AT THE CROSS
John 19:17-27
1) On the road to Golgotha (17-18). “Carrying his own cross” Other gospel accounts mention that Simon of Cyrene carried the cross for Jesus. This isn’t a contradiction. Jesus started out carrying his own cross but along the way he, being unable to proceed due to the severe torture he endured during his flogging, collapses and therefore Simon is chosen to take on the duty. Golgotha—an Aramaic word meaning "the skull." Calvary is the Latin form of the word. Various reasons for the name. One was that the shape of it resembled a skull. It may have been called that because of the executions that happened there. In any event, the name of the place was gruesomely fitting for what was going to take place there on this day. “Here they crucified him”. John is obviously very concise in mentioning Jesus’ crucifixion. He mentions nothing of what that entailed just simply mentions the fact of it. But I think it’s important to provide a description of what it entailed to give insight into what our Lord was dealing with. The following is from an article entitled, A Physician Testifies about the Crucifixion. “Preparations for the scourging were carried out when the Prisoner was stripped of His clothing and His hands tied to a post above His head. The Roman legionnaire steps forward with the flagellum in his hand. This is a short whip consisting of several heavy, leather thongs with two small balls of lead attached near the ends of each. The heavy whip is brought down with full force again and again across Jesus’ shoulders, back, and legs. At first the thongs cut through the skin only. Then, as the blows continue, they cut deeper into the subcutaneous tissues, producing first an oozing of blood from the capillaries and veins of the skin, and finally spurting arterial bleeding from vessels in the underlying muscles. The small balls of lead first produce large, deep bruises which are broken open by subsequent blows. Finally the skin of the back is hanging in long ribbons and the entire area is an unrecognizable mass of torn, bleeding tissue. One witness to a Roman flogging gave this description: "The sufferer’s veins were laid bare, and the very muscles and tendons and bowels of the victim were open to exposure." When it is determined by the centurion in charge that the prisoner is near death, the beating is finally stopped. The half-fainting Jesus is then untied and allowed to slump to the stone pavement, wet with His own blood. The Roman soldiers see a great joke in this provincial Jew claiming to be king. They throw a robe across His shoulders and place a stick in His hand for a scepter. They still need a crown to make their travesty complete. Flexible branches covered with long thorns are plaited into the shape of a crown and this is pressed into His scalp. Again there is copious bleeding, the scalp being one of the most vascular areas of the body. After mocking Him and striking Him across the face, the soldiers take the stick from His hand and strike Him across the head, driving the thorns deeper into His scalp. Finally, they tire of their sadistic sport and the robe is torn from His back. Already having adhered to the clots of blood and serum in the wounds, its removal causes excruciating pain just as in the careless removal of a surgical bandage, and almost as though He were again being whipped the wounds once more begin to bleed. In deference to Jewish custom, the Romans return His garments. The heavy crossbeam (100 pounds) is tied across His shoulders, and the procession of the condemned Christ, two thieves, and the execution detail of Roman soldiers headed by a centurion begins its slow journey along the Via Dolorosa. In spite of His efforts to walk erect, the weight of the heavy wooden beam, together with the shock produced by copious blood loss, is too much. He stumbles and falls. The rough wood of the beam gouges into the lacerated skin and muscles of the shoulders. He tries to rise, but human muscles have been pushed beyond their endurance. The centurion, anxious to get on with the crucifixion, selects an onlooker, Simon of Cyrene, to carry the cross. Jesus follows, still bleeding and sweating the cold, clammy sweat of shock, until the 650 yard journey from the fortress Antonia to Golgotha is finally completed. Simon is ordered to place the crossbeam on the ground and Jesus is quickly thrown backward with His shoulders against the wood. The legionnaire feels for the depression at the front of the wrist. He drives a heavy, square, wrought-iron nail through the wrist and deep into the wood. Quickly, he moves to the other side and repeats the action. The crossbeam is then lifted in place at the top and the sign reading "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews" is nailed in place. The left foot is now pressed backward against the right foot, and with both feet extended, toes down, a nail is driven through the arch of each, leaving the knees moderately flexed. The Victim is now crucified. As He slowly sags down with more weight on the nails in the wrists excruciating pain shoots along the fingers and up the arms to explode in the brain -- the nails in the wrists are putting pressure on the median nerves. As He pushes Himself upward to avoid this stretching torment, He places His full weight on the nail through His feet. Again there is the searing agony of the nail tearing through the nerves between the metatarsal bones of the feet. At this point, as the arms fatigue, great waves of cramps sweep over the muscles, knotting them in deep, relentless, throbbing pain. With these cramps comes the inability to push Himself upward. Hanging by his arms, the pectoral muscles are paralyzed and the intercostal muscles are unable to act. Air can be drawn into the lungs, but cannot be exhaled. Jesus fights to raise Himself in order to get even one short breath. Finally, carbon dioxide builds up in the lungs and in the blood stream and the cramps partially subside. Spasmodically, he is able to push Himself upward to exhale and bring in the life-giving oxygen. Hours of limitless pain, cycles of twisting, joint-rending cramps, intermittent partial asphyxiation, searing pain where tissue is torn from His lacerated back as He moves up and down against the rough timber. Then another agony begins...A terrible crushing pain deep in the chest as the pericardium slowly fills with serum and begins to compress the heart. It is now almost over. The loss of tissue fluids has reached a critical level; the compressed heart is struggling to pump heavy, thick, sluggish blood into the tissue; the tortured lungs are making a frantic effort to gasp in small gulps of air. The markedly dehydrated tissues send their flood of stimuli to the brain. The body of Jesus is now in extremes, and He can feel the chill of death creeping through His tissues.” Something important to consider: the other gospel accounts mention that when Jesus was crucified he was offered wine mixed with gall which was used as a sedative to lessen the pain. It says that once Jesus tasted it and realized what it was he refused it. Think about it: after having gone through such agonizing, excruciatingly painful torture what a temptation it would be to take the medicine. This shows Jesus’ willingness to fully take on the pain related to suffering for the sins of mankind. This also shows that his purpose was to be as alert as possible throughout his ordeal. How often do we seek to escape pain, physical or otherwise? Do we take some kind of sedative to deaden ourselves to the reality of what’s going on around us? Does it show that we’re not willing to trust in something other than manmade concoctions to deal with our pain? I’m not saying it’s wrong to take medicine but things like medicine, alcohol, drugs or a host of other things can be used as a means to escape. Jesus didn’t do that.
2) The sign (19-22). Jesus was crucified on a very important day in the Jewish calendar. He was crucified on the holy day of Passover. This means that the city of Jerusalem would have been packed with people who had come to celebrate Passover. When a Jewish family arrived in Jerusalem for the Passover, they would either purchase or bring with them a special bronze name tag. This nametag would have the family name written on it. They would tie a rope or thread to the tag and hang it around the neck of a lamb they were going to sacrifice. Each father desired that God would know their family was observing the Passover, and that the lamb that bore the family name was being sacrificed for them. [Similarity to Jesus, the sacrificial Lamb, having the sign with his name on it.] There was an interesting literary custom of the scribes of those days that helps us to understand the significance of the sign Pilate hung on the cross. The scribes would take the first letters of the words in a phrase and put them together to see if there would be a hidden meaning from the arrangement of these letters. This custom dates back at least to the time of the Babylonian captivity of the Jewish nation. On many crucifixes above Jesus you would see a banner with the letters “INRI”. That’s the first letters of the four words in the Latin translation of the sign. “IESVS NAZARENVS REX IUDAEORVM”. When the Hebrew rendering is translated, which is the language that the scribes would have been reading, we can soon learn why the religious leaders had a problem with it. “Yehoshua Hanatzri Vemelech Hayhoodem”. Now the custom as we said, was to take the first letter of each word and put them together to see if they had a deeper meaning. In the Hebrew translation the letters would be Y, H, V, and H. When the Jews saw those four letters together in that order it’s no wonder they insisted Pilate take it down. In the Old Testament, the letters “YHVH” (YHWH) represent the holy, unspeakable name of God. In English, we would add the vowels and pronounce it Yahweh or Jehovah. This is God’s personal name. By writing this inscription the way that he did, Pilate was writing the holy name of God upon God’s Lamb. Pilate probably didn’t know that but the Jews did and more importantly, God knew. It was as if God was saying, “See My name? This is My Lamb. It is Passover. You are taking your lambs to the Temple. When the blood is flowing in the Temple from the Passover lambs of the people, My Son’s blood will be flowing for the redemption of mankind.” This would seek to dispel the notion that in no way would the true Messiah, the real King of the Jews subject himself to such torture and humiliation. To some, the idea of God the Son 1eaving heaven to come to earth and then allow himself such cruel and inhuman treatment is absurd and just plain foolishness. 1st Corinthians 1:18, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those who are being saved it is the power of God.” The sign is there-Jesus is the Savior.
3) The soldiers’ focus (23-24). The soldiers had a focus but it wasn’t the right one. The soldiers were focused on the material rather than the spiritual. They wanted the belongings of Jesus instead of wanting to belong to Jesus. They placed value on the wrong things. They didn’t mind damaging the body of Jesus to a bloody pulp but were extra careful not to tear this valuable undergarment. These soldiers were looking down at their worldly trinkets when they should’ve been looking up at the heavenly treasure hanging on the cross. I won’t be able to see Jesus if I’m focused on worldly things. Many people today are more concerned with worldly things rather than with spiritual things. To some, material things are more valuable to them than people. Even some Christians are more concerned about the blessings of Christ than they are about having a relationship with Christ. We have many important things in our lives. But we’re in trouble when we fail to see what’s most important. Many people know of legendary U.C.L.A. basketball coach John Wooden. Wooden won ten NCAA national championships in a 12-year period—seven in a row. Within this period, his teams won a record 88 consecutive games. He was named national coach of the year six times. Basketball was obviously an important part of his life. A reporter once asked him how he was able to remain so calm amidst all the pressure of the game. Coach Wooden with a grin on face replied, “Well I carry a cross in my pocket. And when things get difficult and crazy in a game I reach into my pocket and feel that cross, and it reminds me that there is something much more important than basketball.” When we start to think that something is more important than the sacrifice of Jesus and our salvation through him we are out of focus. It’s sad that the soldiers could be so close to the cross but so far from Jesus. Some people are close to things like church or the bible but in their hearts they are far away from Christ. The soldiers were unmoved by the sacrifice of Jesus. There are people today who are going through the motions but are so unmoved by the sacrifice of Jesus. There are even some Christians who have little desire to change their lives in gratitude for what they’ve been given. 2nd Cor. 5:14-15, “For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.” If we are moved by the love demonstrated for us in sacrifice of Christ then we will be compelled by that love to live for him.
4) Jesus was focused on others (25-27). Mary was experiencing the fulfillment of Luke 2:35. When Mary and Joseph presented Jesus at the temple to dedicate him and have him circumcised, Simeon blessed them and revealed prophetic statements concerning Jesus and his impact. He finished by telling her, “And a sword will pierce your own soul too”. Jesus had compassion on his mother and knew she would need caring for. Mary was understood to be a widow at this point. And Jesus, as the elder son would no longer be able to provide for her. Why didn’t Jesus have one of his own brothers look after her? They were not believers at this point and Jesus wanted his mother in the home of her spiritual son-John. Highlight biological family vs. spiritual family. Isn’t it amazing that here during the most strenuous time in his life, Jesus is thinking about someone else. Jesus’ had an ‘others’ mindset throughout this ordeal: On his way to Golgotha (Luke 23:26-31). Jesus was warning his fellow Jews about what was going to happen to them during the siege of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. In the midst of the most difficult time of his life Jesus cared more about what was going to happen to others. Jesus asked for forgiveness for those who nailed him to the cross. Luke 23:34, “Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.” How hard is it to pray for those who hurt us and do us wrong? Jesus was focused on forgiving the thief on the cross (Luke 23:39-43). Here we see one representing rebellion and the other representing repentance. Here we understand how we are because before we repent we rebel. Someone once wrote: "Beneath the Cross of Jesus, two wonders I confess; the wonder of redeeming love and my unworthiness!" He even had us in mind (Matthew 27:39-44). The passersby mocked him and tempted him to come down. If Jesus gave in to their demands he would’ve left his purpose unfulfilled thereby nullifying our hope to be saved. But, thankfully, he resisted the temptation to silence his mockers, thinking of mankind as a whole instead. These people/religious leaders probably wouldn’t have accepted him anyway if he did come down. Jesus knew he needed to stay on the cross until the end in order to provide redemption for those who would truly believe. When we are suffering, it’s easy to focus only on ourselves and we can even insist that others focus on us too. Not that it’s entirely wrong to think of ourselves but Jesus wants us to be mindful of the needs of others. If he could do it with what he was going through I think we can make that humble sacrifice as well.
