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Bible Story Review

March 24 | The Snake Crusher is Crushed for Us (Mark 15)

Bible Story Video

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Family Talking Points

Big Truth

The Snake Crusher was crushed for us.

Key Passage

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. 1 Peter 2:24

Bible Story

Good Friday is one of the most important days in the whole of history, a day Christians set aside to remember Jesus’s death. But why is it called Good Friday and not Sad Friday? It certainly was a sad day. Jesus was sentenced to death, beaten, and nailed to a cross. So sad. But it was so good too—extremely, awesomely, amazingly good! It was good because through Jesus’s sacrifice we are forgiven. It was good because the Snake Crusher finally crushed Satan by being crushed on the cross for us. Here’s the story of that sad but good day.

After the rooster crowed, the wicked Jewish leaders delivered Jesus over to Pilate, the Roman governor in Jerusalem who would decide whether Jesus lived or died. Pilate questioned Jesus, and he was convinced that Jesus was innocent. So he tried to release him. He brought out two prisoners—Jesus and Barabbas. Barabbas was a rebel and murderer. “Since it is your Passover feast celebration, I’ll set one prisoner free,” Pilate said to the crowd. “Do you want this rebel or this so-called ruler—Jesus, King of the Jews?” Pilate thought that they would free Jesus. But no! They shouted for Barabbas. “What!” Pilate said. “What then shall I do with Jesus? He hasn’t done anything wrong.” Then, they shouted, “Crucify him” (Mark 15:13). What! Why? Wow! Pilate preferred to please the crowds than release innocent Jesus, and so he “delivered him to be crucified” (15:15).

The Roman soldiers took off Jesus’s clothes and whipped him. (How painful!) Then they mocked him by placing a purple cloak on his body and a crown of thorns on his head. (How cruel!) Then they pretended to worship Jesus by kneeling before him, spitting on him, and saying, “Hail, King of the Jews” (15:18). (How blasphemous!) After all that, Jesus carried his cross beam to Calvary, the place where they crucified criminals. Along the way, Jesus fell a few times. The cross was heavy, and Jesus’s body was weak from the beatings. A man named Simon was asked to help him carry the cross.

Then, when he arrived, the soldiers put the cross beams together, nailed Jesus to it, and lifted him up between two thieves. People taunted him (“Save yourself, and come down from the cross,” 15:30) and mocked him (“Come down . . . that we may see and believe,” 15:32), but Jesus had a different plan. Instead, he “uttered a loud cry and breathed his last” (15:37). Then, the earth shook, the sky turned black, and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. God accepted Jesus’s sacrifice! Indeed it was a Good Friday.

Next Week's Lesson

Jesus Lives (Luke 24)

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