The Last 24 Hours of Jesus

Power, Pain, and the Enduring Call to Love

By Tom Mullikin

As the world approaches Easter, the Christian celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, occurring three days after his crucifixion on Good Friday, we have an opportunity to examine Christ’s life. A closer inspection of his final 24 hours reveals strong lessons for both believers and non-believers.

In the final 24 hours of His life, Jesus of Nazareth did not retreat from the world. He confronted it. What unfolded between the upper room and the cross was not simply the closing chapter of a human life, but a living testament to truth, courage, endurance, and ultimately, love. In a time of political tension, religious hypocrisy, and human frailty, these final hours offer more than a sacred story. They offer a perfect blueprint for how we might live when tested.

SPEAKING TRUTH TO POWER

Jesus’ last day was marked by an unwavering commitment to truth. When standing before the high priest, fully aware that His words would seal His fate, He did not hedge or soften His identity: “I am,” He declared (Mark 14:62). This was not defiance for its own sake. This was a firm conviction rooted in divine purpose.

Earlier, He had rebuked religious leaders with piercing clarity: “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.”” (Matthew 23:23). In these moments, Jesus demonstrated that truth is not always safe, but it is always necessary. Speaking truth to power requires moral clarity and the willingness to accept consequences. It is an important lesson our world desperately needs: truth without toxicity and hostility.

THE STING OF BETRAYAL

Yet even as He stood firm in truth, Jesus faced betrayal. Not just betrayal from strangers, but from those closest to Him. Peter, the loyal disciple, would deny Him three times before dawn (Luke 22:34). Judas, one of the twelve, had already set events in motion with a kiss of betrayal.

Still, the echoes of reassurance from Deuteronomy 31:6 remind us: “Be strong and courageous… He will never leave you nor forsake you.” In the face of abandonment, Jesus did not collapse into despair. He absorbed the pain of betrayal without surrendering His purpose. There is a quiet strength in enduring disappointment without losing direction.

COURAGE UNDER PRESSURE

By the time Jesus stood before Pontius Pilate, the machinery of power had begun its brutal work. John 19:1 tells us “That Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged.” This was an act meant not just to punish, but to break. And yet, there is no record of retaliation, no plea for escape. Courage, in this moment, was not loud. It was resolute.

This flogging or scourging in the Roman world was not a mere prelude to execution. It was itself a form of calculated brutality designed to bring a man to the edge of death. The whip, often embedded with bone and metal, tore into the flesh with each strike, leaving the victim’s back lacerated and exposed. New Testament scholar William L. Lane explained that Roman flogging was “so severe that it often left the victim scarcely alive,” underscoring the sheer physical devastation Jesus endured before the crucifixion.

In this moment, the suffering of Christ was not abstract or symbolic. It was intensely physical, excruciating, and deliberate. The agony of the scourging reminds us that His courage was not theoretical, but embodied in torn flesh and unyielding resolve.

True courage is often misunderstood as aggression or dominance. But in Jesus’ final hours, courage looked like restraint. It looked like standing firm when every instinct might urge retreat. It was the courage to endure injustice without becoming unjust.

STRENGTH IN SUFFERING

Crucifixion was designed to display weakness and to humiliate, to strip dignity, to erase identity. “There they crucified Him” (John 19:18). The simplicity of the statement belies the magnitude of the suffering.

And yet, this is where strength is redefined. Not as physical dominance, but as the ability to endure unimaginable pain without surrendering to hatred. Strength is not always about overcoming circumstances; sometimes it is about transcending them.

THE RADICAL POWER OF FORGIVENESS

Perhaps the most astonishing moment comes not before the cross, but from it. “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). These words are not abstract theology’s. They are spoken in agony, directed toward those actively inflicting harm.

Forgiveness, here, is not passive. It is active, intentional, and costly. It refuses to let violence have the final word. In a world that often equates justice with retribution, Jesus offers a different path. He lives a life where mercy interrupts the cycle of harm.

A FINAL MANDATE: DO EVERYTHING IN LOVE

What, then, are we to do with these final hours? The Apostle Paul offers a succinct but profound answer: “Do everything in love” (1 Corinthians 16:14). True love is not just spoken although at times it is difficult to speak. It is lived.

The word love and concurrent actions change everything, demanding both the courage to speak truth and the determination to act on it.
Not some things and not just easy things but everything. To speak truth, do it in love. To endure betrayal, respond in love. To face injustice with courage grounded in love. To carry burdens with strength shaped by love. To forgive even when it feels impossible through love.

The last 24 hours of Jesus’ life are not merely a story of suffering. They are a bold call to action. They challenge us to examine how we wield truth, how we respond to betrayal, how we define courage, and how we practice forgiveness. In the end, the cross is not just a symbol of sacrifice. It is a declaration that love, even in its most vulnerable form, is the most powerful force the world has ever known. And perhaps, in our own moments of trial, that is the truth we are called not only to remember but to live.

– Dr. Tom Mullikin is the director of the S.C. Department of Natural Resources. An acclaimed global expedition leader, attorney, documentary film producer, former U.S. Army officer and retired commanding general of the S.C. State Guard, Mullikin served as the founding chair of the gubernatorially established S.C. Floodwater Commission. He has led the 1,100-plus S.C. Department of Natural Resources since early February 2025.