Message
John 19:16b-27
Not Business As Usual
Read John 19:16b-27
Modern technology means that we have been on-the-spot witnesses to many atrocities which have occurred in the last few years.
Desert Storm and the Invasion of Iraq
September 11.
The recent terrorist attack in Christchurch
When we witness such events they all bring us to the same question, “How can mankind do this to another member of mankind?”.
The same question can be asked about the events surrounding our text the soldiers crucified Jesus. How can mankind do this to another member of mankind? For us the answer is difficult to see – for the soldiers the answer is simple.
A crucifixion is just business as usual.
Another day.
Another crucifixion.
They do it as part of their duties.
At Golgotha, Jesus is quickly thrown backwards with His shoulders against the wood. The legionnaire feels for the depression in the front of the wrist. He drives a heavy, square, iron nail through the wrist and deep into the wood. Quickly he moves to the other side and repeats the action, being careful to allow some flexing and movement. Then the cross is placed upright into a hole – His whole body being jarred.
Once upright the left foot is 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. Jesus 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. As Jesus pushes Himself upward to avoid the stretching torment, He places His full weight on the nail through His feet. Again, there is the searing agony of the nail. Soon arms fatigue and great waves of cramps sweep over the muscles knotting them in deep, relentless, throbbing pain.
From that point there are 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 lungs slowly fills with serum and begin to compress the heart. Eventually the one crucified will die from suffocation, or heart failure.
That was crucifixion. A terrible way to treat another member of humanity –
… but business as usual for the Roman soldiers.
So when we read that the soldiers … took His clothes and divided them into four shares … and they decided by lot who will get … the seamless garment … we also need to recognise that this was just business as usual.
Army regulation stated that the property of the person condemned to death could be legitimately taken by those who executed the sentence – these four soldiers had legal authorisations to lay a claim to the clothes and other personal items of the bandit who was crucified.
His jacket.
His sandals.
His belt.
And the seamless garment.
They now belonged to someone else. Four piles of booty, plus a garment that needed to allocated by the throw of a dice. Just picture it – business as usual at the foot of the cross.
Here we have a number of soldiers leaning over some dice – watching for their number.
Here we have a pile of clothing – a perk for being willing to put people to death. They gamble for a treasure.
The owner looks on … those are his clothes … but dead men don’t need clothes.
Casting lots for the possessions of Christ. Heads ducked. Eyes downward. Cross forgotten. The symbolism is striking isn’t it.
They are at the foot of the cross – but the cross is not empty. They are gambling over a pile of clothes – while the owner hangs by three nails just a metre above their heads. He is bleeding and gasping and dying.
How in the world can this happen? How can individuals be so cold as to have this eternal drama being played out over their heads? How can they be so blasé, complacent and hard-hearted as to carrying on in a business-as-usual fashion while the eternal Son of God bleeds, chokes, and dies?
The symbolism is striking isn’t it.
But so is the realisation that – if we are not careful – the crucifixion can just become business as usual.
I can read that text where it says that the soldiers, having beaten Him, took Him out to a place known as Golgotha, the Place of the Skull. They nailed His hands to the cross-member, dropped it down on top of the upright, nailed His feet to the base of it and there they murdered Jesus Christ.
There! I’ve done it. I am reminded again.
But what do I feel inside?
Does the crucifixion keep challenging me?
Does the crucifixion keep changing me?
Does the crucifixion keep comforting me?
Or am I just like the soldiers?
Common soldiers witnessing the world’s most uncommon event and not even really acknowledging its significance. We like to think we would be different – but are we?
We are not witnessing an ordinary event – we are witnessing the humiliation of the Son of God. Remember what the soldiers are doing?
they took His clothes.
when these were divided there was still the undergarment remaining.
If they have taken His clothes and if they have taken His undergarments what does Jesus have left?
Jesus has no clothes.
Jesus has no undergarment.
Jesus is naked as He hangs on the cross.
It’s a shameful act.
In order to make the shame of the crucifixion as great as possible the crucified person was stripped of all their clothing. The soldiers did this to Jesus as part of business-as-usual. But there is nothing business-as-usual about this. For they have striped God naked and exposed Him to the greatest shame of all.
Humiliation upon humiliation is thrust upon Jesus. Its no wonder the well dressed Pharisees and teachers of the law scoffed at the idea that this was the promised Messiah.
The whole idea of following a naked Christ is offensive.
It’s foolishness.
It’s blasphemy.
It’s … it’s just another picture of the sacrifice and humiliation Jesus was willing to go through so that we could be called His children. It had to be this way.
You see Jesus doesn’t hang in humiliation because He was a victim of circumstance.
This happened that the Scripture might be fulfilled that said, “They divided My clothes among them and cast lots for My garment”.
John 19:24
The Scripture being spoken of here is Psalm 22:18.
They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.
Psalm was written by King David – who lived almost 1000 years before Jesus.
When a verse of Scripture from the Old Testament is quoted in the New Testament, don’t just go back and read the one verse – read the context.
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish?
Psalm 22:1
But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by everyone, despised by the people.
All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads.
“He trusts in the Lord,” they say, “let the Lord rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him.”
Psalm 22:6-8
Dogs surround me, a pack of villains encircles me; they pierce my hands and my feet.
All my bones are on display; people stare and gloat over me.
Psalm 22:16-17
It might seem like foolishness and blasphemy to put one’s hope in a suffering Messiah. But that was always the plan.
Even the soldiers gambling at the foot of the cross for the garments of the Messiah – His only worldly possession – even that was known.
Jesus’ death was not just something that just happened.
Jesus’ death wasn’t just the result of popular opinion turning against him.
Jesus’ death and the loss of His clothes wasn’t just the result of gambling soldiers.
The death of Jesus Christ was in God’s mind before the foundation of the world. Its all part of a much bigger plan. A plan that has our … my … your … eternal salvation in mind.
And that means, while we might see something of ourselves in the soldiers, we cannot allow the reading of this … and many … sections of Scripture to just become business-as-usual.
Emotionally the soldiers were able to deal with this thing.
This whole situation probably just made them frustrated, resentful and angry.
First century Judea was considered to be part of the backwaters of the Roman Empire. To be deployed here was to be given the short-straw.
These Roman soldiers were the unlucky ones – they were looking for fights and adventure – they ended up being nothing more than peace-keepers in a nation of religious fanatics.
They have no emotional attachment to this whole event.
Indeed there is not even a theological problem for them.
The theology of the Roman Empire was "Caesar is ‘god’".
The theology of a Roman soldier was that he worshipped many “gods”
Who is this Jesus? He claims to be God. So have heaps of others.
Who is this guy?". "He’s the One who healed some sick people and He’s the One who last Sunday hauled in all the big crowds and the palm branches and stuff. I don’t know. Let’s just get this over with, and, by the way, I want that coat".
They don’t even see the danger they are in … and they don’t care.
But we do not have that luxury. We can’t sit back and remain emotionally detached.
This is our Saviour.
This is the One who has come to take our sin.
This is the One who was willing to go through hellish humiliation so that we would have the opportunity to stand before the Father in eternal heavenly bliss.
He is covering my debt.
He is carrying my shame.
He will endure my punishment.
Mankind has just pinned the Son of God to a wooden cross … because God didn’t want to do the same for those who He calls His own.
It can’t be business-as-usual.
So that is the application question today isn’t it.
Do I live as if the crucifixion of Jesus is just business as usual?
Or do I live as one who is constantly being transformed by the crucifixion of Jesus?
Prayer
