Blog


Apr 22

Sermon Follow-up: “An Unlikely Chain of Events”

2011 | by Trent Hunter | Category: Sermon Follow-Up

Ryan’s sermon on Good Friday, “An Unlikely Chain of Events,” was taken from Matthew 26 and 27. As Ryan said, if we weren’t already familiar with the twists and turns in these chapters some twenty things would be shocking and strange to us. It’s important for us to see these twists and turns with fresh eyes so that we might rightly marvel at the beauty, glory, power, and victory that lies beneath the surface of these seemingly odd events.

Here are Ryan’s twenty points along with four concluding reflections.

Twenty “oddities” found in Matthew 26 and 27:

  1. He prayed to be delivered (Matthew 26:39)
  2. His disciples slept while he prayed (Matthew 26:40-45)
  3. One of the twelve, Judas, turned him in (Matthew 26:14-16; Matthew 26:47-50)
  4. Another, Peter, tried to kill for him (Matthew 26:51-53)
  5. Shortly after, Peter disavowed him Three Times (Matthew 26:72-75)
  6. All of his disciples fled (Matthew 26:56b; Matthew 26:31)
  7. His religious/national leaders wanted him dead (Matthew 27:1)
  8. He gave no defense at his trial (Matthew 26:62-63a; Matthew 27:12-14)
  9. Pilate’s wife had bad dreams about Jesus (Matthew 27:19)
  10. The crowd chose to free a notorious criminal instead (Matthew 27:15-17; Matthew 27:21-23)
  11. He was caught in the middle of a political pickle (Matthew 27:20; Matthew 27:24)
  12. He couldn’t carry his own cross (Matthew 27:32)
  13. He was mocked, humiliated, and beaten (Matthew 27:27-30; Matthew 27:37; Matthew 27:39-40)
  14. He was crucified with common criminals (Matthew 27:38; Matthew 27:44)
  15. He was forsaken by his Father (Matthew 27:46)
  16. Nearing his death the sky went dark (Matthew 27:45)
  17. The temple curtain tore in two (Matthew 27:51a)
  18. There was an earthquake (Matthew 27:51b)
  19. There was a group-resurrection (Matthew 27:52-53)
  20. One of his captors believed (Matthew 27:54)

What conclusions can we draw from all this?

  1. If you were making up this story to try to start a political movement or a new religion, you wouldn’t include most of these 20 things. Some stories are too strange to not be true!
  2. Scripture says that, in all of these seemingly odd events, God was orchestrating affairs to bring Jesus to the cross (Acts 2:22-23).
  3. In God’s wisdom, he has chosen to bring power out of weakness and wisdom/salvation out of foolishness (1 Cor 1:21-24).
  4. In all these events one thing keeps coming up: no one is passing the test – not the religious establishment, not the governor, not the masses, not even the closest disciples. No one passes the test…except Jesus.