WordLive - Year OneSample

Prepare: Think about when you’ve seen someone badly treated or bullied. How did you respond? ‘And they crucified him’ (v 24): a short statement of the greatest possible significance to humankind. Yet many of those watching were utterly blind to the meaning of the event. ‘Save yourself!’ The chief priests stood mocking quietly, satisfied that their plan to get rid of their rival had worked (v 31). But why did the passers-by hurl insults at Jesus (v 29)? Were they infected with the violence of the act? Did they remember Jesus’ claims and feel let down, embarrassed that they had believed them? They challenged Jesus to save himself (v 30), like the temptation to turn stones into bread, to put his own needs before the will of God (Matthew 4:1–4). Because he was determined to save others – indeed, the very people who insult, beat and crucify him – Jesus couldn’t and wouldn’t save himself. A different kind of king Although the trial was a farce, the written notice of the charge against Jesus was true (v 26). This was a very different kind of king, one who took the punishment and died for the people. Not everyone failed to recognise the Lord. Simon, on his way to worship, was stopped and compelled to perform the most important act of his life: he became the first person to follow Jesus’ command to take up our cross and follow him (v 21; 8:34). He almost certainly became a believer, as his sons Rufus and Alexander are known to the community. Respond: Reflect on how God might be asking you to take up your cross and follow him. http://www.wordlive.org/Session/Classic/2012-04-05