After watching his Master’s arrest, Peter gained access through his fellow disciple John to the courtyard of the home of the high priest Caiaphas (John 18:15–17; see also Caiaphas’s profile at Matt. 26:3). Normally Peter would have paid little attention to a young female doorkeeper. But after hearing about events taking place inside, Peter must have feared for his life. He denied to the servant girl that he had any connection with Jesus, telling an outright lie (Luke 22:56, 57).
This scene contrasts with Peter’s encounter after the Resurrection with another doorkeeper, the servant girl Rhoda (Acts 12:1–17). This time Peter was unafraid. And the young woman was joyfully astonished at the sight of the disciple, who had been miraculously sprung from jail. Peter had by then confessed his denial of Jesus. And he had received the Holy Spirit, who made him bold enough to stand up to his religious opponents (4:5, 6, 18–21).
Like Peter, we may be afraid of the consequences of identifying with Jesus. But the Holy Spirit can fill us with courage to be honest (see “You Shall Receive Power” at Acts 1:8). He can move us past our fears so that we can speak up even in our most vulnerable moments.
Go to the Focus Index.
As Jesus came to trial, Herod Antipas finally had a face-to-face opportunity to meet an archrival. After being manipulated into executing John the Baptist (Matt. 14:1–12; Mark 6:17–28), the king was frightened when Jesus came on the scene. He even worried that John had come back to life (Luke 9:7–9). Jesus’ enemies tried to exploit that fear without success (13:31–33). For more on Herod and his scandalous family, see “The Herods” at Acts 12:1, 2.
Go to the Insight Index.
To execute Jesus the Romans employed one of the most painful methods of torture ever devised. Crucifixion was a custom of many ancient nations, including Assyria, Media, and Persia. The idea may have come from the practice of hanging the bodies of the executed on stakes (see “The Bloody City” at Nah. 3:1). The public display discouraged civil disobedience and mocked defeated enemies (Gen. 40:19; 1 Sam. 31:8–13).
Ancient sources do not indicate precisely when or how execution on a stake or cross came about or how it was carried out. But the Assyrians killed captured enemies by forcing their living bodies down onto pointed stakes. This barbaric cruelty was technically not crucifixion but impalement.
Ezra 6:11 shows that the Persians continued to use impalement as a method of execution (see “A Grim Method of Execution” at Esth. 2:23). Mentions of “hanging” in Esther 2:23 and 5:14 probably refer to either impalement or crucifixion. Rope hangings were not used in Persia during the biblical era. The word translated gallows refers not to a scaffold but to a pole or stake.
No one knows when or where the crossbeam was added, but crucifixion on a stake or cross was practiced by the Greeks, notably Alexander the Great, who hung two thousand people on crosses as he destroyed the city of Tyre. During the time between Greek and Roman control of Palestine, the Jewish ruler Alexander Jannaeus crucified eight hundred Pharisees who opposed him. But even at the time these executions were condemned as detestable and abnormal, a judgment echoed later by the Jewish historian Josephus.
From the early days of the Roman Republic, death on the cross was the standard method of execution for rebellious slaves and bandits. The punishment was rarely inflicted on Roman citizens, however. The practice continued well beyond the New Testament period as a supreme punishment for military and political crimes such as desertion, spying, rebellion, and sedition. Following the conversion of Emperor Constantine (see here for an article on the life of Constantine), the cross became a sacred symbol and its use as a means of execution was abolished.
Crucifixion involved attaching the victim with nails through the wrists or with leather cords to a crossbeam attached to a vertical stake. Blocks or pins were sometimes added to the stake to provide support as a victim hung from the crossbeam. At other times the victim’s feet were nailed to the vertical stake. Only by supporting himself on the block or pin or pushing himself upward on his nailed feet could he draw breath. After hours of dangling by his arms, exhaustion set in, and without the strength to push himself upward, death by asphyxiation often followed, sometimes several days later. To hasten death, executioners sometimes broke a victim’s legs with a club.
To the Jews, crucifixion was the most dreadful form of execution: “He who is hanged is accursed of God” (Deut. 21:23). Yet the Jewish Council sought and obtained Roman authorization to have Jesus crucified (Mark 15:13–15). The apostle Paul summed up the crucial importance of His manner of death when he wrote, “We preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Cor. 1:23, 24). Out of the horror and agony of crucifixion, God accomplished the greatest good of all—the salvation of all who would look to Jesus lifted high upon a cross (John 3:14–16).
More: Crucifixion was designed to maximize the victim’s pain. See “Death by Crucifixion” at Is. 53:7. The artist, missionary, and devotional writer Lilias Trotter stated that because of the Cross, death has become the gate of life. See here for an article on the life of Lilias Trotter. In The Normal Christian Life, Watchman Nee wrote that when Christ died on the cross, we died with him; our sinful nature is therefore crucified, making new life possible. This “normal Christian life” comes about when we fully grasp what Jesus accomplished on our behalf and endeavor to live a life reflective of His selfless love. See here for an article on the life of Watchman Nee.
Go to the Insight Index.
Welcoming Women into the Kingdom
Luke mentions early in his account that women were included among Jesus’ followers (see “The Women Who Followed Jesus” at Luke 8:1–3). From everything we know about first-century Jewish culture, their presence probably offended many men.
Jewish tradition frowned upon women studying with rabbis. Some rabbis considered it sinful to teach women the Law. Women were permitted in synagogues, but custom required them to sit apart from the men. Menstruation rendered them ritually unclean (Lev. 15:19), and women were often blamed for men’s sexual offenses. To curtail temptation, Jewish men were forbidden to speak to women in public, including their own wives. They were never to touch a woman in public either.
Not only did Jesus talk with women in public (John 4:27), He dared to take them by the hand (Mark 5:41). He encouraged a woman who sought out His teaching, even when it conflicted with her household duties (Luke 10:42). And as He tried to help the crowds understand the kingdom of God, He used illustrations relevant to women as well as to men.
Though excluded from the temple’s inner courts, Jewish women were welcome among Jesus’ followers. He showed that rules of “clean” and “unclean” no longer determined who could approach God. He had come to open a new way, and everyone was welcome to enter by it.
More: Find out more about the significant role of women in Jesus’ life and work in “The Women Around Jesus” at John 19:25. Women helped communicate the gospel throughout the Roman world. See “Women and the Growth of Christianity” at Phil. 4:3 and “Women in the Early Church” at Rom. 16:12. To learn about some influential female believers over the centuries, including the first woman to be published in the New World (Anne Bradstreet), see the Life Studies index.
Go to the Focus Index.
Jesus pointed out that the Scriptures were all about Him, “beginning at Moses and all the Prophets.” As two of His disciples grieved the loss of their Teacher and struggled to make sense of the events of the past days, He opened their eyes to how the Old Testament—the only inspired Scriptures in existence at that time—foretold His coming as the Messiah.
Jesus could have cited hundreds of Old Testament texts. But He very likely lingered in Isaiah. No other Old Testament prophet made as many references to the coming Messiah as did Isaiah. Notice his emphasis on the Messiah as a suffering servant, a role that Jesus fulfilled:
Isaiah’s Prophecy Fulfilled in Christ
The Suffering Servant | Jesus |
Jesus “came to His own, and His own did not receive Him” (John 1:11; 12:37, 38). | |
Pilate had Jesus scourged; Roman soldiers placed a crown of thorns on His head, struck Him on the head with a stick, and spat on Him (Mark 15:15, 17, 19). In being crucified, Jesus had been nailed to the cross through His hands and feet, and a Roman soldier had pierced His side with a spear (John 19:34; 20:25). | |
Would voluntarily accept the pain, suffering, and death that sinners deserve (Is. 53:7, 8) | As the Good Shepherd, Jesus laid down His life for His sheep (John 10:11; 19:30). |
Would make atonement for sin through His blood (Is. 52:15) | Believers are redeemed and saved through the blood of Christ (1 Pet. 1:18, 19). |
Would take upon Himself the grief of human sin and sorrow (Is. 53:4, 5) | Jesus was “delivered up because of our offenses” (Rom. 4:25); He “bore our sins in His own body on the tree,” and by His stripes we were healed (1 Pet. 2:24, 25). |
Would die on behalf of “the iniquity of us all” (Is. 53:6, 8) | God made Jesus “who knew no sin to be sin for us” (2 Cor. 5:21). |
Would die in order to make “intercession for the transgressors” (Is. 53:12) | Jesus was crucified between two robbers, one on His right and the other on His left (Mark 15:27, 28; Luke 22:37). He is the one “Mediator between God and men” (1 Tim. 2:5). |
Would be buried in a rich man’s tomb (Is. 53:9) | Joseph of Arimathea placed the body of Jesus in his own tomb (John 19:38–42). |
Would bring salvation to those who believe in Him (Is. 53:10, 11) | Jesus promised that whoever believes in Him will not perish but will have everlasting life (John 3:16). |
Would be “exalted and extolled and be very high” (Is. 52:13) | God has “highly exalted [Jesus] and given Him the name” of Lord, to whom “every knee should bow” (Phil. 2:9–11). |
Go to the Insight Index.
Jesus came back from the dead to give His followers a final word. His instructions have come to be known as the Great Commission because Jesus charged His followers with a mighty task. All four narrators of His life provide a version of this mandate (Matt. 28:18–20; Mark 16:15, 16; Luke 24:45–49; John 20:21–23; Acts 1:6–8). Jesus gives all of His followers the responsibility and privilege of telling the Good News of forgiveness and eternal life to all who will listen. All around us there are people who need to know what Christ has done for them and what He is doing today. We cannot afford to deprive them of the news that changes everything.
Go to the Focus Index.