Calvary: Jesus' Sacrifice for the World
“And when they were come to the place which is called Calvary, there they crucified Him”
From Pilate’s judgment hall Jesus was taken out onto the busy street. There the battle-hardened and calloused Roman soldiers slung a heavy cross over his torn and bleeding back. According to Roman law, a criminal who was not a citizen was sentenced to death by crucifixion and he was required to carry his own cross. The policy was meant to act as a deterrent against insurrection and crime. A public service announcement to stop anyone else from even thinking about breaking the law. In Jesus’ case, it was nothing more than a testament to human cruelty and guile.
Exhausted and emaciated by pain and blood loss Jesus staggered under the weight of the cross. He fell to the cobbled ground, bleeding and heaving, clearly unable to carry his own weight let alone that of a cross. The soldiers, more pragmatic than compassionate looked around them for someone who could do the job for him. Their eyes lit on the first man they saw in the crowd. He was a Cyrenian Jew, most likely in Jerusalem for the Passover with his family. His name was Simon and he was tasked with carrying the cross of Jesus to Calvary. That single shameful and arduous task changed his life.
There are times in life when God allows us to carry our own cross. It might be painful, humiliating, and hard to bear but if like Simon we choose to bear it without complaint we can be assured that the entire experience will change our lives for the better.
They crucified Jesus on a hill called Calvary between two thieves, like a common criminal. The mob gathered around the cross, mocking him and tossing insults. One of the thieves took up the refrain, pouring the bitterness and frustration pooling in his soul out on Jesus. The other thief knew there was something different about the man crucified next to him. Something Divine. Something that offered him hope in the midst of the darkest hour of his life.
The unnamed thief had hit rock bottom and was facing the nebulous uncertainty of the grave with nothing left to lose and no hope. In a moment of clarity he reached out to Jesus. He had heard about him, I’m sure. It was hard not to have heard about Jesus given the amount of attention he drew whenever he traveled. He was a healer. That above all else made him popular. He was also a man known to have fed thousands of people with barely any food. He was also reported to be the Messiah, the Son of God.
When the thief looked at the bloodied man beside him, gasping for air as he was, he recognised the Divinity that lay just below the surface of His humanity and he grasped for it like a lifeline. He begged Jesus to give him hope. Eternal hope. And Jesus didn’t fail him.
Jesus needed the thief as much as the thief needed him. To the thief Jesus represented hope beyond the grave. To Jesus the thief represented the assurance that his sacrifice would not be in vain.
Surrounded by a jeering and thankless mob, relishing his suffering, it would have been easy to wonder if his sacrifice would mean anything. The twelve men he had invested in so intentionally and tirelessly had all forsaken him. One had betrayed him. The other, one of his closest disciples, had denied him. The people he had worked so hard to reach had called for his death. Exhausted, overwhelmed and dying it would have been easy for Jesus to get discouraged. For his humanity to surge to the forefront threatening to overtake his divinity.
And yet the request of that one dying thief snapped him back to reality and reminded him of who He was and why He had come. Why he was hanging on a Roman cross when He could be sitting on the throne of the universe worshipped by unfallen beings.
Turning to the thief and locking eyes with Him Jesus promised him the one thing that He had come to give, the one thing that his death on the cross guaranteed; eternity. On the cross when Satan was tempting him to believe all was lost, that one repentant thief reminded Jesus that his sacrifice would not be in vain. If all He had to show for everything He had endured was the salvation of one man, then He would suffer and die without complaint because that one soul was worth the best gift of heaven. That one soul was enough.
Never forget that truth. If you were the only sinner walking the face of the earth, Jesus would have left heaven to be nailed to that cross for you. Because you are worth the sacrifice.
As the day wore on the sky darkened and death seemed to hang over Jerusalem like a shroud. As the sins of the entire world pressed upon Jesus’ soul, God the Father turned his face away from his beloved son. Feeling cut off from the Father’s presence Jesus cried out “My God, My God why have you forsaken me?”
Standing at the foot of the cross his mother Mary understood the significance of Simeon’s words to her when Jesus was just a baby. Inspired by the Holy Spirit Simeon had told Mary that a sword would pierce her own soul and now, watching her only child suffer and die the death of a criminal she understood what that meant.
How does a mother watch her son tortured to death? Even worse, how does a mother, who knows that her child is the Son of God bear to watch him nailed to a Roman cross? Jesus' last act was to make sure that his mother was taken care of. Looking at his beloved disciple, John who stood at his feet beside Mary, Jesus charged him with her care.
And then, looking to haven cried out “It is finished. Father, into your hands I commend my spirit” and then he bowed his head and died. Jesus didn’t die of the trauma and blood loss associated with a Roman crucifixion though there was enough of that to kill even the most hardened man. He didn’t die as a result of the asphyxiation that was generally the leading cause of death among men who were crucified.
Jesus died of a broken heart.
Not long after Jesus died soldiers came around to break the legs of the men who were nailed to the three crosses. This was done to speed up their deaths because it was Friday and the Sabbath was drawing on. The Jews wanted them dead and in their graves before sunset. When they got to Jesus they saw that he was dead. Just to be sure they pierced his side with a spear. Water and blood flowed out his side confirming their suspicion.
Separation from God, who is the source of life, is fatal. Sin causes that separation. Jesus died because your sins and mine separated Him from God. He experienced the utter devastation and despair that every sinner would experience were he to reap the consequences of his sins. He tasted the second death for you and me so that we would never have to know such despair.
How do we respond to such a gift? Eternity is ours for the taking because Jesus drank from the cup that was ours so that we would never have to taste the bitter dregs of God's wrath.
How can we turn our backs on such love?
We can’t.
And, we shouldn’t.
