THE MEN AT THE CROSS
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 ...