accomplishing His task.
• He is bearing scorn and reproach.
• He is identifying with sinners.

You are witnessing a most devoted Man focused on His job.
• He is not concerned about the banter.
• He is not moved by the slander.
• He is not tempted by the dares.

He came to save sinners and nothing is distracting Him from that.

1 Peter 2:21-25 “For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, WHO COMMITTED NO SIN, NOR WAS ANY DECEIT FOUND IN HIS MOUTH; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously; and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed. For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.”

Peter marveled at a Man who could be so wrongly reviled,
But who ignored it all because He was focused
On bearing our sins in His body on the cross.

He didn’t have time for a debate.
He wasn’t interested in proving Himself.

Coming down from the cross was not on His mind.

It would not have worked anyway.
Luke 16:27-31 “And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, that you send him to my father’s house— for I have five brothers—in order that he may warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’ “But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ “But he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!’ “But he said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’”

• They didn’t believe when He turned water to wine.
• They didn’t believe when He healed the paralytics.
• They didn’t believe when He gave sight to the blind.
• They didn’t believe when He opened the ears of the deaf.
• They didn’t believe when He walked on water.
• They didn’t believe when He multiplied the fish and the loaves.
• They didn’t believe when He restored withered limbs.
• They didn’t believe when He raised the dead.

Coming down off the cross would not have convinced them either.

But even that didn’t matter.
At this moment He was not there to convince sinners,
He was there to atone for them.

And nothing could distract Him from His mission.

Hebrews 12:3 “For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”

Jesus endured it all and stayed focused on His mission.

How much does He love sinners to remain so focused?

#4 HE DOESN’T NEGLECT, HE SAVES
Luke 23:40-43

Perhaps Jesus’ most famous encounter on the cross.

It is apparent that while on the cross, one of the criminals finally heard the gospel and believed it?

You ask, “Who preached the gospel to him?”
• The chief priests who said, “He saved others…”
• The Roman soldiers who said, “You are the King of the Jews…”
• Pilate who hung the sign “This is the King of the Jews” above His head…”
• Perhaps he even heard Jesus praying for the forgiveness of those who
crucified Him.

This man believed what he heard and cried out to Jesus for salvation.

“Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom!”

But let’s be honest…Jesus has His own problems.
Besides, this guy was just mocking a few moments ago.
• This man was guilty,
• This man was a criminal,
• This man had been a blasphemer,
• And Jesus was busy.

It’s like riding in an ambulance to the hospital,
But deciding to stop along the way to help a man change a tire.

But Jesus doesn’t ignore the man.

Instead, Jesus saves Him.
“Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.”

And by now you know that the only way Jesus can make that offer
Is if He agrees to take that man’s sin upon Himself.

At this point, do you want his too?
At this point, are you asking for more?

But what is Jesus focused on?
He is saving sinners.

In the midst of His greatest pain
He is still in the process of saving sinners.

He is not distracted.
He is not self-centered.

How much does He love sinners?

#5 HE DOESN’T RETREAT, HE FINISHES
Luke 23:44-46

There are certainly many details here
That Matthew and Mark include that Luke omits.

Matthew and Mark both point out that Jesus was facing the fury and the wrath of God, even crying out, “ELOI, ELOI, LAMA, SABACTHANI” which is “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

They point out that Jesus is bearing God’s wrath against sin on the cross.

Luke only alludes to it as he mentions the darkness that fell over the cross from “the sixth hour…until the ninth hour.”

And Luke only alludes to the accomplishment of the cross by pointing out that “the veil of the temple was torn in two.”

Luke instead puts his primary focus
On something else Jesus said.

(46) “And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, “Father, INTO YOUR HANDS I COMMIT MY SPIRIT.” Having said this, He breathed His last.”

Understand this for a moment.
Jesus just spent 3 hours bearing the full fury of the wrath of God on sinners.
• He has drank the cup that could not pass from Him.
• He has been treated like the sinner that each of us actually is.
• He has paid a price that every sinner can not pay in an eternity in hell.

Jesus has just been treated by God on the cross
Worse than any criminal has ever been treated.

Isaiah 53:10a “But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief…”

But understand something.
• The wages of sin is not suffering…
• The wages of sin is not blood shedding…
• The wages of sin is not shame and humiliation…

The wages of sin is DEATH
If Jesus is going to save sinners He is going to have to die.

AND THAT IS WHAT HE DOES.
He dies.

Acts 2:22-23 “Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know— this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.”

Acts 3:14-15 “But you disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, but put to death the Prince of life, the one whom God raised from the dead, a fact to which we are witnesses.”

Acts 5:30 “The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you had put to death by hanging Him on a cross.”

Acts 10:39 “We are witnesses of all the things He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They also put Him to death by hanging Him on a cross.”

Acts 13:28 “And though they found no ground for putting Him to death, they asked Pilate that He be executed.”

Romans 5:10 “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”

But before He dies
He cries out to the Father and in effect says, “I’m putting all My trust in You that even though I go into death, You will bring Me back out of it.”

• Jesus is trusting in the justice of God.
• Jesus is trusting in His own righteousness.
• Jesus is trusting in the power of God.

It’s one thing to tell someone to hold the rope
While you go down in the hole,
But here Jesus tells God to hold the rope
While He does down into death.

And then Jesus jumped right in!
Philippians 2:8 “Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

Jesus gave Himself even to death.
Hebrews 9:11-12 “But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.”

If you think praying for sinners is remarkable…
If you think suffering for sinners is remarkable…

WELL WATCH HIM HERE DYING FOR THEM.

He goes all the way!
He finishes His work!

John’s gospel says it specifically:
John 19:30 “Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.”

How much does Jesus love sinners?

#6 HE DOESN’T LOSE, HE WINS
Luke 23:47-49

At this point Jesus is dead.
• He has finished His task.
• He has carried it through to the end.
• He has loved to the max.

DOES IT WORK?

We immediately get the answer.
(47) “Now when the centurion saw what had happened, he began praising God, saying, “Certainly this man was innocent.”

Here we have a pagan that turned to a worshiper of God.

Do you realize that in a matter of just a few hours
As Jesus hung on the cross we already saw two people saved?

Jesus came to save sinners and that is what He did on the cross.

And not just the centurion…

(48) “And all the crowds who came together for this spectacle, when they observed what had happened, began to return, beating their breasts.”

The crowd is visibly shaken and disturbed by what they just witnessed.

And you say, “Yes, but that doesn’t mean they got saved there.”
• No, they didn’t.

But many of them will back in Jerusalem in 50 days for
“The Feast of Weeks” or as you know it, “Pentecost”.

On that day, Peter will bring this scene back to their minds
And call them to repentance and 5,000 will be saved.

Do you understand what Jesus was doing here?
HE WAS SAVING SINNERS.

Do you understand why?
BECAUSE JESUS LOVES SINNERS.

• He loves them even though they conspire against Him.
• He loves them even though they arrest Him.
• He loves them even though they try Him and condemn Him.
• He loves them even though they mock and scorn Him.
• He loves them even though they beat and scourge Him.
• He loves them even though they nail Him to a cross.
• He loves them even though they sneer at Him while He is dying.

And He loves them so much He goes all the way to save them.

Romans 5:6-8 “For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

JESUS CHRIST CAME TO SAVE SINNERS.

And this morning church, we rejoice in that fact because we are sinners.

Colossians 1:21-22 “And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach”

Colossians 2:13-14 “When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.”

• We are conspirers
• We are mockers
• We are blasphemers
• We are vile and disobedient thieves

But this morning we praise Jesus Christ
Because He looked beyond that and gives His life in our stead anyway.

We can do nothing but praise Him and marvel at His great love for us!

AND THIS MORNING, we do that as we celebrate the Lord’s Supper one more time before Easter.

Only this morning, instead of our regular “Time of Preparation” we are going to stand a sing a hymn of praise to Him and then partake.

LORD’S SUPPER

• Deacons come forward

Isaiah 53:1-6 “Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty That we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.”

• Give bread to deacons
• Deacon prayer
• Deacons pass out bread

Matthew 26:26 “While they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.”

• Take bread

Isaiah 53:7-12 “He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth. By oppression and judgment He was taken away; And as for His generation, who considered That He was cut off out of the land of the living For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due? His grave was assigned with wicked men, Yet He was with a rich man in His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was there any deceit in His mouth. But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand. As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, And He will divide the booty with the strong; Because He poured out Himself to death, And was numbered with the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore the sin of many, And interceded for the transgressors.”

• Give juice to deacons
• Deacon prayer
• Deacons pass out juice

Matthew 26:27-28 “And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you; for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.”