Jesus Was Treated As A Common Criminal Yet Was Rich In His Death.

Last week, when I dealt with verse 8, I showed that the prophet Isaiah indicated that the suffering servant would die. Now, Isaiah says that the suffering servant would be assigned a grave with the wicked and the rich in his death. If we look at Jesus Christ, then this was certainly the case. As a person who was executed by crucifixion, Jesus Christ was labelled either as a low-life common criminal, such as a thief or a slave trying to escape, or an enemy of the Roman state. So for all intentions, the Roman authorities were declaring that Jesus was a wicked person. To reinforce this, in his gospel account, Mark tells us that two others were executed at the same time as Jesus, and he says that they were thieves. “And with him they crucify two thieves; the one on his right hand, and the other on his left.” (Mark 15: 27, KJV) The New Testament Greek word used here is “lestes, " meaning robber, plunderer, freebooter, or brigand. Last week we saw that Jesus Christ was found innocent by Pontius Pilate, the local Roman Governor when he was accused of being a king. But despite that, the Romans were now treating him as a common criminal. To be clear, despite the highest authority in Judea finding Jesus innocent, he was treated as a wicked person who deserved to be punished like a common criminal.

Normally, a condemned person would die a slow agonising death. But that was not the end. Instead of being given a proper burial, the person who had died would be left on the cross for several days so that passers-by could see the body, then the body would be unceremoniously thrown away into a nearby ditch or something similar. This was meant to be a deterrent for others. However, with Jesus, this did not happen. Instead, “Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the Council, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. Pilate was surprised to hear that he was already dead. Summoning the centurion, he asked him if Jesus had already died. When he learned from the centurion that it was so, he gave the body to Joseph. So, Joseph bought some linen cloth, took down the body, wrapped it in the linen, and placed it in a tomb cut out of rock.” (Mark 15: 34, NIV) Matthew, the gospel writer stated that Joseph of Arimathea was a rich person, “As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus.” And so we can see clearly that the prophecy written 700 years before Jesus Christ was on the earth, was fulfilled by Jesus Christ. He was killed as a wicked person but he was given a rich man’s burial.

What does this mean for us today? First and foremost, God said that this would happen and it did, therefore, we can have confidence that whatever God says to each one of us, He will be faithful to His Word and fulfil that word. Secondly, God can change a person’s circumstances, instead of disposing of Jesus' body as if it were a piece of trash, God intervened and gave Jesus a proper burial. The crucifixion showed how low humanity can go. There are too many accounts where we see that those in authority say it is ok to treat a person like a piece of trash.

The Germans in the Second World War herded the Jews, and others into the death camps and exterminated them. Putin’s Russia is firing rockets into Ukraine and hitting residential areas. The hostage-taking by Hamas just last year, and the butchering of civilians by them. The Rwandan genocide was when the Tutsis were massacred by their neighbouring Hutis. Pakistani Muslims killing Christians in brick kilns. I could go on.

But God showed us that he values all of us to a much higher level. He wants to give everyone a real sense of dignity and worth. He wants to raise our self-esteem. The fact that Jesus died for us shows just how much God loves us. God was prepared to send His own Son onto this earth, get abused by His own creation, killed in the most gruesome manner so that we can live a life in the manner that God originally planned for us.

Today, God wants us to raise ourselves out of the pit, to look up, and see the glorious view that God has for us. John the Gospel writer wrote in one of his letters, “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” (1 John 3:1, NIV) He wants us to look at our neighbours, friends, and family and know that God has the same plan of dignity and worth for them, and we need to treat them accordingly with dignity and worth. Luke, in his Gospel account, stated that we should, “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” (Luke 6:31, NIV) and of course, Jesus told the crowds the parable of the Good Samaritan, who helped a man, an enemy who was in great distress. Jesus pointedly asked a question, “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.” (Luke 10: 36&37, NIV) Today, God is calling us to be good neighbours to those who are in our sphere of influence. Even those who we struggle with.