At the age of 33, Jesus was condemned to death.
At the time, crucifixion was the most painful and humiliating method of killing available. It was designed for the worst criminals and those the Romans wanted to make an example of.
As it so happened, there were 3 people they wanted to make an example of on this day: (not theives as traditionally mentioned) they were revolutionaries, insurrectionists 1There was no capital punishment for theives at this time. The Greek word lēstēs can be used of robber, however is mainly used for the Zealots (rebels) by Josephus. The NLT translates the verse:
“John 18:40 (NLT) 40 But they shouted back, “No! Not this man. We want Barabbas!” (Barabbas was a revolutionary.)”
Also See: Luke 23:19 (NLT) “(Barabbas was in prison for taking part in an insurrection in Jerusalem against the government, and for murder.)” .
They wanted to bring down Rome’s domination & occupation of Jerusalem and used violence to achieve it. They were rebels and Rome was about to show what happens when you dare stand up against them.
Many know the name of one of these men: Barrabas. Many do not know that his full name was actually ‘Jesus Bar Abbas’ or ‘Jesus son of the father’. Isn’t it amazing that the chant of the crowd was actually ‘give us Jesus the son of the father’ while Jesus, the Son of The Father (Jesus of Nazareth – the Anointed one) was condemned to this gruesome and torturous death.
Jesus Christ took the place of the rebel Jesus, being nailed to the middle cross, a rebel to His left and right. You and I are rebels before God.
A question: will you be judged as a rebel & suffer eternal death or accept the gift Jesus purchased for you by dying on the cross?
Physically, it was even more painful for Jesus than for most. Unlike other criminals condemned to death by crucifixion, Jesus was to be nailed to the cross by His hands and feet.
Each ‘nail’ was 15 – 20cm 2 6 to 8 inches long and not the thin smooth wood nails we often think of. They were closer to metal spikes than nails.
These spikes were driven into His wrists, not into His palms as is commonly portrayed. There’s a tendon in the wrist that extends to the shoulder. The Roman guards knew that when the spikes were being hammered into the wrist, that tendon would tear and break, forcing Jesus to use His back muscles to support Himself just so He could breathe.
Both of His feet were nailed together. Thus He was forced to support Himself on the single nail that impaled His feet to the cross. Jesus could not support Himself with His legs because of the pain so He was forced to alternate between arching His back then using His legs just to continue to breathe.
All the while, His beaten and torn flesh was scarping against the sharp painful wood. At this point, He had been whipped, but not the 39 times often quoted. 39 was common for Roman citizens: there were 40 lashings prescribed, but they would deduct one just in case they counted wrong and did 1 too many. In that case, the person whipping would then be subject to the same punishment. 39 was far safer for the punisher! But non-Roman citizens didn’t have this 40 lash limit.
We do not know exactly how many Jesus received. What we do know is that these soldiers were big, strong, brutal and likely very annoyed that they had to be working through a festival due to this trouble maker. Tearing out His beard, beating Him (while blindfolded so He could not even brace Himself), spitting on Him and then even making a crown with thorns – virtually the last place left available on Jesus to inflict pain.
The whipping itself was not with a simple whip that we see in movies or envisage. The whip had many tails with pieces of bone, metal and pottery attached to the ends. The punisher would then swing the whip so that all the cords would wrap around the body and the sharp pieces would dig into the skin and stay attached. Then, the punisher would yank the whip and each piece of bone or metal would tear out a chunk of flesh. That was 1 strike.
So severe was this whipping technique, that is was common for the bone to be exposed. This was enough to kill a strong man, and would leave a man permanently disfigured .
We read that Jesus could not physically carry the cross beam very far due to the severity of His torture up until this point. He was very nearly dead – the only reason the Romans would allow a supposed concession and force someone else to carry the beam for some of the distance.
In this state, He was nailed to the cross, the cross lifted up & dropped into its place.
Imagine the struggle, the pain, the suffering, the courage, just to breathe.
Yet Jesus endured this reality for over 3 hours forcing Himself to breathe.
Yes, over 3 hours so he would die at the prescribed time!
Can you imagine this kind of suffering? A few minutes before He died,
Jesus stopped bleeding. He was simply pouring water from his wounds.
The human adult body contains about 3.5 litres of blood – every drop was shed to pay for the sins of the world. That’s you and me.
A skilled Roman soldier knew just where to thrust his spear to make sure someone was dead. The spear punctured the side and no reaction, no breathe, no cry, just blood and water. Death.
It was finished.
But not in the way you may think. Sure His physical life was over (for now), but He had actually stated “It is finished” before He died.
What did he mean?
A clue is given by Jesus in the statement He issued just before this:
Crying out in Aramaic from Psalm 22:1
“Then at three o’clock Jesus called out with a loud voice,
“Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?”
which means “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” Mark 15:34 (NLT)
Why had God, His Father, forsaken Jesus? Before He came to earth, Jesus the Son was in perfect unity with God the Father 3John 17:5 (NLT) Now, Father, bring me into the glory we shared before the world began.
Philippians 2:6 (NLT) 6 Though he was God,
he did not think of equality with God
as something to cling to. , what could possibly cause a rift? It’s an important truth we need to grasp:
It was our sin!
Jesus was sinless, perfect in His love of God and obedience to Him. Yet, when He was crucified, an unavoidable spiritual law kicked into action. This law stated that anyone hung on a tree became a curse, became sin 4 Galatians 3:13 (NLT) 13 But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” .
He had no sin, so the only sin that He could take on, was yours and mine. All of it, from every person for all time.
Taking on this sin, He was separated from His Father, the Holy God, never being able to be in the presence of sin.
Despite His physical pain, despite the torment of being naked, shamed and rejected, despite His imminent death, THIS was what He cried about – separation from God His Father!
Such was the unity, such was the love between God and His Son, but they both willingly gave that up in order to rescue you from your ultimate fete – eternal separation from God.
My prayer is that God will open your spiritual eyes to understand the implications of what Jesus endured on this terrible, traumatic day, with potentially terrific results.
But that bit is up to you…how will you respond right now?
Christ suffered for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, but he died for sinners to bring you safely home to God. He suffered physical death, but he was raised to life in the Spirit. 1 Peter 3:18 (NLT)
Footnotes:
- 1There was no capital punishment for theives at this time. The Greek word lēstēs can be used of robber, however is mainly used for the Zealots (rebels) by Josephus. The NLT translates the verse:
“John 18:40 (NLT) 40 But they shouted back, “No! Not this man. We want Barabbas!” (Barabbas was a revolutionary.)”
Also See: Luke 23:19 (NLT) “(Barabbas was in prison for taking part in an insurrection in Jerusalem against the government, and for murder.)” - 26 to 8 inches
- 3John 17:5 (NLT) Now, Father, bring me into the glory we shared before the world began.
Philippians 2:6 (NLT) 6 Though he was God,
he did not think of equality with God
as something to cling to. - 4Galatians 3:13 (NLT) 13 But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”