Mary of Nain-Crucifixion and Resurrection

Judas did it…he betrayed Jesus. They took Jesus away, tortured and tried Him. Now He is to be crucified. This is wrong; my Lord has been wrongly accused of blasphemy.

A man named Simon was forced to carry Jesus’ cross to Golgotha. I would have done it if I was strong enough. The soldiers offered Jesus some wine mixed with gall. Once He knew what it was, He refused to drink it, for it was prophesied the He was to bear the full burden. This meant no substances to ease the pain. Those brutes divided His clothes by gambling. There was a sign above His head which typically had the charges the victim was accused of on it. This sign read “This Is Jesus, The King of the Jews” (Mt. 27:37). There were two other people being crucified that day, both of them were robbers. People came to mock Jesus, it was hard to watch. Seeing Him suffer filled my heart with anguish, but also a deep sense of gratitude as well. I know that Jesus came to save me, He came to save all of us, even you. He allowed Himself to suffer so that we do not have to suffer eternally in Hell. Even those cruel people who beat and spat on Him could be saved by the blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God and man. It seemed as if Jesus was up there for days, but it was an excruciating nine hours. Once He died, the curtain of the temple was torn, starting at the top. The earth shook, and holy people rose from the dead and went into the city. Then the soldiers believed that He was the Son of God.

By the third day, I began to lose hope. I had forgotten what my Lord told m. He said He would re-build the temple in three days. Mary Magdalene and I went to the tomb at dawn. There was an earth quake and the stone was rolled back. We walked up and an angel of the Lord was sitting on the stone. He told us that Jesus had risen and had gone to meet us in Galilee. Of course I rushed to Galilee and Mary M. went to tell the disciples what happened. I was so excited to see my Lord. I finally reached Galilee, and there He was. My heart was overjoyed, from that point on; I was literally by His side non-stop until His ascension into Heaven to take His place on the throne.

Mary of Nain-The Lord's Supper

The Passover was drawing near and the disciples asked Jesus where He wanted to celebrate it. Apparently He already made arrangements with a man, because Jesus told them to go up to this guy and tell him that they are ready, and then they were to go and prepare. Turns out that guy already prepared a room for them, it was already furnished and everything! Once the time came, Jesus went with His disciples to celebrate. Oh how I wanted to go with them…but I helped prepare a feast for the other followers of Christ. It seemed like an eternity that they were gone, once they came out, I spoke with the men and they told me what happened. Jesus spoke to them and said He was looking forward to that meal before He was to suffer. I had forgotten that He was going to have to suffer for us all, for me. My heart was saddened at this reminder and because of what they said next. He made a sort of toast; it was a communion type thing, I guess I could call it. He said the bread was His body as He broke it. They were to pray and break bread in remembrance of Him. He then took a cup, and said it was His new covenant in His blood. Then He revealed that one of the twelve disciples will betray Him. I could not imagine any of them doing such a thing. Who would betray the Lord? Not only is it a HUGE sin, but it is dumb as well. God obviously knows that you are going to do it...Now that I think about it; I think someone has been stealing from our change purse. Perhaps that is the same person who will betray our Lord Jesus Christ. I did not think that Jesus would reveal who is the one who would betray Him, but He did. He said that Judas Iscariot was the one that would betray Him. It makes sense with what I said earlier…he is the one in charge of money. Well not anymore I suppose. I am kind of glad that I was not there for that Passover feast. To dine with Jesus and fellowship with Him up close and personally would have been amazing, but, to hear Him speak of His suffering would have broken my heart. Also, if I had been there when He identified Judas as the person who betrays Him, I probably would have put my foot in my mouth. Then Jesus would have been disappointed with me. That would have been too much…

A Man and His Donkey Part 5

On top of my donkey once again, we trekked across the city weaving our way through the bustling city preparing for the Passover. A rather large crowd was surging toward what would be the governor’s palace and I was pretty dang sure of myself that the mad preacher would be somewhere in front of that mob with the priests right behind him; no doubt pushing the preacher to his eventual fate. I circled around the mob and was able to find a building which overlooked the area where Pontius Pilate the Roman Governor came out to meet the mob. From what I could gather from my vantage point was that it didn’t matter to the religious leaders that the preacher was innocent by Roman standards, but that seems to no longer matter. That business about being the Son of God has really got those priests riled up. Unfortunately I had been waiting there for too long and my donkey began getting impatient. To get me moving again it proceeded to once again buck, but this time the motion of the buck flung me backwards away from the meeting, which I suppose I should be grateful for, because it was quite a ways down, and instead I hit the door which led down and began tumbling through all three floors and landed in a heap at the bottom. Not my most graceful moment.

Fast forwarding a little bit, I once again found myself following the mob with the mad preacher out in front. This time he was carrying a cross. Was he that threatening to the priests that they forced the Romans to kill this preacher? If they were so confident of their correctness, then they no doubt wouldn’t have even bothered going this far and instead simply ignored the fool. This did not happen and so one is led to conclude that there is something to what the preacher has been preaching about all this time. That thought requires a lot of thinking if it is true, which it looks to be. Such strangeness to have one’s religion turned upside down by someone who was for all intents and purposes a nobody. The donkey and the man arrived on top of a hill and could see where the cross was put up between two others. The two beside him do not deserve to be there. Even in agony, his bearing beggared those around him. A king of much more then the Jews, I do believe.

Jimmy Crucifixion/Resurrection Blog

From what I heard, Jesus made His way up to the Garden of Gethsemane with His disciples after they had eaten, and went on His own to pray. He was upset, because He was sweating blood, according to one of the disciples. After a while, the group of soldiers and religious leaders I had seen earlier arrived, headed by one of Jesus’ disciples! They arrested Jesus, and His disciples fled.

When the group reached the city, I saw them. The soldiers were leading Jesus as if He were a violent criminal. Yet Jesus did not protest, but rather stood meekly before the crowd. What followed I can only describe as brutal. Jesus spent the night being ferried back and forth between Pontius Pilate and Herod and the religious leaders, with the religious leaders calling for Jesus to be executed! Their charges were made up, and Jesus still did not respond…except for one time that I heard, when He confirmed that He was God, as I still believed. Why didn’t Jesus crush them? Couldn’t Jesus, God Himself, protect Himself? Yet He didn’t. He could have, but He didn’t. I wondered why as the night went on.

Pilate, the windbag, finally handed Jesus over to be crucified. How horrible! Jesus was whipped, beaten, mocked, and crucified before my eyes. It was confusing to see God being tortured by people! The crowd pressed around me, so I couldn’t see any more.

Hours later, Jesus died on a crude Roman cross. I know the moment He died, because right when He did, there was a huge earthquake and the sky went dark. I wasn’t surprised. Soon, a rich man named Joseph of Arimathea took Jesus down and buried Him in his own tomb. It was painful to watch my God, my Messiah, Jesus, be buried! I saw the tomb, but had to hurry home before the Passover started.

A couple days passed in misery. I didn’t know what to do. Jesus’ disciples were holed up in some room in Jerusalem somewhere. But then, this morning, one of Jesus’ disciples, a woman, came yelling that Jesus was alive! I was suspicious, but I went to the tomb. Sure enough, it was empty! But I didn’t know what to think.

About 500 of Jesus’ followers gathered to discuss the rumors. Then, right there, Jesus was standing among us! We all saw Him! It was Jesus, fully alive! Then we all remembered His words: He had predicted His death, but also His Resurrection! Any doubt we had felt was gone!

Jimmy Blog Last Supper

Jesus is in Jerusalem again. I’ve been following Him since the miracle at Capernaum, all around Israel. Now, He returned to Jerusalem, but something is different. Jesus has been talking about dying, and the Jewish leaders were becoming angry. There were rumors that they were going to kill Him, but they didn’t seem to be true. Jesus rode into the city on a donkey, the Jewish custom for kings, with the crowd cheering and waving palm branches. That was exhilarating to watch! But Jesus didn’t seem too happy with the crowd’s enthusiasm. Jesus spent the next week doing more miracles, and teaching. But, gradually the people seemed to be turning against Jesus. Why? He was doing miracles, He was healing their sick, He was their King! Jesus is God Himself, with the people, yet they were becoming hostile!

Right before Passover, Jesus and His disciples rented a room in a two-level home, and ate a supper their. I wasn’t there, but I heard this from the owner of the house. Jesus announced that He was about to die, and be betrayed by one of His disciples! The owner of the home was in the next room, and was shocked. Listening in, he heard the disciples asking each other if it was they. Jesus said the betrayer was the person to whom Jesus gave the bread. There was silence, then footsteps, as one of the disciples ran out the door! The homeowner didn’t see who. But the group seemed disturbed after that, with Jesus the only One staying calm. Peter in particular seemed upset.

At one point during the meal, I can’t remember whether it was before or after the disciple ran through the door, that Jesus gave a curious speech. He called bread and wine His body and blood, shed for them. What did Jesus mean by this? He said He was going to die, and for them.

Meanwhile, I saw trouble brewing. Near the Temple, I saw the religious leaders gathering a group of soldiers. They had torches and swords and in general looked like they were ill-tempered. At the time, I had no idea for Whom they were preparing to arrest. I would know soon enough, though.

MY GOD! MY GOD! HE HAS RISEN! I can barely write this right now. I last told you that Jesus Christ had been killed. I thought that was it. That it was through but he rose from the dead! Three days later he rose. I started hearing rumors in the morning; rumors I didn’t believe. I figured that his followers must have stolen his body which is what the Roman and Jewish authorities are now saying. I would have still believe it to this day except I saw Him! I saw the Lord! He appeared to me! I was on the road going back home when he came before me. I was confused and scared at first but he told me not to be frightened. He told me that he knew that I had been following Him and that He knew me from the day I was born and that I would one day be with Him in Heaven. I asked how it was possible that He knew me, since this was only possible if He was God. He simply looked at me and said “It is as you say. Go and spread my message to the world” At that moment he disappeared before me, as if it were a dream but I knew it was real. He is God. He is Lord and Savior! He is risen! I must now do as He says I vow to live my life for Him and tell many of Him so that other may know Him. Praises be to the Lord Jesus, Son of the Almighty God.

This will be the last letter I write. The very same night I witnessed the events in the house that Jesus and his disciples ate at he was arrested by the Roman authorities. I was later told he was accused of treason against the Roman Empire and of blasphemy before the Sanhedrin. He was sentenced to crucifixion. I was devastated. I went up to the place where they hung him up. He was bloodied, bruised and distorted from abuse I could barely stand to look. He hung there among common criminals, this man I was revered as a true man and prophet of God.  I saw him hang there for 7 hours, finding it so hard to remain and yet impossible for me to leave. He would call out from time to time to God and those around Him. At about the 9^th hour he called out to heaven “It is finished!” His head then hung down and he was dead. A roman soldier stabbed him with his spear on his side to ensure his death. A great earthquake began to shake the earth and everyone ran for shelter. That’s it. That’s all I have. I thought this man would deliver us and now he is gone forever. I feel disappointed, angry and even just plain stupid. I threw my life away for this man, a simple man. A no one. An imposter.