Lent Day 40: The wonderful terrible cross

Jesus really dies. His death is brutal, carried out by experienced soldiers who know how to execute criminals. At the time, there is no doubt that his crucifixion is effective and final. Here's how the eyewitnesses remember it. (John 19:16-42)

Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified.

So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). There they crucified him, and with him two others – one on each side and Jesus in the middle.

Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: jesus of nazareth, the king of the jews. Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, ‘Do not write “The King of the Jews”, but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews.’

Pilate answered, ‘What I have written, I have written.’

> Of the prophecies in the Jewish scriptures, over 300 were fulfilled by Jesus. Sure, there were prophetic details no one understood at the time. But there were clearly things happening that Jews expected of the Messiah.

> Yet on the day, most people missed the wonder of God's redemption through Jesus Christ! when scripture was being fulfilled right before their eyes.

When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom.

‘Let’s not tear it,’ they said to one another. ‘Let’s decide by lot who will get it.’ This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled that said, ‘They divided my clothes among them.' So this is what the soldiers did.

> To the very end, Jesus is thinking of others. He provides for his mother and gives his disciple a task, someone dear to care for.

Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing near by, he said to her, ‘Woman, here is your son,’ and to the disciple, ‘Here is your mother.’ From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.

> Jesus has obeyed his Father in heaven in every way. He has endured unimaginable suffering - mental, physical, and spiritual. He has been abandoned by his closest friends, beaten by a mob of soldiers, and mocked by religious leaders. He has finished what he came to do.

> HE HAS DONE IT! The justice of God, represented by temple sacrifices, has been satisfied once, for all time. There is no more penalty for those who receive the free gift of God = reconciliation. His righteousness is attributed to you if you will accept it.

> Can you grasp this? No further good works are necessary for eternal life with God. Jesus has done it all and your salvation has been completely won!! To God be the glory and the praise!

Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, ‘I am thirsty.’A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. When he had received the drink, Jesus said, ‘It is finished.’ With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. 

The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. 

> Anyone who claims that Jesus didn't really die wasn't at the crucifixion site. It was clear to every eyewitness that Jesus was dead and gone. 

> DID YOU KNOW? After Jesus' resurrection, the Jewish leaders paid the soldiers at the tomb to say his body was stolen by his disciples. That myth, much more acceptable than resurrection from the dead, was widely spread. Read an eyewitness account of the deception here.

The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: ‘Not one of his bones will be broken, and, as another scripture says, ‘They will look on the one they have pierced.’

Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about thirty-five kilograms. 

> Remember Nicodemus from John 3? Read about his visit with Jesus here. 

Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was near by, they laid Jesus there.

> Jesus was crucified almost 2000 years ago. How do his death and resurrection affect how you live you now and determine your destination after death?

> Here's a song of reflection on what Jesus endured - and what he accomplished for you and me. (Lyrics translated into Bahasa Indonesia.)