Jesus' Last Days
The Last Supper Matthew 26:17-30
; Mark 14: 12-26
The disciples asked Jesus, "Where do you want us
to get ready to eat the Passover meal?"
Jesus answered them in a strange way. He said,
"Go into the city and you will find a certain
man there. Tell him that the Master says that
his time is at hand. Tell him that the Master
wants to keep the Passover with his disciples at
his house. The man will understand."
Peter and John went into the city. As they
walked along the street, they saw a man
carrying a jar of water. (This was how Jesus
said Peter and John would know the man.)
Peter and John followed the man to a house.
Then they talked to the owner of the house
about a room for the supper. They said that
the Master wanted to eat the Passover there.
He showed them a large upper room. The room
was furnished and they began to get
everything ready for the Passover Feast.
Then Peter and John waited for Jesus and the
other disciples.
As they ate the meal, Jesus told about the things
that were about to happen.
He blessed the bread and broke it. Then he gave it to them.
He said, "Take, eat, this is my body."
He gave thanks for the drink in the cup.
He said, "This is my blood which is shed for you."
Praying in the Garden Matthew 26:36-45
; Luke 22:39-52
Not long after Jesus and his disciples ate the Passover
supper together, one of the disciples,
Judas Iscariot, betrayed Jesus to the priests and
rulers of the Temple. These men had
been looking for a chance to arrest him. Jesus
knew this would happen. In fact,
he had told the disciples that he would be betrayed
by one of them.
Jesus had told the disciples that he would leave
them, that he would be put to death,
and that he was going back to live with the Father.
He also had told them the Father
would send another helper to them, the Holy Spirit.
But the disciples did not fully
understand what he was saying.
After Jesus and the disciples left the room where
they had eaten the Passover
supper, they went to the Mount of Olives and
into the Garden of Gethsemane.
Jesus asked the disciples to wait, and he went farther
into the garden to pray.
Judas had left earlier by himself. After some
time, Jesus came back to the disciples
who had gone to sleep. He was very sad and
he went to pray three times, but the
disciples were too tired to stay awake.
He woke them up, and as they were talking, Judas
came up to them. He was with
some of the rulers from the Temple. Judas,
when he saw Jesus, ran ahead and kissed
him. This was the signal to the soldiers to
identify Jesus. The soldiers who were
there, came to take Jesus. Peter at first
wanted to fight, but Jesus told him, "No."
Jesus agreed to go with the men.
The Trial Matthew 26: 47-67;
Matthew 27:11-26
The soldiers took Jesus to Caiaphas, the high priest.
There he had a trial. The priests
and rulers agreed that he was guilty of claiming
to be God's son. They did not believe
that he was. They agreed that he should be
put to death.
Under the Roman law, however, the Jewish leaders could
not condemn a person to
death. So the Jewish rulers took Jesus to
Pilate, the Roman governor. Pilate could
find no reason for putting Jesus to death, but after
a long time, he told the Jewish
rulers to do what they wanted to do with Jesus.
The soldiers made fun of Jesus. They called
him a king, but they didn't believe that he
was. They put a crown of thorns on his head
and a staff in his hand. They put a
scarlet (red) robe on him and spit on him.
And they whipped him.
Jesus Dies Matthew 27:32-65;
John 19:1-37
The soldiers took Jesus away to a hill called Golgotha
or Calvary.
. There they crucified him and
put him to death on a wooden cross.
But even while he was on the cross, he forgave those who were crucifying him.
He said, "Father, forgive them. They don't know what they are doing."
Even while Jesus was on the cross, people came to
know he was the Son of God.
One of these was a thief who was being crucified
on a cross next to Jesus. Another
who believed was a Roman soldier who was watching.
There was a great earthquake. When the soldier
heard the earthquake and saw the things that were happening,
he became afraid and said, "Truly this was the Son of God!"
When Jesus died, the thick curtain in the Temple
was torn apart. It ripped from the top
to the bottom. This curtain had separated
two rooms. In one room only the high priest
could go, and in the other room, others could go.
When Jesus died, he made it possible
for all people to go to God and worship him without
anyone else in between. Jesus
is now our high priest.
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