Welcome to Spotlight. I'm Colin Louvera. Spotlight uses a special English method of
broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand no matter where in the world
they live. A crowd of people welcomes a man into their city. They
cheer and praise him as he enters the city gates. But soon this same
crowd will call for this man's death. He will die, but his death
is not the end of the story. In fact, it will begin a
new story, the story of a miracle for all people. Christians around the
world celebrate this event at Easter. Every spring, Christians remember and retell this
story. Today, Spotlight tells the Easter story. The story begins about two
thousand years ago in the city of Jerusalem in the ancient Roman province of Palestine.
It is the Jewish holiday of Passover. During this holiday, the people
remember how God led them out of slavery hundreds of years before. Many Jewish
people gather in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover miracle. On this day, a
man named Jesus and his followers were preparing to enter the city to celebrate Passover.
Jesus was a great prophet and teacher. He performed many miracles and taught
people how to live good lives. Jesus said he was sent from God.
He had come to save all people from the effects of their sins. Many
people loved Jesus, but many religious leaders did not. The things Jesus said
and did made the leaders angry. They believed that only God could do the
things Jesus spoke about. When Jesus arrived in Jerusalem, he was riding on
a simple donkey, but the people welcomed him like a king. They spread
their coats on the ground in front of jesus donkey. They took palm tree
leaves and laid them in the donkey's path. They cheered and shouted, was
it is the son of David Hofanna friends Hosanna in the highest heaven less.
It is he who comes in the name of the More. Jesus continued riding
until he reached the Great Temple. During Passover, people are supposed to offer
sacrifices to God, but inside the temple people were not praying and sacrificing.
They were buying and selling things. They had made it a market place.
Jesus became angry, and he turned over some of the tables. He told
the people. The temple was for worshiping God, not making money. After
this, the religious leaders decided they needed to silence Jesus. He was making
trouble for them. Over the next few days, Jesus continued teaching about God
and performing miracles, but someone was about to betray Jesus. It was one
of his own followers or disciples. The disciple's name was Judas. One night,
Judas went to the religious leaders. As he came near, they said,
we know you. You are Judas. You are a follower of Jesus,
troublemaker. What are you doing here? I have a deal for you.
What will you give me if I give Jesus to you? You cannot
be serious? Are you telling us the truth? Can it be that easy?
Yes? What will you give me if I do it? The religious
leaders agreed to pay Judas thirty silver coins to betray Jesus. On the first
night of the Passover feast, Jesus and the disciples gathered to eat a meal
together. As they were eating, Jesus told them that one of them would
betray him. The disciples all became very sad. They asked who it would
be, but Jesus did not tell them. Then Jesus took some bread from
the table. He thanked God for it. Then he broke the bread into
pieces. He gave the pieces of bread to his disciples. He said,
take this and eat it. This is a symbol of my body. Then
Jesus took a cup of wine from the table. Again he thanked God for
it. Then he passed the cup to each of his disciples and said,
all of you, drink from this cup. This is a symbol of my
blood. It is a symbol of the promise between God and humans. It
is poured out to forgive the sins of many people. After I die,
you should do these things to remember me. The disciples did all that Jesus
told them to do. They did not know what Jesus was talking about,
but they sang a song of praise to God. Then they went out of
the house. After the meal, Jesus and his followers traveled to a place
called Gethsemone. Here Jesus prayed to God. Jesus knew Judas would betray him.
He knew he would die and that it would be a painful death.
Jesus did not want to experience a painful death, but he knew that his
death would save people. Jesus had lived a perfect life. He had never
sinned, but he chose to die to save people from the results of their
sin. For an hour, Jesus prayed to God. He pleaded with God,
my father, God, if it is possible, take this suffering away
from me, but let what you want be done, not what I want.
After praying, Jesus returned to his disciples, but he found them sleeping.
He seemed angry with them and asked them to keep watch. Again and
again, Jesus left the group to pray alone. After praying, he returned
again to his disciples, and again he found them sleeping. He went back
to pray a third time, but when he returned the third time, he
called to the disciples, are you still sleeping and resting? Look? The
time is near. Get up, let's go. Here comes the man who
will betray me. Judas arrived with a large crowd carrying weapons. The crowd
did not know which man was Jesus, so Judas told them he would kisses
Jesus to identify him. Judas saw Jesus, he went to Jesus and said,
greetings, Jesus. He gave Jesus a kiss, Jesus answered him,
friend, do what you came to do. Three soldiers from the crowd arrested
Jesus. He went with them peacefully. His disciples ran away. Soon after
his arrest, Jesus stood before the governor. This Roman leader would decide Jesus's
punishment. The religious leaders told the governor that Jesus was causing trouble. They
told him that Jesus thought he was the king. The governor did not know
what to do. He knew Jesus was innocent, but it seemed like the
people wanted Jesus dead. He stood in front of the crowd of people.
He asked them, what do you want me to do with this innocent man?
What do you want me to do to Jesus? But what has he
done? CROs So, the governor gave the crowd what they wanted. He
sentenced Jesus to death, death on a cross. This is not the end
of the story. Jesus would face death, but what makes this story so
important to Christians? Listen to part two to hear what happens next. The
writer of this program was Liz Wade. The producer was Mark Drenth. This
telling of the Easter story is based on the Book of Matthew in the Christian
Bible. You can listen to this program again on the Internet at www dot
Radio English dot net. This program is called The Easter Story Part One.
We hope you can join us again for the next Spotlight program. Goodbye,