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 6th hour, there was a darkness all
over the earth until about the 9th 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.
