Good Tuesday to you my “Walking with Jesus” friends?
Have you ever witnessed a truly historic event? Something that is recorded in the history books and you were there to witness it? I left you yesterday among a large crowd shouting “Crucify Him” as they looked at Jesus standing before Roman Governor Pilate. When Pilate had declared Jesus innocent, the crowd of Jewish religious leaders and Jewish common people had actually cried out “His blood is on us and on our children.” (Matt. 27:25)
The Gospel writers tell us Pilate had Jesus flogged by his soldiers. The Roman cat of nine tails was one of the most horrific torture inventions of humanity. Leather straps had bits of jagged stone or iron tied at their ends, so when a person was flogged, the pull of those straps shredded the skin off the bones and ripped apart muscles and tendons. It was horrific and left the flogged person emaciated, bleeding profusely and nearly dead. In addition, these soldiers rammed a crown of twisted thorns on Jesus’ head, piercing His skull, and then clothed Him in a royal purple robe and mocked Him by shouting “Hail, king of the Jews.” (John 19:1-3)
Jesus was barely able to stand, and bleeding from head to toe, yet these executioners took the heavy cross beam of the Roman execution apparatus called a cross, placed it on Jesus shoulders for Him to carry, and the long, humiliating, procession to the hill of the skull, Golgotha, began. Jesus stumbled under the weight of the cross, so the soldiers grabbed a man in the crowd and put the cross beam on him, as the death processional continued. (Luke 23:26)
The crowd followed, some jeering, some weeping, and in that crowd was likely John the disciple accompanying Mary Jesus’ mother, Mary Magdalene, and perhaps others whose lives had been so profoundly impacted by this Jesus, now emaciated, bleeding and humiliated. Luke reports: “Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with Jesus to be executed. When they came to the place, called Skull hill, they crucified Him there, along with the criminals – one on His right, the other on His left.” (Luke 23:32,33)
We should assume that long, uphill walk took a long time, perhaps an hour or more, as these badly beaten men could only slowly walk, falling often in their weakened state. The crowd grew, the jeers and chants got louder. Finally on the top of Skull hill, overlooking Jerusalem, the horrific process of nailing hands and feet to the wooden beams, and then raising those crosses, dropping them down into a hole so the crosses could stand upright… oh my, I doubt any of us can imagine the terrifying experience crucifixion was for everyone involved or witnessing it.
Humiliation as well as the most painful death imaginable were the objectives of Roman crucifixion. Sometimes the crucified were stripped of their clothes, their bodies hanging, bleeding barely clothed or even naked on their crosses. Matthew reports: “When they had crucified Jesus, they divided up His clothes by casting lots. Above His head they placed the written charge against Him: ‘This is Jesus, the King of the Jews’… those who passed by hurled insults at Him…In the same way the chief priests and teachers of the Jewish law and the elders mocked Jesus…” (Matt. 27:33-44) If you visit Jerusalem today, my friends, the hill just outside the Damascus gate, with a busy bus station at the base of the hill, is one of the places considered very possible as Golgotha, or skull hill. Standing there, alongside a busy roadway, it’s not difficult to imagine three crosses and lots of busy people around, many of them mocking the dying.
We’ve all experienced the accident of piercing our hands with a knife or nail, so can you imagine the pain when long iron spikes were driven into the hands and feet of Jesus on that cross? In that excruciating moment, Jesus did something beyond human reason. He spoke to His heavenly Father with these words: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34)
Where does that ability to forgive; that ability to actually intercede in prayer for someone torturing you; the ability to resist anger and retribution… where does that come from, my friends? This horrific execution was the ultimate purpose for which God the Father sent God the Son to earth, and Jesus knew it! If Jesus did anything less than fully embrace this horrifying experience, it would be rebellion against God and God’s Redemption plan! This excruciating moment was why Jesus sweat drops of blood in the garden of Gethsemane yielding Himself fully to the Father’s plan!
While you and I will very likely never experience crucifixion, we have and will experience people doing things to us that hurt us deeply, yet they do not fully understand the scope of what they are saying or doing to us. So, can we learn from Jesus’ example as the nails are driven through His hands, and can we remember Jesus saying to His disciples “As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know you are My disciples” (John 13:34,35) “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friend.” (John 15:13) So, how do you and I live out those powerful statements of Jesus, in our daily, practical lives, in a vicious world?
The disciple John next gives us this very personal scene at Golgotha: “Near the cross of Jesus stood His mother, His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw His mother there, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, here is your son,’ and to the disciple: ‘here is your mother’. From that time on this disciple took her into his home.” (John 19:25-27) Jesus entrusted the care of His mother to His best earthly friend, John. None of Mary’s other children had believed Jesus was anything more than their human sibling and while they could not explain His miracles or His teachings, they rejected any notion that Jesus was divine. Evidently, they also showed little care for their mother Mary, especially during this agonizing time as she watched her son dying on a cross.
Let’s pause here at the cross my friends. How do you envision what has been described by the Gospel writers? What does Jesus want you and me to understand about the significance of this Passover Friday morning, horrific, excruciating, humiliating ordeal, as His life was ebbing away, 2000 years ago?
Important ‘lessons learned’ notes are just below that will help you reflect on this very significant, world changing moment, and then a powerful worship song honoring Jesus; and I’ll be here waiting for you at the cross of Jesus, tomorrow.
Today’s Scripture: John 19:17-27.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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