THE CROSS

Scripture references:   Matthew 27:32-66; Mark 15:21-47; Luke 23:26-55; John 19:17-42

My emotions have been a bit tender today as I have been thinking about this post about the cross.  The cross.  The horror and the beauty all rolled into one…. horrible way to die and yet a glorious symbol of a Savior and King. 

Crucifixion, the Roman mode of punishment, was a painful way to die.  After the “criminal” was beaten and scourged and much more, the multitude would head to Golgotha, said to mean in Hebrew, a place of the skull. 

It is my understanding from one of the gospels that Jesus began the trip to Golgotha carrying his own cross, but bent and fell from the weight of it.  Not only was it a heavy wooden cross, but it carried with it our iniquities.  A man, Simon of Cyrene, was compelled to carry the cross for Jesus.   A great company of women, men and others followed, crying for him. 

At Calvary, they nailed his hands and feet to the cross and reared it up with him hanging on it.    As we “behold” this manner of death he endured and died, let us  “behold” with what manner of love he had for US.

Above the cross was a sign with a title written by Pilate, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS.  The chief priests were not happy about this and asked Pilate to write I AM KING OF THE JEWS.  Pilate refused to change the sign. 

“Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.”  Luke 23:34

The soldiers took his clothing and divided it but cast lots for his coat. 

They gave him vinegar mixed with gall to drink and he would not drink.

They mocked him.

He was crucified with two thieves and hung in the middle of them, the middle one usually signifying the worst crime of the three.   He was at his death counted with the transgressors so that we might be counted with the saints.    One of the thieves said to him “If thou be Christ, save thyself and us.”  The other rebuked him and said, “…we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss.” 

“And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.  And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in paradise.”   Luke 23:42, 43.   Compassion.

The Scriptures say that at about the 6^th hour, there was a darkness all over the earth until about the 9^th hour….three hours of darkness. 

Jesus cried out, “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?”

Jesus said, “I thirst” and they filled a sponge with vinegar, put it on a branch and gave him.    When he had received the vinegar, he cried, “It is finished,” and he gave up the ghost.    It was about the ninth hour.

The soldiers then broke the legs of the two thieves but when they came to Jesus, saw that he was dead already.   One of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and out came blood and water. 

When Jesus died, Matthew 27:51-54 says this:

“And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; And he graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose.  And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.  Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.”

With the evening approaching, Joseph of Arimathaea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus; and Pilate gave him leave.  He came therefore, and took the body of Jesus.”  John 19:38

Nicodemus, the same Nicodemus who came to Jesus about salvation in John 3:1-21, came also bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes.  The two men took the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices which was the Jewish custom of burial.  In the place of the crucifixion was a garden and in that garden was a new sepulchre  (tomb) where no one had laid.  Joseph and Nicodemus put the body of Jesus there….a borrowed tomb.

On the next day the chief priests and scribes came to Pilate and said, “Sir, we remember that the deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again.  Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse than the first.”  Matthew 27:63-64

The tomb was made “sure”, the stone was sealed and a watch was set.

Though they called Jesus a "deceiver", I wondered if maybe, just maybe, those chief priests and scribes believed a bit that Jesus WAS who he said and that he WOULD rise again.

Jesus fulfilled the will of his Father by dying on the cross for our sins.  A few months before my father-in-law went to be with the Lord, he told The Husband that he wanted a frame for a picture he had gotten.  I bought a mat, The Husband built a frame, and The Father-in-Law kept the picture hung on his wall until his passing.  The picture is now ours.  It shows and says this:

You might be one who finds the Biblical accounts of Jesus’ life and others a bit far fetched and you might ask if I REALLY believe this.  I will tell you that I REALLY do.   By faith, I know that it all happened just as the scriptures said and by faith I have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and the work HE did on the cross.  Because of that belief, at the end of this life as I know it I will  reside in heaven with him.  Yes, I DO believe for sure and hope that you do as well.   I will cherish that old rugged cross.  I will cling to that old rugged cross because it symbolizes life to me.

There is a man at my church who ends all his prayers ALWAYS with “Thank you for the cross”.  Sometimes we take that for granted but it is to me also one of the most wonderful things for which we have to give thanks.

Thank you, Lord, for the cross.

Amen.