Easter is one of my favorite holidays. For me, Easter always symbolizes the start of spring. New life begins emerging, and the world feels a little brighter and more beautiful. But more than that, Easter is a time when I reflect on an event that happened 2,000 years ago on a hill called Calvary. The day the people of Jerusalem nailed Jesus to a cross--our Savior, our only hope. Life itself died for us. The Bible paints a touching yet a graphic picture of all that Jesus went through, and we can't help but imagine being there and watching everything take place. When I read about all the gruesome things that happened to Jesus, my mind always goes to the disciples. They were with Jesus for three years. They lived with Him, shared meals with Him, laughed together, and told stories together--they were His closest friends. Yet in Jesus' greatest hour of need, His disciples deserted Him (Mark 14:50). Peter denied Jesus, Judas flat out betrayed Him, and I'd imagine that the others tried to keep their distance.
I can't help but wonder what the disciples were thinking. When they saw Jesus being tortured, they clearly didn't want the same thing to happen to them. But what else was going through their minds? Through all the fog and confusion, they probably began to doubt that Jesus was really the Messiah. They probably questioned why they had spent three years with this man, only for Him to get beaten and killed. There must have been so many questions, fears, and doubts. And the ever-present thought of, "Am I going to be next?"
Today, I want to take a deep dive into the death and resurrection of Jesus. With three songs each about the three days in the story--the death, burial, and resurrection--I want to take us all on a journey to Jerusalem. I want us to get inside the mind of Jesus and His disciples to see what the death and resurrection of Jesus mean for us. The death and resurrection of Jesus changed everything, and it still holds so much power and weight in our world today. The bottom line of it is this: Jesus died so we could have life. Let's see how He made that possible.
Day 1: "Behold The Lamb" by Passion
The day Jesus died was a day unlike any other. It was difficult for those who loved Him, and it was alarming for those nearby who witnessed the events of His death. But more than anything, it was a day of deep sorrow. It was the day that the greatest man who ever lived experienced the greatest pain anyone could ever feel. Crucifixion was a cruel kind of execution that was invented sometime between 300-400 B.C. It was the most humiliating and painful death you could imagine. When someone did something horrible, they were crucified in a public place as a warning to the people. Everyone could see the person nailed to a cross hanging there, struggling to breathe and stay alive. It was truly agonizing.
We know that Jesus wasn't a criminal. But some viewed Him as one, especially in the leading religious circles. They accused Him of blasphemy since He claimed to be the Messiah, and they sentenced Him to death. The people of Jerusalem demanded that He be crucified, and that's exactly what they did. On the day we call Good Friday, they nailed our Savior to a cross. Not only that, but He was also mocked, spit on, and beaten. He was humiliated in front of everyone.
What was it like for Him? He went through such agonizing pain and nails were driven into His hands. His closest friends left Him, and there was no one left to save Him. Of course, we're talking about Jesus. He easily could've gotten off the cross or decided to be killed in some other way. But it had to be this way. He had to feel all of this pain--both emotional and physical pain--so we could be redeemed.
I've wondered before why Jesus had to be killed. Everyone always says that "Jesus died for our sins," but how does that work exactly? Maybe you've wondered the same thing, but you've been afraid to ask. Passion has a song called "Behold The Lamb," and the title itself answers our question. To the Jewish people, the Messiah being slain for our sins would have made perfect sense. In their tradition, they would bring a lamb into the Temple as a sacrifice, as a way to ask God for the forgiveness of their sins. In the same way, Jesus had to be sacrificed for our sins--the sins of the whole world.
That's how much Jesus loves us. He chose to become sin for us. He chose to die so that we could have life. He chose to be abandoned by God, so we would never have to be. And when He breathed His last and cried, "It is finished," the curtain of the Temple tore in two. The veil separating us from God was split right down the middle. We now had freedom and access, all because Jesus paid the ultimate price for our sins. Even after all we've done, even after all of our sins, "Even still/You bore our shame, and paid the cost," in the words of Passion.
But there's still more to the story. What's going to happen next? Is death going to have the final say in this story? No. Soon, death is going to die. It might be dark now, but the story is still being written. Sunday is coming.
"See Him there, the great I Am/A crown of thorns upon His head/The Father's heart displayed for us/Oh God, we thank You for the cross."
Day 2: "Last Words" by Jon Foreman
Death is a difficult thing to grasp. Losing someone you love is never easy. Over the past few years, I've lost two of my grandparents. Although we were separated by miles and didn't get to spend much time together, it still hurts when you see your family members grieving their loss. It's painful thinking of the years gone by and the words you could've said to them. You begin to think of the memories you got to make together and even the last words they spoke to you. In a way, I imagine the disciples felt the same way.
Day two, Holy Saturday, as some call it, possibly felt the most devastating for the disciples. The Bible only records one event from that day. The Pharisees recalled that while Jesus was still alive, He said, "After three days I will rise again" (Mark 9:31). So they were going to do everything they could to secure the tomb. Not necessarily so Jesus couldn't get out, but so the disciples couldn't get in. They were afraid that they would steal Jesus' body and spread a rumor that He had been raised from the dead. In Matthew 27:65, Pilate says to the Pharisees, "Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how." So they got a guard and fixed it, so there was no possible way anyone was getting in or out. At that point, the disciples were probably beginning to succumb to the idea that all hope was lost.
Sure, Jesus said He was going to rise again. But after all of this? There couldn't be anyway. Even if He came back from the dead, the tomb was sealed. It was closed shut. It was over. We may seem baffled by the fact that the disciples were so slow to understand what was going on. Even the Pharisees remembered that Jesus said after three days, He would rise again. But we must keep in mind that the disciples were just like us. Human. If we were in their shoes, we would be dealing with the same exact fears and doubts that they were. I'm sure at that moment, they were just trying to make sense of their current situation. They were dealing with sorrow and trying to understand what would come next.
Jon Foreman has a song called "Last Words," and it deals with all of these feelings of grief. When I listen to it, I'm reminded of the people and things that I've lost. But recently, I listened to the song with the disciples in mind. With this moment of history in mind--Holy Saturday. There's a line in the song that says, "I was looking for some kind of friend, some kind of mercy/But the one that I wanted the most haunts and deserts me." That's what the disciples were seeking. All they wanted was a friend, and they needed the mercy of their Savior. They found all of that in Jesus, yet He died. They probably recounted all of the memories they had made together and the last words He had spoken to them. It might have brought momentary comfort, but they just wanted to be together with Him again. "What is the future going to bring?" they must have questioned. "Is there any hope left?" must have been the thought on everyone's mind.
Even though they couldn't yet understand, we now know that the tomb isn't the end of the story. There was so much more coming. Death was about to be defeated. The story was still being written. Sunday is coming.
"All of the times that we've had, they go to my head/I'm spinning in images left, words left unsaid/I'm mourning the mornings I'm missing with you, instead/I'm losing you."
Day 3: "The Commission" by CAIN
I don't think the disciples woke up on day three thinking, "Today will be a great day!" I bet they still felt pretty hopeless. By day three, Jesus would've been really dead. If there was any hope for a resurrection, I'm sure the disciples were getting a bit impatient. Not to mention afraid--they were probably still terrified that they would be the next ones to be killed. But there was a rumor going around. A woman named Mary Magdalene came to the disciples early in the morning on the third day to share some exciting news. She had seen Jesus. He was alive! But when she had come, they were all still mourning and weeping. And they didn't believe that He was actually alive (Mark 16:11). They were probably praying for a miracle like this, but it all sounded too good to be true. Jesus had suffered so much, and His body was placed in a sealed tomb. Could He really be alive?
It wasn't long before Jesus revealed Himself to His disciples. They were eating when He showed up, and He rebuked them for "their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen Him after He had risen" (Mark 16:14 [NIV]). Oh, and then He asked them for some food. Yep, Jesus was back. He was alive and well. He didn't have too much longer with them though, because He was planning on going back home to his Father in heaven. But first, He had something to tell them. In Mark 16:15 (NIV), Jesus gave them a commission: "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation." Jesus had died and come back to life, but the story still wasn't over. The story is still being written, and it all begins with us. We're the ones who get to carry this gospel message into all the world. We're the ones who, like Mary Magdalene, get to spread the incredible news.
Death has been defeated. Our Savior is alive. There is absolutely nothing that He can't do. Just like the disciples were Jesus' closest friends, Jesus is our friend too. The same Jesus who took all of our sins onto Himself wants to know us personally. And He wants us to tell the world about Him. CAIN has a beautiful song called "The Commission," and it's all about this moment when Jesus tells His friends to go spread the message of the gospel into the world. There's a line in the song that says, "I've conquered death and I hold the keys/Where I go you will go too, someday/But there's much to do here before you leave/Go tell the world about me."
Each one of us has been tasked to tell the world about Jesus. He has done incredible things for us. He defeated death and darkness and made a way for us to access eternal life. He died so we could have life. And now, we get to tell others about the beautiful life we get to have forever with Jesus. He is sending all of us on an adventure. He has commissioned each of us to be a light in this dark world so that others may come to know Him and the incredible forgiveness He offers. It all begins with us. The story is still being written.
"Go tell the world about me/I was dead but now I live/I've gotta go now for a little while/But goodbye is not the end."
Grace Chaves has been a fan of all things Christian music since 2016. She is NRT's news editor, and one of NRT's youngest writers. Homeschooled, Grace is an author, loves Jesus, concerts, and road trips.
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