Easter at MDWK 2025

INTRO

Tonight I want to spend just a few minutes looking at the most important week in history…

holy week

This week isn’t just important for Christians, it is important for everyone because it has affected history like no other event before or after it

There is so much that happens in this week that it would take a whole year to cover it so tonight I want to solely focus on what happens Friday-Sunday as that is the part of the week we are headed into

TENSION

Before we start looking at what happened on Friday and Sunday let me first catch you up on all that took place throughout the rest of the week leading up to these days

Sunday – Jesus makes His triumphal entry in into Jerusalem

Monday – Jesus cleanses the temple from moneychangers for the second time

Tuesday – Jesus teaches in the temple

Wednesday – Jesus rest in Bethany and Judas agrees to betray Jesus

Thursday – Judas betrays Jesus and He is arrested in the garden of Gethsemane

Tonight, we are going to pick up on Friday in which Jesus’ trial is going to begin

TRUTH

Jesus’ trial was a complicated one as he was passed around to many people who were supposed to oversee His trial but he ultimately ended up standing before Pilot who actually thought Jesus was innocent

Because of that Pilate thought he found a loophole by using a tradition at that time which was that every year at Passover Pilot would let one of the Jewish prisoners, so Pilot makes the crowd decide

Matthew 27:15–16 CSB

At the festival the governor’s custom was to release to the crowd a prisoner they wanted. At that time they had a notorious prisoner called Barabbas.

The crowd has a decision to make free Jesus who is sinless and done nothing wrong or Barabbas who is a rebel and murder

This seems like an easy decision… don’t you think?

Matthew 27:21–23 CSB

The governor asked them, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?” “Barabbas!” they answered. Pilate asked them, “What should I do then with Jesus, who is called Christ?” They all answered, “Crucify him!” Then he said, “Why? What has he done wrong?” But they kept shouting all the more, “Crucify him!”

The choose Barabbas!!!

And not only that but want Jesus crucified

The same crowd who 5 days ago was shouting “hosana” at Jesus arrival into Jerusalem is now shouting “crucify him” at the top of their lungs

They are so passionate that as Pilot looks around and he thinks that they might begin to riot so He does what they said

They send Jesus to be crucified but before they crucify Him, they have Him scourged… beaten

And when they beat Jesus, they don’t go easy on Him….

They strip Him naked

whip Him with the cat o nine tails 39 times

crown Him with a crown of thrones

mock Him as the king of the Jews

punch Him in the face

and spit on Him

Then make Him carry a 100lbs cross

unable to do it after all of the beating they get a man named Simeon to help

And at 9am they begin to nail Jesus to the cross with 7-inch nails

Then would pick it up and drop it in the hole which would dislocate his shoulders making Him unable to pick Himself up to breathe

The cross was the ultimate machine of suffocation

To breathe, the victim was forced to push up on his feet to allow for inflation of the lungs

As the body weakened and pain in the feet and legs became unbearable, the victim was forced to trade breathing for pain and exhaustion.

Eventually, the victim would succumb in this way, becoming utterly exhausted or lapsing into unconsciousness so that he could no longer lift his body off the cross and inflate his lungs.

All while this is happening to crowd is still mocking Him…

Matthew 27:39–44 CSB

Those who passed by were yelling insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross!” In the same way the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him and said, “He saved others, but he cannot save himself! He is the King of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God; let God rescue him now—if he takes pleasure in him! For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ ” In the same way even the criminals who were crucified with him taunted him.

Laughing at Jesus they point and say, “if you really are the son of God just get yourself down”

And Jesus could have in that moment saved Himself from the cross and send lightening to strike everyone who was mocking Him dead, but He doesn’t…

Why? Why wouldn’t He?

Anyone else in their right mind would get them self-down in a heartbeat but Jesus doesn’t… why?

He doesn’t for you and me… for that crowd mocking Him

He stays on the cross to save all those would who eventually put their faith in trust in Him as their savior

Because on that cross Jesus is dying the death we deserve

He isn’t just experiencing a physical painful death He is taking on the wrath our sins for us

That’s why in His last breath it says He cries out in a loud voice

Matthew 27:50 CSB

But Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and gave up his spirit.

John tells us what he says when he cries out…

John 19:30 CSB

When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished.” Then bowing his head, he gave up his spirit.

Jesus proclaims that “it is finished”!

He has paid the price for you and me then gives up His spirit

They didn’t kill Him or take His life…

He willing lays down His life for you and me

But Jesus’ followers in the crowd they don’t understand…

they don’t know what is going to happen in a few days

All they know is that this guy they have been following His now hanging dead on a cross…

they are left thinking is this it?

Is this the end of our Savior and King?

So, they scatter and hide…

Jesus is taken off the cross and put in a tomb

But the pharisees are still worried… even though they have finally killed Jesus they remember some rumors

Matthew 27:64–66 CSB

So give orders that the tomb be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come, steal him, and tell the people, ‘He has been raised from the dead,’ and the last deception will be worse than the first.” “You have a guard of soldiers,” Pilate told them. “Go and make it as secure as you know how.” They went and secured the tomb by setting a seal on the stone and placing the guards.

They remember the rumors that Jesus proclaimed He would raise from the dead, so they roll a stone in front of His grave and set guards there to watch it

But it didn’t matter what or who they put in front of the grave because of what happened on Sunday

Some women were going to see the tomb but when they arrive, they are met with a surprise

Matthew 28:2–6 CSB

There was a violent earthquake, because an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and approached the tomb. He rolled back the stone and was sitting on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow. The guards were so shaken by fear of him that they became like dead men. The angel told the women, “Don’t be afraid, because I know you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here. For he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.

The angel makes it clear that Jesus is no longer in the grave because He rise from the dead

They run in the grave to see it empty and take off back to the disciples to tell what they saw

The resurrected Jesus would then appear to the disciples and over 500 people

But why is this important?

Why does matter so much that Jesus rose the dead?

APPLICATION

Bottom Line: The death and resurrection of Jesus is the foundation of our salvation and the hope of our eternity.

Paul explains it like this in his first letter to the church in Corinth

1 Corinthians 15:17 CSB

And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.

If Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, then He would just be another dead guy in a grave like we will all be someday

If Jesus didn’t rise form the dead, then what He accomplished on the cross, paying the price for our sins, is no longer effective

1 Corinthians 15:14 CSB

and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation is in vain, and so is your faith.

If Jesus didn’t rise form the dead, then the very thing I preach to you every single week from this stage in in vain, it’s pointless, it’s not true

BUT

1 Corinthians 15:20–22 CSB

But as it is, Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead also comes through a man. For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.

But if Jesus did resurrect from the dead and He did then we too can be saved and made alive in Him

The resurrection proved that Jesus was who He said He was and could do all that He said He could do

It proved that by dying on the cross He had truly paid the price for our sins and that by putting our faith and trust in Him as our savior we can be saved

But not only saved from sins but be made alive and have eternal life with Him because He is alive

That is why this Friday and Sunday are a big deal

That is why I am so passionate about this topic

Because the death and resurrection is the root, the foundation that we stand upon when it comes to our salvation

it is the only way we can be saved

RESPONSE

Prompts for Unbeliever:

What do you believe about Jesus — who He is, what He did, and why it matters?

Why do you think Jesus endured all that suffering, even though He could have stopped it?

If Jesus really rose from the dead… what’s keeping you from trusting Him?

Prompts for Believers:

When was the last time you slowed down to really remember the cross?

How does the resurrection give you hope today — even in your struggles, doubts, or failures?

Are you living like the resurrection actually happened — with boldness, joy, and surrender?

Pray