Scripture Reading:

John 19

Please comment below with your conversation with God and/or insights from today’s Scriptures.

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1. What are your overall thoughts about the chapter?

2. What part of this chapter did you most resonate with?

3. What is your prayer to God brought on by this chapter?

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Chapter Notables:

1. Jesus sentenced to be crucified - verses 1-15

2. Jesus crucified - verses 16-27

3. Jesus dies - verses 28-37

4. Jesus buried - verses 38-42

Unto Death | Lemuel Ayudtud

There’s probably nothing worse than being sentenced to death for something you’ve never done. Imagine being an innocent man, arrested, prosecuted, and sentenced to death knowing that what you were accused of we’re all lies.

There have been many people in history who have endured such incredible torment and torture, being sentenced to death for things they’ve not done. Even in our own recent history, here in America, there are probably a few that currently line death row who are innocent. The DPIC estimates that from 1973 until now, about 173 innocent people have been sentenced to death and killed in the United States. 49 years are many, but even one innocent man dying is plenty even in 100 years.

We can be certain that all 173 men or women who have died in the hands of the US government innocently have their heartbreaking story, but the death of Jesus remains the most significant in all of human history.

Jesus also died an innocent man. He was tried and convicted for the sake of the Jewish nation. We understand today that His death spills over onto us non-Jews, but when the high priest brought Him to be judged by Pilate, Caiaphas delivered Him as answer to their dilemma. To Caiaphas Jesus was judged and sentenced to death to quell the movement that had begun by His presence and miraculous work. A movement that was shaking up the old religious traditions and the economy attached to it. To the Jewish leaders they were going to lose the ways of Moses if Jesus wasn’t put away.

But the death of Jesus represents to all of us not only the theological significance that brought salvation, it also shows to us the hearts of men who are hardened to the truth who would rather silence it than hear it openly. We understand that Jesus’ death was fulfillment of prophecy, but it also show us the importance of standing for the truth even in the face of certain death.

There are people today (as there were back then) who would rather believe a lie than submit to the truth that is in front of their face. The hatred that Jesus said we would face as believers and followers of Him is reflected in the actions of the priests and the Jewish leaders who caused Jesus to be put to death. In His death Jesus shows us an example of what we have to do when we are faced with people who reject the truth and hate it.

In America there are some believers who love to think that they are being persecuted today. Because the government hindered us to meet, or the Bible was removed out of school, or Christian business owners have serve all their customers equally, among other things; these believers are adamant that persecution is in America. It seems in the West where liberty and availability to worship and to gather are enjoyed, we are in love with the notion that we are being persecuted for our faith’s sake.

But if Western believers would just read or watch international news and realize how believers are under penalty of death or imprisonment for the exercise of their faith in other parts of the world, then maybe we’ll be embarrassed to actually call any of the things that we’ve experienced or experiencing “persecution“. It might be inconvenient or troublesome, but it’s hardly what Jesus, the Apostles, or even our brothers across the world have faced or faces today.

And maybe that’s it, right? We in the Western society don’t like to be inconvenienced. We don’t want to be told what we can and what we can’t do. We have this notion that inconvenience equals persecution or trial or trouble. But when I read about Jesus and those even in our day who are facing true persecution, I rejoice at the liberty that we have and pray for those who don’t have the same. The disciples of the Lord were nailed to a cross upside down; John the Beloved was said to have been boiled in oil and James was said to have been beheaded. Those were not inconveniences.

I suppose the death of Jesus also shows to us that full faith in the truth require sacrifices beyond inconveniences. We must lay our lives down for the truth that we know. Jesus willingly gave His life. Pilate told Him, “Don’t You know I can release You?” Jesus told him the truth, subsequently condemning Himself to death, “There’s nothing you can do to Me that is not been allowed from above.” (My paraphrase.)

The Lord showed to us in Calvary that as the Son of God He laid His life down even when He had the power not to. Sometimes the word of God is hard. Sometimes it’s complex. Sometimes it’s like death. But maybe that’s what we need: we need to die.

1. Not a physical death where we stop breathing, but death to ourselves.

2. Death to our own will and desires.

3. Death to our own ambitions that make us turn from God.

4. Death to own own reasoning and complaints and excuses.

5. When all we want to do is live for ourselves—thinking or wondering if we even need to do all of “this”—we need to lay our ways of living down and listen to the Spirit of God.

6. We must embrace the death of who we think we are to see His true power in us.

While Jesus gave His life for my sake, sometimes I can’t even be inconvenienced for Him. Truth be told, sometimes I can’t even lay down my convenience for the sake of prayer and Bible reading. Sometimes I can’t even sacrifice an hour or two in fellowship with other believers. Sometimes my own words judge me saying, “I’m a follower of Jesus,” but only when it’s convenient or when it takes very little sacrifice. But true sacrifices have to be made, not thinking our inconveniences are hard but as part of being a lover and follower of Jesus. Revelation 12:11 constantly resonates in me about my level of sacrifice. It reads:

“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.”

Lord, thank You for Your death at Calvary. Thank You for Your precious sacrifice on the cross. I am saved today because You died for me. I live today because You sacrificed. Lord, help me to do the same for You. Whereas I want to live comfortably yet still bear Your name, help me to accept that sometimes it’s not gonna be like dying.

Help me to sacrifice my mornings so I could spend some time with You in prayer. Help me with the simple decision to read Your word daily. Help me to die to my anger and my hurt and my unforgiveness. Help me to embrace the sacrifice on my time, my talents, my treasure, my wants, or my conveniences so that You may be glorified in me.

Give me the grace to not yield to sin. Give me the grace to go where and when You lead me. Give me the grace to love those who reject, use, and even hate me for Your Name’s sake. Change my heart about sacrifices. Help me to view Your cross above my concerns and cares. And, Father, give me the courage, that even in the face of death, I would willingly lay my life down for You. In Your Name Jesus I pray, amen.