Jesus' Death
The things Jesus said were too radical!! He upset a lot of people.
A lot of people wanted to keep control of God and weren't happy that Jesus said everyone could have a relationship with God, even "sinners". In particular, the religious leaders didn't like being told that even they were sinful.
Jesus was put on trial. He was accused of blasphemy - speaking about God in a disrespectful way.
Even though there was no evidence for his crimes public opinion was against him. The crowd were incited to
bully the Justice and force his execution.
Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor, could have
allowed Jesus to go free, but he went with public opinion. He let the crowd dictate what should be done.
Jesus was falsely convicted and sentenced to death. He was whipped and beaten. He was used and
abused by the Roman guards for their pleasure and after hours of torture was dragged through the streets of Jerusalem,
carrying his own cross. He was so tired from his ordeal that he collapsed several times.
Eventually he arrived outside the city at a place called Golgotha – meaning “the place of the scull”. Once there he was stripped naked
and nailed to the crucifix where he was hung until he was dead.
A person who was being crucified took a very long time to die. Eventually the muscles in the arms gave up and the person
suffocated themselves as they were no longer able to support their own weight. Once Jesus appeared to be dead he was stabbed him with a spear to make sure.
Jesus' body was taken down and placed into a tomb on the Friday. Understandably everyone thought this was the end of their time with Jesus, ending in the most horrific way...
