The Last Week of Jesus' Life – The Road to Golgotha
Pastor Tan Thai · Apr 1, 2012
This sermon presents five sufferings of Jesus Christ from the Garden of Gethsemane to the cross on Golgotha. The pastor leads the congregation to reflect on Christ's great sacrificial love through betrayal, beating, mockery, and abandonment by the Father, so that the full meaning of the Resurrection may be understood.
This sermon was preached on the Sunday before Easter Sunday to prepare the congregation to receive the full meaning of Christ's resurrection. The pastor emphasizes that one cannot truly celebrate the Resurrection without understanding Christ's sufferings and death. He cites 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 and Romans 5:8 to show that the Apostle Paul consistently linked Christ's love to His death.
The sermon presents five key points of suffering. First, Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver (Matthew 26:14-16) and identified Him to the soldiers with a kiss (Luke 22:47-48). Second, all the disciples fled and Peter denied Jesus three times, despite his earlier vow of loyalty unto death (Matthew 26:31-35, 56; Mark 14:50). Third, Roman soldiers brutally flogged Jesus — the pastor uses medical explanations of hematidrosis and the Roman flagellum to illustrate the immense physical agony Jesus endured (Luke 22:44; Mark 15:15-16). Fourth, Jesus was mocked by soldiers and crowds, spat upon, crowned with thorns, and taunted even by the criminals crucified beside Him (Matthew 27:27-31; Luke 23:35, 39). Fifth, God the Father turned His face away from His only Son in the final hour because Jesus bore the sins of the world, and the holy God cannot look upon sin (Matthew 27:46).
The pastor applies each point to the lives of believers. Regarding Judas's betrayal and the disciples' flight, he calls the congregation to self-examination — how many times have they themselves denied Christ for material gain, reputation, or career advancement? He cites 1 Corinthians 10:12 as a warning against overconfidence in one's own faith, and encourages believers to continually ask God for strength in times of testing.
The sermon closes with a powerful affirmation of Christ's love. Paul writes that this love compelled him to live no longer for himself but for the One who died and rose again (2 Corinthians 5:14-15). Nothing — death, life, angels, powers, height or depth — can separate believers from that boundless love (Romans 8:37-39). Through all of Christ's sufferings, His love for sinners is most completely and powerfully revealed.