Chapter 19
By the time
that Pilate had passed judgement and commanded Jesus to be crucified, the sun
was just coming up. It was early Friday morning and I was tired, but I just
couldn’t miss a second of what was going on. Jesus would be executed on
Golgotha with two other criminals who were already scheduled to die that day.
All three were given their cross-beams to carry. The beams were four cubits
long and heavy. The Roman soldiers placed the beam on the condemned man’s back,
wrapped his arms around it, and tied his hands to it. The condemned men had to
carry their cross-beam through the streets of Jerusalem and up the hill called
Calvary. Jesus was especially tortured, since he had been beaten just an hour earlier.
His back was bloody and shredded, so the cross-beam was especially painful to
carry. He had not slept in two days nor eaten since the day before. I don’t see
how he did it. But he did!
As the
prisoners were paraded through Jerusalem, crowds lining the narrow streets. Many
wept; some jeered, but everyone watched. They couldn’t believe the spectacle.
Jesus the kind teacher; Jesus the compassionate healer; Jesus the friend of
everyone; condemned to die with two common criminals! What evil was displayed
on that Passover eve Friday!
Halfway up
the hill to Golgotha, Jesus stumbled. I could see that his energy was gone. He
just couldn’t go one more step. The soldier pushing him lashed out with a whip,
but Jesus just couldn’t go on. He collapsed on his knees with one end of the
cross-beam on the ground. The Roman soldier looked around and pointed to a
strong onlooker, “You! Come here and carry this beam up the hill for me! Yeah,
You! I, pointing to you!” As the man stepped forward, the other soldiers cut
the bindings from the beam. The man hoisted the beam as the soldiers dragged
Jesus to his feet and prodded him on.
I couldn’t
believe my eyes and ears. Women crying and wringing their hands in sorrow. Men
shouting for Jesus to avenge himself. Dogs barking at the noise and children
running along curious to see what was happening.
When the
three condemned men reached the summit of the hill, there were hundreds of folk
already there to get a front-row view. There were scores of upright poles on
the brow of the hill where scores of prisoners could be executed. The Roman
executioners selected three upright poles, each one eight or nine cubits high.
The cross-beams would be set on top of the upright poles. Then they stripped
the prisoners naked, forced them to the ground and nailed their outstretched
hands to the cross-beams. To my dying day, I will never forget their screams of
pain as each hand was nailed to the wood.
But Jesus was
different. He laid down on the ground all by himself. He stretched out his arm
without being forced to and nodded to the Roman Soldier with the hammer. The
soldier was in shock and hesitated - but only for a moment. He hammered the spike
into the hand as Jesus grimaced in pain. But Jesus didn’t cry out. He suffered
in silence. And then Jesus held out his other arm for the other nail. The
kneeling soldier let his hand holding the hammer slump to the earth. He had
never seen a man executed with such dignity! Another soldier came over and took
the hammer from the first soldier and nailed Jesus’ other hand to the
cross-beam. Then, with two soldiers hoisting Jesus’ torso up, two soldiers
lifted the cross-beam up into place, working from two stout ladders. A fifth
soldier nailed a long spike through Jesus feet into the upright pole. The soldiers
removed their ladders and stepped back to inspect their work.
Two soldiers
ripped apart Jesus’ clothing and divided it among them. But his outer robe was
seamless, so they cast lots to decide who would get the robe.
The other two
criminals were writhing around screaming in pain. Jesus was obviously in pain
too, but he was unusually quiet. I couldn’t help but recall the words of
Isaiah, “He was oppressed, and he was
afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the
slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his
mouth.” I had seen hundreds of lambs die. They died quietly. I saw Jesus
die that day. He died quietly.
I remembered
Isaiah again, “He is despised and
rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it
were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he
hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken,
smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he
was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and
with his stripes we are healed.” I saw Jesus die, and I am a witness that
he died as that perfect Passover lamb. He died in our place for our sins. No!
He died in my place for my sins!
At about the
sixth hour as the sun was high in the sky, it suddenly became dark. The wind
picked up and the air fell cooler. The Roman Soldiers became uneasy and the
jeering crowd quieted. It was completely dark until the ninth hour. It was as if
even God Himself did not want to look on the gruesome scene. About the ninth
hour, Jesus spoke for the first time. He looked at John, his disciple, and
commissioned him to look after his mother.
A soldier
brought s sponge dipped in vinegar and wine to numb Jesus’ pain. The soldier
put it on a reed and held it up to Jesus’ lips. But when Jesus tasted the mix,
he refused it. It seemed that Jesus wanted to be fully awake as he died. Then,
just at the time of the afternoon sacrifice at the Temple, Jesus cried with a
loud voice, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit!” And with that, his
head slumped forward, and he died.
In a few
moments, the sun returned to its strength and the Roman centurion could be seen
shaking his head in amazement. I heard him say, “I have never seen a man die
like this man has died!”
The Jewish
leaders didn’t want the crowd hanging around when Passover began at the twelfth
hour, so they asked that the legs of the condemned men be broken. With broken
legs, they would not be able to support their weight and would soon suffocate.
The soldiers broke both legs of the first and then the second criminal, but
when they came to Jesus, he was already dead. One soldier pushed his spear up
into Jesus’ chest. Water and blood came out indicating that his heart had
stopped. The soldier was satisfied. Jesus the great teacher was dead. It was
over. Or was it?
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