Room 2: “The Hour Has Come!”
VERBAL WALKTHROUGH + BACKGROUND MUSIC
BACKGROUND MUSIC ONLY
1) The Arrest
As Jesus concluded his prayer in anguish and returned once again to his sleeping disciples, Jesus knew that this was the moment. “The hour has come, and the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners.”
Upon these words, one would imagine that the ruckus of human voices drew closer and closer. The orange glow of torches brightened the previously darkened Mount of Olives as a large crowd armed with swords and clubs approached menacingly.
2) Betrayal with A Kiss
In their midst, was a face so familiar to the Lord, a disciple who has followed him for the past three and half years, Judas whom the Lord regarded as a friend.
Yet, Jesus’s arrest exacerbated the loneliness and abandonment Jesus just experienced with his three sleeping disciples. Now, one of the twelve disciples closest to him betrayed him in the most intimate way possible, with a kiss.
As the gang of vigilantes arrested Jesus, the wound of Judas’ betrayal was further torn asunder as the rest of the disciples who moments ago vowed never to deny Christ, even when faced with death, deserted him and fled.
“The one I kiss is the man; arrest him.”
(Matthew 26:48)
3) Peter Denies Jesus
Furthermore, when Simon Peter was identified as a follower of Jesus, he not only denied him once, twice but thrice as he swore oaths totally disavowing himself of any relationship with Christ: “I don’t know the man!”
“But he denied it. “Woman, I don’t know him,” he said.”
(Luke 22:57)
4) Trial by Sanhedrin
The high priest tore his clothes. “Why do we need any more witnesses?” he asked.
“You have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?” They all condemned him as worthy of death.
(Mark 14:63-64)
5) Stricken for Our Inequities
At the coming of the hour, Jesus not only experienced abandonment by his disciples, betrayal by Judas, condemnation by the Sanhedrin, and denials by Peter, he subsequently suffered immense physical pain and humiliation. The flogging that Jesus received at the hands of the Roman soldiers was no ordinary caning!
“One physician who has studied Roman beatings said, As the flogging continued, the lacerations would tear into the underlying skeletal muscles and produce quivering ribbons of bleeding flesh… the sufferer’s veins were laid bare, and the very muscles, sinews, and bowels of the victim were open to exposure… At the least, the victim would experience tremendous pain and go into hypovolemic shock.”
Lee Strobel, The Case for Christ (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2017), 212.
“So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.”
(Mark 15:15)
6) The Crown of Thorns
Why did Jesus, an innocent man, the Son of God, have to go through this emotional and physical suffering? Isaiah 53:4 tells us beyond a shadow of a doubt: “Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted.”
“They put a purple robe on him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him.”
(Mark 15:17)
