jesus is tempted.

"His Will" (Luke 22, Mark 18, John 17)

Artist Thoughts:

Jesus fervently sought the listening ear and loving heart of the Father for an alternative to the cross. Finding none he prayerfully prepared himself and decided to begin what would be the hardest most painful act of obedience and love anyone can imagine.  

​Everything Jesus does is redeeming. Even in the face of impending self-sacrifice, the very reason he came into this world, Jesus aligned himself with redemption because it was God's will and purpose. 

And when arrested he rebuked Peter who cut off the ear of a servant to the high priest trying to prevent Jesus' arrest. Jesus immediately healed the wounded man reattaching his ear and conveniently illustrated that it takes more strength to listen than it does to lash out with a sword and try to control a situation with sheer force. Proverbs 16:32 says, "Better a patient person than a warrior, one with self-control than one who takes a city."

​Communion with our Heavenly Father develops patience and patience will develop experience. I believe empathy will come with experience and develop an ear that listens rather than a clenched fist ready to fight.

Jesus is betrayed.

"Shed For You" (Matthew 27, Mark 15, Luke 23, John 19)

jesus is condemned.

jesus is mocked.

jesus is given his cross.

jesus falls.

simon carries jesus' cross

jesus is stripped.

jesus is nailed to the cross.

Jesus Dies.

"Jesus Broke" (Matthew 27, Mark 15, Luke 23, John 19)

Artist Thoughts:

Luke chapter 23 records 3 hours of darkness at mid day as Jesus breathed his last breath on the cross. I imagine there must have been a heavy weight or a seemingly eerie pause to time itself as the sin of all humankind broke Jesus. It's as if the sun even mourned at the loss of it's maker. The one and only perfect human swallowed the poison that would otherwise continue to enslave and destroy all human life. At the death of Christ it appeared as if all hope for a savior was lost but it wasn't the end. The earth quaked, rocks split, the curtain of the sanctuary was miraculously torn from top to bottom, and many saints who had died were raised as tombs broke open. 
I would be scared.

Jesus was separated from his Heavenly Father that day. The trinitarian relationship was temporarily broken. That darkness was a physical echo of a tragic spiritual event but something was taking place that no one understood. Death was about to lose its curse. The law of sin and death was about to be overwhelmed by the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. 
Can we sit and stare in reverence of this moment of darkness and all that it symbolizes: humility even to the point of death, the execution of a rescue plan, and a life taken, blessed, broken, and given for the world. This is love. This is who we worship and this is who we follow.

jesus is buried.

Jesus rises.

"He Bodily Rose" (Matthew 27, Mark 15, Luke 23, John 19)

Artist Thoughts:

Those that love the truth listen to Jesus and there is no religious or political mechanism that can ever stop him. The physical, bodily resurrection of Jesus is the miracle of all miracles and the foundation of Christianity. It split time. It conquered death. It pays for every sin past, present, and future when we believe it and receive his sacrifice as personally applicable. 
The falsifiability of a bodily resurrection presented an opportunity to be empirically tested as true. The physically resurrected body of Christ proves the words and actions of Jesus to have always been pointing to God's specific and intimate love for every individual one of us.  The empty tomb fills our life with meaning, with hope, and with a fulfilled promise that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. Jesus is the way we can go. The truth we can trust as our plumb line, and he is the life that is overflowing, abundant, and undefeatable.