Skipping details that you can read on your own in the gospels. I'd like to pick up the narrative as Jesus stands in the presence of Pontius Pilate. Pilate asks the crowd to choose who he should pardon, as was the custom. The crowd, through lies and coercion screams out, "Crucify him!, Crucify him!" Pontius Pilate washes his hands of it and orders Jesus to be flogged. Again he is mocked and tortured while the guards use a nine-tailed leather whip with lead balls on the ends, to tear his back open down to the bone. The splintered rugged wood of the cross is heaped on his raw back.
Reaching Golgotha, they pierced his hands and feet with nails the size of railroad ties and raise the cross up as he hung there bearing a humiliation and level of pain that we couldn't even imagine.
Hebrews 12:2, "For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame..." Do you know what that joy was that made him endure the cross? It was you, it was me, it was his love for all of us. When he hung on that cross it wasn't just a crucifixion like any other. Heaped upon Jesus was the sin of the world. Past, present and future sin of every person who has ever lived, was living, and would ever live. He bore the sins of the world.
Darkness covers the scene for 3 hours as Jesus hangs there. He has to use his pierced feet and hands to drag his raw back against the rugged wood to take each breath and to speak each last word.
The Seven Last Sayings of Jesus
"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." (Luke 23:34) - Word of Forgiveness
"Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise." (Luke 23:43) - Word of Salvation
"Woman, behold your son... Behold your mother." (John 19:26–27) - Word of Relationship
"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:34) - Word of Abandonment
"I thirst." (John 19:28) - Word of Distress
"It is finished." (John 19:30) - Word of Triumph
"Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." (Luke 23:46)
Because the Father is Holy, he cannot look upon sin. So, for the first time in eternity the Father had to look away from his son Jesus because our sin covered him. For the first time in eternity Jesus felt utterly alone and cried out, "Father why have you forsaken me!"
The earth shakes and the curtain in the temple is torn! No longer is there a barrier between us and God. Jesus gave his life to become that bridge. Our conduit to God is Christ Almighty! Because of his blood, our sins can be covered! Because of his sacrifice, we can be released from the debt of our sins. Death is conquered!Remember the two choices that I pointed out in yesterday's account? Mary and Judas. Although Christ paid the price for our sins on the cross. We have a free will whether to believe and accept that or to reject it.
The Roman soldier pierces his side and then Christ is taken down from the cross. He is buried in a tomb that is sealed by a large stone.
In closing I want to point out the story of the 10 lepers in Luke 17:11-19. They cry out for Christ to have mercy on them and heal them. He does heal all of them but only one returns to thank him. When it comes to Holy Week and what Jesus did for us, please don't forget to thank him.
To invite him into your heart to be your personal Savior and Lord, simply say this prayer: Father in heaven, I believe that your son Jesus died on the cross, and by his blood I am saved. I admit I am a sinner and I need a Savior. I invite you into my heart and my life. In Jesus name, amen.
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