How A Bloody Road Leads to Life Everlasting

One day an angel visited a young girl named Mary, being engaged to Joseph; the angel told her that she indeed had favor with God and would give birth to His son, who would be called Jesus. Mary was filled with the Holy Spirit and had the first and only virgin birth. The delivery time approached, and the need for Mary to take a journey arose. Mary faced several challenges to her faith. Caesar Augustus had recently decreed that a registration be carried out of the land. It was no incident that Caesar issued this decree at this time in history because a prophecy written seven centuries earlier foretold that Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. People had to travel to their town of origin to comply. Joseph was summoned to Bethlehem; Mary knew the trip would be challenging. Now as husband and wife, they started their journey to Bethlehem, and as they mounted the hillsides, passing by olive groves, it was too insignificant to be numbered among Judah's cities. Upon their arrival in Bethlehem, they noticed the village was too crowded. The inn had no room, so they had to settle in a stable. By this time, Mary was close to the delivery of Jesus. Mary, here of all the places, her birth pangs began. Mary gave birth to her firstborn son, and she named him Jesus. She wrapped him in a swaddling linen cloth and laid him in a manger. Not long after His birth, Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to the temple in Jerusalem. And the child grew and became a strong spirit and filled with wisdom. Jesus revealed He came and was deeply aware that He was about His Father's business. His Father being His Heavenly Father, not His stepfather Joseph. Jesus was endowed with God's Spirit and favor from birth. Jesus was at the age of thirty when he began his three-year ministry. The environment Jesus grew up in was complicated by religious and political forces in Judea. Jesus began to preach and went throughout Galilee, teaching in synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. Jesus journeyed into the desert or wilderness to face the devil's temptation. When Jesus reached the site of Bethany at the river of Jordan, he called his first five disciples while they were fishing and said, "Come follow me, and I will make you fisherman of me." Jesus returned and went north to Galilee with his disciples, where his first miracle occurred. He turned water into wine at a wedding in Cana. Jesus stays in Capernaum for a short time with his mother and disciples. It was time for the Passover, so Jesus traveled south to Jerusalem and drove the moneychangers from the Temple. After meeting Pharisee Nicodemus, Jesus leaves for the countryside of Judea, where his disciples are baptizing believers. Jesus and his disciples continue northward from Judea, passing through the territory of Samaria, where he meets a woman at the well. Mary, once she believed that Jesus was who He said He was, she immediately ran off to tell others. Jesus's example of speaking and visiting the woman at the well exemplifies love, truth, redemption, and acceptance. After meeting Mary, many Samaritans believe in him, and he continues to Galilee. Jesus returned to Galilee and healed an official's son who lay sick. After healing the young boy, Jesus returned to Nazareth, where he was first rejected for his preaching and teachings. Jesus' response when he was disrespected was to pray. The scribes and Pharisees opposed Jesus and had him brought before the king for questioning. The Pharisees asked the disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" Jesus heard their question and answered, " It is not healthy who need a doctor but not sick." Jesus upset many Jewish leaders because he extended fellowship and mercy beyond their constricted boundaries. The Pharisees hated Jesus because He claimed to be from God. The chief priests and elders made their plans against Jesus and put him in chains to put him to death. They led and handed him over to Pilate, the Roman governor. Jesus was brought before Pilate twice, and he was convinced that Jesus was not guilty of anything deserving of death and sought to release him. The Pharisees and the crowd were not having that, and they shouted, "Crucify him." Jesus was stripped, mocked, spat on, beaten, and suffered the most horrifying, painful, and disgraceful capital punishment ever known to man. Then he was made to carry his cross to Golgotha, where the Roman guards drove nails into his hands and feet. They made a crown of thorns and pierced it into Jesus's head so that his scalp began to bleed. Jesus was in such anguish that He sweated blood. (Luke 22:44) Jesus hung on that cross for three hours before He gave up His spirit to God, " Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost" (Luke 23:46). Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, in secret ask Pilate if he could remove Jesus bloody and broken body from the cross and he placed him in a tomb. On the third day after Jesus's death, he arose as He said He would. The reason Jesus was born a virgin birth and traveled that long, dangerous road to Calvary was for you and me. Jesus died for all people. Jesus said in John 14:6, " I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." Jesus recognized the danger of this journey set out before him. We need to realize we live in an unprecedented time. Jesus described the norm and that it would not be a friendly reception of the gospel. As in Jesus's day, we see hostility increase against Christians, but we need to observe that being a Christian does not mean we will only practice our beliefs and proclaim our faith when it is socially acceptable. We must be prepared to stand individually for Christ and together as a church in the face of hostility. We must obey God rather than men.