WOUNDS OF JESUS
And one will say to him, ‘What are these wounds in your hands?’ Then he will answer, ‘Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.’ (Zecharaiah 13:6)
“Julius Caesar” is a well known drama written by the great playwright Shakespeare. Julius Caesar was a Roman statesman and military general. For fear that Julius Caesar was gaining too much popularity and was ambitious to become the king as a result of his many victories, his conspirators take Brutus who is a good friend of Caesar into their confidence. Together, they plan to kill Caesar convincing Brutus that it was for the welfare of the country that it must be done. So the story goes and inspite of many warnings , Julius Caesar still comes to the Capitol after his return from war and there he is brutally stabbed by Marullus, Flavius and other conspirators. But the most hurting and fatal injury that is inflicted to Caesar is the stabbing by Brutus. When Caesar turns around and recognizes that Brutus , his dearest friend has joined hands with his enemies, he gasps, “Et tu Brute!” meaning ,”You too Brutus!” and he falls down dead. The wound and agony that led to Caesar’s death was not so much the piercing of the dagger as much as the agony inflicted in the soul by the one whom he had trusted and loved so much had betrayed and stabbed him.
Of course, this story is no comparison to what our Saviour Jesus Christ has suffered. But in the Scripture portion that we’re studying today, the prophet Zechariah records in verse 6 of the 13th chapter- “And one will say to him, ‘What are these wounds in your hands? Then he will answer, “Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.”
Truly, aren’t wounds inflicted by friends more agonzing than the hurt from those we know hate us? Jesus came to His own and His own did not receive Him (John 1:11). Again in John 15:18 we read Jesus telling His disciples, “You know that the world hates you because it first hated me. If you were of the world , the world would love you. Yet because you are not of the world, I chose you out of the world it hates you.”
The extent to which the world hated Jesus is evident in the unfair arrest, trial and crucifixion. In any trial, an individual who’s convicted of some crime is arrested and imprisoned and later tried in the courts of law and only then the judgement is given. But in Jesus’ case, the trial was unjust at every step. Jesus was arrested first by betrayal of Judas at a time when Jesus was in prayer. After the arrest the high-priests and the Sanhedrin started searching for a cause to convict and comdemn Jesus. Unable to lay upon Jesus any valid accusation worthy of death sentence, they transferred Him to the Roman authority laying charges that Jesus was defying the Roman government and claiming to be the King of the Jews. In less than 24 hours they had arrested, accused Him before the Sanhedrin, took Him to Pilate, then to Herod and then back to Pilate and secured the orders for death sentence by crucifixion.
We are not sure who invented punishment by crucifixion, but it was one of the most heinous, most inhuman and cruelest way to put a person to death. The person was nailed to the cross in an open and high place where every one could see and mock them. It was a very slow process of leading to death involving excruciating pain and torture. Crucifixion is no longer practiced as a form of punishment. All the governments of the world have unanimously decided not to use crucifixion to execute any criminal ; one may be hanged or shot but never crucified.
The saga of Christ’s suffering was not just the crucifixion. Crucifying was the Roman form of execution : the Jews punished by scourging or whipping. It was most unjust that Jesus was made to suffer both the punishments. The Jewish court would order 40 slashes for the worst crime. The whip was a very cruel instrument designed to tear the skin and the muscle of the accused. One study says that the whip was made of three strong strings woven together with four hooks of bone or metal at the end of each string. So it meant 12 wounds at one whipping. Many times the accused would die by bleeding caused by whipping alone. Jesus was whipped 39 times. His whole body was bleeding ; and as if that didn’t quench their thirst for blood, they weaved a crown of thorns and thrust it upon His head, so that even His face was drenched with blood.
Bleeding thus from head to toe, Jesus was made to carry His cross up the hill to a place called Golgotha where he was to be crucified by driving long nails into His hands and feet.
Who at this point has no tears in their eyes? Have you ever heard or seen a trial so cruel, so unjust and so gory as the trial of Jesus Christ!
It was a custom to offer wine or vinegar to the crucified to ease pain. The soldiers offered vinegar to Jesus but He refused. It is said that medically there are 5 kinds of wounds, and Jesus suffered all the five kinds of wounds in His body. (1) Contused wound –this is the kind of wound caused by striking with a blunt object such as a rod . In Mat. 27:30 & John 18:22 we read that Jesus was struck on His head with a rod and spat on His face and hit with their palms on His cheeks. (2)Lacerated wound – was caused by tearing of the skin. Jesus received this kind of wound by the whipping. Isaiah 50:6 says it was like long furrows made on His back. (3) Penetrating wound – this wound was caused by the crown of thorns thrust into Jesus’ forehead mocking Him to wear it as a king . The thorns in Jerusalem are said to be nearly 4 inches long. (4) The fourth kind is Perforating wound where a sharp instrument such as a nail is driven through and through. Long nails were hammered into the hands and feet of Jesus to keep Him fixed to the cross. (5)The last kind of wound is Incision- one caused by piercing with a sharp knife like instrument or with a spear or javelin. After He had shed every drop of blood the soldiers pierced the side of Jesus when water and blood flowed out indicating that He has died.
Besides all the wounds, Jesus had started bleeding in the Garden of Gethsemane when He had prayed so passionately that His sweat was like drops of blood(Luke 22:44).
Blood vessels must have ruptured and skin pores were bleeding.
As we have read in Zech.13:6 and as Jesus showed to Thomas the marks of His wounds , we understand that the Resurrected Body and the Glorified Body of Jesus still bear the scars of the wounds in His flesh. The Prince of preachers C.H. Spurgeon has said in one of his sermons that the wounds of Christ in heaven will be a theme of eternal wonder to the angels and for all the redeemed. “ Healing, miracle working Jesus is wonderful but this Lamb of God with the marks of love will be the most beautiful and adored. When we get to heaven there will no wonder be many many beautiful and awesome things to look around and enjoy, but even they will not enthrall us when we see the wounds of our dear Saviour.”
In closing I’d like to quote the words from C.H. Spurgeon’s sermon… “To the eye of the believer, Christ is never so glorious, never so passing fair, as when we can say of Him, “My Beloved is white and ruddy,” white with innocence, and ruddy with his own blood. He never seems so beautiful as when we can see Him as the rose and the lily: lily with matchless purity, as rose crimsoned with his own gore. We talk of Christ in His beauty, in diverse places raising the dead and stilling the tempest, but Oh! There never was a matchless Christ as that did hang upon the Cross!
It’s my prayer that your spiritual eyes be opened to see the love of God in the wounds of Jesus. He was wounded for our transgression, the punishment of our sins was laid upon Jesus. Trust Jesus, submit your life to Him and experience the miraculous way Jesus heals all your wounds.
God bless you.
