THE MEN AT THE CROSS 

 

 

    Naked and beaten, Jesus hung on a Roman cross, flanked by two thieves. A crowd had gathered to watch the Roman crucifixion. During the past twenty-four hours, Jesus had faced six courts of justice, extreme humiliation and derision of both his person and divinity through floggings and mocking. The guards  rammed a crown of thorns into his scalp. His friends had abandoned him.

    At noon, darkness hid him from the prying eyes of his mockers. As he heaved his last, he cried out in a loud voice.

               “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

    He quoted from Psalm 22:1, tortured by his internal anguish. A soldier filled a sponge with bitter wine and raised it to Jesus’ lips, and left him to see if God would rescue him. Forsaken by his Heavenly Father, he carried the weight of God’s wrath, our sin, upon the cross, but he startled them with one last and distinct utterance.

                            “It is finished!” And his spirit left his body.

    The distance from the Praetorium to Golgotha was less than a kilometer, but Jesus had to be crucified beyond Jerusalem’s walls. Unbeknown to the Roman soldiers, God had ordained the Lamb of God’s Passover death outside the camp or community.

     The soldiers heaved the forty-five kilogram crossbeam onto Jesus’ shoulders, and the procession headed out of the city. The timber beam cut into his skin and blood ran down Jesus’s flogged back. He stumbled, too weak to carry his cross. The jostling crowd nudged one another, both amused and derisive of his weakness, but among the masses, Simon of Cyrene weaved his way into Jerusalem. Soldiers seized the swarthy and possibly muscular north African and thrust the massive beam over his shoulder.

    Relieved of the cross, Jesus paced ahead of Simon. Whips had torn his skin to shreds, and ragged bloodstains had congealed on his forehead. Did his wounds sicken Simon to the pit of his stomach? What did he tell his wife and two sons? In Paul’s Roman letter, he tells us Simon’s wife had been like a mother to him. Although Simon bore the Savior’s cross, the Savior had borne his family’s sins, granting them eternal life.

 To the women’s mournful dirge, the procession passed under the Judgement Gate. They arrived at Golgotha and Simon laid the crossbeam at his feet. The stench of death hung heavy in the air as they nailed the beams together and hammered the pegs through the feet and hands of the condemned, each rhythmic thud mingling with their agonized grunts and yells.

 The soldiers raised three crucified men, including Jesus, and rammed the crosses into the ground, leaving the victims to hang by their wrists and push their feet against the sedile or footrest with every gasping breath. Jesus watched the soldiers cast lots for his garments. They divided them among themselves and sat down, awaiting his death.

 

                        “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”

 Despite their enduring hate and ultimate cruelty, Jesus knew these soldiers had thought no further than the centurion’s orders. Although ignorance is no plea in the face of guilt, Jesus, in his love and mercy, sought their forgiveness of his Father. Would we have been so self-sacrificing?

 One man realized Jesus was the Son of God.

 “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” Along with the crowd, the dying thief flung mocking words at Jesus, scorning the inscription Pilate had ordered over his head.

 

                                                     THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS

 But his counterpart rebuked him.

 “Don’t you fear God since you are under the same sentence? We deserve our punishment, but this man has done nothing wrong …” “Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

 “I tell you the truth. Today you will be with me in Paradise.”

 This second thief admitted his guilt and confessed to Jesus, who was sacrificing himself to atone for this same criminal’s sins. He received immediate forgiveness, and also a joyful reception in Paradise.

 The Skull rock face was a prominent location for public executions, promoting fear and demanding compliance. Since these crucifixions took place at Passover, the entire Jerusalem population and environs witnessed their deaths, and in passing by, they shook their heads. These two thieves had earned their fate, but in their opinion, Jesus had asked for it.

 “You reckon you can destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days? Save yourself by coming down from the cross.”

   The chief priests and the teachers of the law scoffed at Jesus’s miracles. “He saved others, but he can’t save himself. Let Israel’s king descend; then we will see and believe. He trusted in God and claimed to be his Son. Let him deliver him, if he will have him.”

   From noon, three hours of darkness pervaded Jerusalem. Did they peer through the gloom to watch him die? An earthquake rumbled across the city, crashing rocks apart and splitting open the graves of the saints. God ripped the temple curtain into the Holiest of Holies, from the top to the bottom. A centurion felt the earth shudder under his feet, and this act of God sent shockwaves through his body and his conscience. He’d been complicit in the murder of the Son of God.

 The guards needed to remove the bodies before the Sabbath. To hasten death, the soldiers broke their legs, but Jesus had already died. Instead, they pierced his side, and blood and water gushed to the ground. Both events aligned with prophecy, which stated his bones would not be broken, and they would gaze upon the one they had pierced. John was an eyewitness, and we can believe his testimony.

  Although God allowed the crucifixion, he protected Jesus’ slain body, and prevented decay. As evening fell, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, known to the judiciary, appealed to Pilate, who gave them permission to remove Jesus from the cross. They brought a mixture of aloes, myrrh and spices for his burial, and after wrapping it, they laid it in a fresh tomb of the rock.

 Our righteous God had watched his son die and forsaken him to carry our sin. Since salvation had been accomplished, Jesus arose after three days. Although Satan tried to destroy him, our resurrected Jesus is alive for evermore.

 All his disciples had forsaken him. He forgave them, and eleven became his apostles, spreading the gospel from Jerusalem to the known world and beyond.

 What was your worst experience? Did it break your spirit and irrevocably change your life? Satan blighted Jesus’ life, pursuing him to death, and yet, God switched this abominable tragedy into the ultimate gift of grace and forgiveness. He hasn’t forsaken you. Seek the Lord and he will renew your hope, giving you a new direction and purpose. Do everything you can to be like Jesus, loving and obeying him with all your heart because he gave his all, his very lifeblood for you. Whether you identify with the crucified thief or Joseph of Arimathea, who donated his tomb to the Messiah, Jesus’s death paid for your sin. The resurrection is proof of his victory over sin and death.

 

 History pivots on the cross of Christ, a juxtaposition of tragedy and beauty, a triumph of life over death, and hope over despair. The nails didn’t hold Jesus to the cross: it was his love for us. Will you choose him, his life, hope, and peace? And serve him all your days? This is my prayer this Easter.

 

                                           WERE YOU THERE WHEN THEY CRUCIFIED MY LORD?

 

  My sin held him there. Thank God he has dealt with it on this Roman cross. What about yours?

 

 

For another perspective, please read scroll down to the companion article from Easter 2024, “The women at the cross.”