March 27, 2022
They Crucified Him
The
beauty of springtime often emerges during the Lenten season. Blossoming
daffodils and dogwoods invite us out of winter doldrums. Weary of storms and
cold weather, we joyfully welcome the changing of the seasons and eagerly await
the pageantry of Easter. It is, however,
important during these lovely days that we take the time to soberly recall that
great deed of God two thousand years ago – the crucifixion of His Son, Jesus.
In
his Gospel, John does not describe the horrible details of Jesus’ death on a
cross. There was no need to do that. His readers understood what took place.
They had seen many people crucified by the Romans. Crucifixion was always
public, perhaps in the hope that it would deter crime. John says simply, “They
crucified him.”
Roman
citizens were spared this dehumanizing form of execution. The Romans reserved
crucifixion for slaves and others guilty of heinous crimes. It was a brutal way
to die and it was the way Jesus died. The Romans did not invent crucifixion.
They learned it from the Greeks. However, the Romans fine-tuned it. They
devised ways to make it more painful so the victim would not die quickly but
suffer many hours, sometimes days, before dying.
Metal
spikes or nails were driven into the victim’s wrists to injure the main nerve
to the hand and cause intense pain. Rupturing this nerve made it extremely
painful for the victim to use his arms to push his body upward in a desperate
effort to breathe. Another Roman tweaking of crucifixion involved the victim’s
feet. They were raised up slightly, with the knees bent a little, before being
nailed to the cross. This enabled the criminal to breathe a longer time by
pushing himself upward on the cross, allowing the lungs to expand a little. The
effort to breathe was rewarded by dreadful pain. Had the legs and feet been
allowed to hang down unrestrained, death would have come more swiftly.
The
pain of crucifixion was so terrible that a new word was coined to explain it:
excruciating. In Latin, it means torture, as in crucifying, from the cross.
Now, whenever we hear the word or use it, it can remind us of the death of
Jesus. We must not neglect to remember that the pain Jesus endured by
flagellation and by writhing on the cross was beyond agonizing. In other words,
excruciating.
As
we move through Lent, we can strengthen our faith by reflecting on the gruesome
details that John left out when he said, “They crucified him.” Embrace the
truth that Jesus was crucified for your sins. Say aloud to yourself: Jesus was
crucified for my sins. He died for me – so that I could be saved from my sins
and receive the gift of eternal life. For me, for me, he bled and died that
cruel death.
Take
time to pray. Praise Him. Tell Him you love Him. Give thanks to the One who
suffered unbearable pain so that you could enter and live in the Kingdom of
God. Wrap your mind around the most awful fact in human history – God suffering
and dying on a cross out of love for his creation. There on that cross God was
offering Jesus, the Lamb of God, to be sacrificed on the altar of sin so that
the world might be reconciled to God.
Finally,
as you reflect on the crucifixion, remember that though Jesus died for you, and
was buried in a borrowed tomb, God raised Him from the dead and He is now
alive, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. You can ask Him to help you find
ways to express your gratitude for the sacrifice He made for you on that cruel
cross. Listen carefully. I think you will hear Him saying, “Love God. Love your
neighbor. Love your enemies. Love everyone.” + + +