The Trial of Jesus
Mark 14:61-65 … Again the high priest was questioning Him, and saying to Him, “Are You the Christ (Messiah), the Son of the Blessed One?” And Jesus said, “I am; and You shall see The son of man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.” And tearing his clothes, the high priest said, “What further need do we have of witnesses?” You have heard the blasphemy; how does it seem to you?” And they all condemned Him to be deserving of death. And some began to spit at Him, and to blindfold Him, and to beat Him with their fists, and to say to Him, “Prophesy!” and the officers received Him with slaps in the face.
In the early morning they brought Jesus to the Roman ruler Pilate asking that Jesus be put to death. They told Pilate that Jesus claimed to be King of the Jews – an affront to the Roman king. Pilate questioned Him and couldn’t find that He had done anything wrong, but didn’t want to make the Jewish leaders upset. So he brought Jesus and a brutal murderer name Barabbas before the gathered crowd of Jews and asked who they wanted him to release (he released one prisoner every Passover). The Jewish leaders mingled into the crowd and started chanting for Jesus to be crucified. The crowd took up the chant and Jesus was condemned to die.
The Roman soldiers took Jesus into custody. They beat Him and taunted Him as the King of the Jews. They plucked out His beard, put a crown of thorns on His head and beat Him almost until He was dead with a whip. He was barely able to walk when He was forced to carry His own cross up the road to the place where they crucified people. In fact, a man – Simon of Cyrene – was pulled from the crowd to carry the cross since Jesus was so weak. (Mark 15:1-21)
Activity: Make a small wooden cross. Place the cross in a prominent place in your home. Every time you see it today, thank Jesus for going to the cross in your place.
1. Take two small sticks (or twigs from a bush) and hot glue them together into the shape of a cross.
2. Take a piece of twine and wrap it around in a crisscross pattern over the intersection. Put a dot of glue on the back to keep the twine in place. TIP: My twine was pretty thick. I took one strand out of the combination of strands that make up the twine to use for this project.
