Because it was the season for the celebration of the Jewish Passover, multitudes were entering the city to participate in the services. Jesus observed the Passover meal with his disciples, but in the meantime, his enemies plotted against him by charging that he was not only disloyal to the Jewish faith but an enemy of the Roman government. After the Passover meal, Jesus was betrayed by Judas, one of his own disciples, and arrested by soldiers. In the course of his trial before the Roman governor, he was examined by Pilate, who declared that he found no fault in Jesus. Pilate wanted Jesus released, but a mob that had gathered to press charges against him demanded that he be crucified, and in the end, Pilate yielded to their demand. From the point of view of Jesus' followers, everything for which they had hoped was lost. Even the disciples forsook Jesus and fled in order to save their own lives. Jesus died on the cross and was buried in Joseph's new tomb.
Later, a remarkable change took place in the experience of these same disciples. They became convinced that Jesus' cause was not lost. The man who died on the cross was one whose life met with divine approval. He died not because of his own sins but, like the suffering servant of the prophet Isaiah, for the sake of others. The disciples were now sure that he was the true Messiah, the nature of whose mission they did not understand before his crucifixion. His death on the cross did not mean the end of the cause for which he stood. In fact, that cause was now more alive than it had ever been before. God's kingdom would yet be established. Jesus' return to earth to complete the program already begun would be accomplished in the near future. With these convictions in the minds of the disciples, the Christian movement was inaugurated, a movement that produced the writings in the New Testament.
