Mark 15:25 " Now it was the third hour, and they crucified Him".
No one wanted a Roman crucifixion. With its origins in the Middle East in the area which we now know as Iran, crucifixion by the Roman government was cruel, vicious, brutal, and humiliating.
The Roman soldiers always made the victim carry the cross to the place where he would be crucified.
And so, the journey began for Jesus to carry His own cross through the streets of Jerusalem. Spat upon and laughed at, His robe ripped from His body, the Roman soldiers brought the cross, which weighed over 100 pounds and made of olive wood, to Jesus. They lashed His shoulders to the cross then tied a long rope around His waist that was approximately ten feet long. (Technically, Jesus carried the crossbar of His cross). The rope was that long, so that, should the victim become reluctant to walk forward, the soldiers could pull the one being crucified down the street.
Jesus had already lost a lot of blood in the garden of Gethsemane. He had actually sweated great drops of blood through His skin through a process of the human body called “hematidrosis”. Hematidrosis can occur when a person is suffering extreme levels of stress, for example, when someone is facing their own death.
Hematidrosis causes great weakness in the human body and can cause the body to go into shock. During this process, as a result of the hemorrhaging of blood into the sweat glands, the skin becomes fragile and tender and the slightest touch can cause a considerable amount of pain.
Before Jesus was crucified, He had been struck in the face and His body had been beaten through the torture known as scourging. Scourging, practiced by the Romans, was a cruel punishment that usually preceded crucifixion.
The only ones exempted from scourging were women, Roman senators, and soldiers, except in cases of desertion. Normally there were between one and six trained Roman officers, called lectors, who were responsible for dispensing the blows to the victims. In the training, the lictors chosen to administer the scourging, had received special medical training.
The lictors knew how to wield the whip so as to open bruises which had already formed. The instrument used for scourging was a short whip called a flagrum or flagellum to which was attached several braided leather thongs of variable lengths. Knots were tied in the ends of each thong, and sheep bone or iron balls were inserted into the knots at the end of each thong.
Jesus had been stripped of his clothing and his hands were tied to a post and the Roman soldiers repeatedly struck the His back and legs with full force causing deep contusions. Lacerations from repeated blows cut into the underlying muscles of His body and ripped the overlaying skin of His back to a point where it hung in ribbons of bleeding flesh. His capillaries and veins would have been torn resulting in intense bleeding.
The pain that Jesus experienced from the scourging was intensified because of the hematidrosis in Jesus’ body. His body would now be in a state of half-shock and His body temperature would have begun to drop. At this point, there would be little fluid left to nourish the tissues of His body.
The Roman soldiers realized how hard they had pushed Him when Jesus fell to the ground and could go no further. So, they enlisted Simon of Cyrene to carry Jesus’ cross.
Once the victim reached the site of a crucifixion, a society of Jewish women would always give a victim a mixture of vinegar and myrrh, which acted like a drug, to ease the pain before the cross was lifted with the person tied to it. That day when Jesus was crucified, two thieves were crucified with Him, and the thieves drank the liquid in an attempt to ease the pain of crucifixion.
But, not Jesus.
No. He wanted His mind clear. He knew exactly what He was doing and He knew the pain that was to come. There was no attempt on His part to try to ease the discomfort or escape any of the suffering that was about to occur.
So, the Roman soldiers flung Him to the dirt and stretched His arms at 90 degree angles on the cross. Then, the soldiers drove 5 inch long spikes into His wrists.
The reason they drove the spikes into the victim’s wrists was so that at the moment of lifting the victim, the median nerve that runs from the wrist to the shoulder, would be severed and excruciating pain would race up and down the victim’s arm. The only relief possible to the victim would be death itself and doctors report that the greatest pain that someone being crucified would experience would have been when the median nerve was severed.
As the pain shot through the arms of Jesus and the two thieves that day, no one could imagine the terrifying screams that went up from the hillside in that awful, awesome moment.
Once the victim was lifted up on the cross, one of two methods was used regarding the victim’s feet. The first method would be to leave the feet hanging, which would bring about almost certain death.
The soldiers, though, had discovered a way to prolong the torture. They would place the left foot against the cross then place the right foot on top of the left and drive a spike through both feet. When the victim would begin to sag and as the body reached an angle of 65 degrees, he would be unable to breathe and carbon dioxide would fill the lungs, causing more terrifying pain. (Imagine holding your breath and not being able to breathe).
In order to relieve the pain of carbon dioxide filling the lungs, the victim would then use his feet to push himself upwards in order to exhale, thereby, resulting in more excruciating pain in his feet and legs because of the spikes in his ankles.
They crucified Jesus on the cross.
He was tortured.
He suffered.
He bled.
And, then, He died.
They cried. His family and His friends, who were gathered around the cross that day when Jesus was crucified, were broken-hearted.
Why did He have to die? Why did He have to suffer such a hideous and heinous death?
Couldn’t He have found another way?
Why is the cross so important? Why was it necessary for Jesus to die on an old rugged cross?
Because the cross is the place where Jesus shed His blood and died for our sins. And, the cross is the place of Jesus’ suffering and sacrifice for the atonement for our past, present, and future sins.
It is in that awful, terrible moment when Jesus, holy and perfect and pure as He was, and is, takes upon Himself the sins of the world and He is crucified.
It is a liberating event for you and for me for on the cross we are delivered from the penalty of our sin. The penalty would have been separation from God for eternity in that terrible place called Hell had Jesus not died for us.
Not only were we delivered from the penalty of our sins by Jesus dying on the cross, we were also delivered from the power of sin in our lives. How cruel it would have been for God to have delivered us from only the penalty of our sins but not offered freedom from the power of sin in our daily lives.
Being delivered from the penalty of sin and being delivered from the power of sin, when Jesus died on the cross, He also set us free so that one day, in heaven, we will be delivered from the presence of sin. In heaven, there will be no sin and what a glorious day that will be!
But, what about the cross today? If the cross was so important when Jesus was crucified, why is it not important to us today?
We live in a world of crosses today in our culture but the crosses are "cheap crosses." Just go into your local Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club, Target, or K-Mart and you can buy a cheap cross (always for much less than the retail price). Just Google the words “cheap crosses” and you will find many web sites where you can purchase a cheap cross.
And, certainly, you know that a lot of people need to wear a cross and other people need to have a cross hanging on the walls of their houses. But, of course, all of those crosses were bought at discount for less than the retail price.
Cheap crosses.
We see people everywhere wearing crosses around their necks on a chain. They wear their crosses in their ears as ear rings. They wear their crosses on their fingers as rings or they have their crosses tattooed on who knows how many different parts of their bodies.
And, it’s cool to wear a cross, isn’t it? Why, just ask Snoop Dog or 50 Cent or rapper Slim Thug if it isn’t cool to wear a cross around your neck. Hey, if the rappers do it, we all ought to do it!
Here is the funny thing about purchasing a cross: you can go into any Sam’s, Wal-Mart, Target, or K-Mart and buy a cross and they won’t even ask you for your O.C.I. badge (Official Christian Identification badge) that says that you are a legitimate, in good standing and long-time member of the “I’m saved because my identification badge says so” society. (Oh, wait a minute! I just remembered: wearing a cheap cross means you believe in God.)
Everybody qualifies to buy and wear a cross, whether they are a Christian or not.
Wearing a cross is appealing, isn’t it? It makes you look cool and it makes a great fashion statement. And cheap crosses profit the companies that make them because they don’t cost a lot to make. So, all in all, if everyone will buy a cheap cross then we will help the economy.
And, cheap crosses might be appropriate to put on the steeples of some of our churches whose pulpits are catering to those who want religion at no cost and no sacrifice.
We don't mind wearing the symbol of the cross around our necks. We don't even mind singing hymns about the cross. And, to be honest with you, we don't even mind if someone preaches about the cross----- just so they preach to lost people and not to us. We love to sing that we will “cling to the old rugged cross” but just maybe we don’t understand what clinging to the “old rugged cross” really means.
If someone preaches that the cross is about personal sacrifice, we don’t like it.
If someone preaches to us that the cross will take us out of our own little world of our comfort zone, we don’t like it.
If someone preaches to us that the cross will mean our own death to sin, death to selfishness, and death to self-centeredness, we don’t like it.
We want to possess the Christian life for as little sacrifice as possible. And, just maybe we can ease on through our Christian journey for absolutely no sacrifice.
We really do want a cheap cross.
God forbid that anybody preach on the cross that requires suffering and sacrifice, about dying to self and dying to the flesh.
When Jesus talked about the cross, it meant death.
When Jesus talked about the cross, it meant denial of fleshly desires and fleshly wants.
When Jesus talked about the cross, it meant heading down a road from which there would be no return.
But, where do we find ourselves today? Preferring a "cheap cross", one in which there is no commitment, no surrender, and no change in our lives?
That kind of cross is not found in the Word of God.
The cross that is mentioned in the New Testament is:
· A cross that is demonstrated by the surrender of lives to follow Jesus Christ.
· A cross that is marked by obedience to Jesus Christ.
· A cross that results in lives being changed.
In Philippians 2:5-8, Paul describes what the cross meant in Jesus' life-
5) Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus
6) Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God
7) But made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
8) And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
· The cross for Jesus meant no recognition (verse 7a: "…but made Himself of no reputation…"). Jesus was not concerned about making a name for Himself nor was He concerned about being well known or noticed.
· The cross for Jesus meant no prejudice (verse 7b: "…took upon Him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men…"). Jesus was willing to become like we are in order for us to become like He is. He was willing to identify and associate Himself with mankind, showing no prejudice toward us and toward our sinfulness, our rottenness, and our wickedness.
· The cross for Jesus meant no pride (verse 8a: "…He humbled Himself…"). For Jesus, there was never an issue of pride. He humbled Himself and became a servant.
· The cross for Jesus meant no rebellion (verse 8b: "…. became obedient unto death…"). We find no resistance and no rebellion in Jesus. We see that He went to the cross to die, willingly and joyfully. (Hebrews 12:2 “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of [our] faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God”.)
Among the words that have lost their meaning in today's church is the word “cross” and that word that has lost its meaning in our “religious” vocabulary today.
Cheap cross? I hope not but it sure looks like it.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian, and participant in the German Resistance movement against Hitler and Nazism during World War II. Bonhoeffer was arrested in March 1943, imprisoned, and eventually hanged because of his resistance just days before the end of World War II in Europe.
Bonhoeffer wrote:
"The cross is laid on every Christian. The first suffering which every man must experience is the call to abandon the attachments of this world. We surrender ourselves to Christ in union with His death—we give over our lives to death. When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die....death in Jesus Christ, the death of the old man. Only the man who is dead to his own will can follow Christ. In fact, every command of Jesus is a call to die, die to all our affections and lusts. But we do not want to die…” (end quote)
Instead of a cheap cross there must be the realization that the cross is costly. It cost Jesus His life. It will also cost us our lives by requiring us to die to self.
What is dying to self?
Gene Warr, says it best:
“When you are forgotten or neglected or purposely set at nought, and you don't sting and hurt with the insult of the oversight but your heart is happy, being counted worthy to suffer for Christ, that is dying to self.
When your good is evil spoken of and when your wishes are crossed and your advice disregarded, your opinion ridiculed, and you refuse to let anger rise in your heart or even defend yourself, but take it all in patient, loving silence, that is dying to self.
When you lovingly and patiently bear any disorder, any irregularity, any impunctuality, to any annoyance, when you stand face to face with waste and folly and extravagance and spiritual insensitivity and endure it as Jesus endured it, that is dying to self.
When you're content with any food, any offering, any climate, any society, any solitude, any raiment, any interruption by the will of God, that is dying to self.
When you never care to refer to yourself in conversation or to record your own good words or itch after commendation, when you can truly love to be unknown, that is dying to self.
When you can see your brother prosper and have his needs met and can honestly rejoice with him in spirit and feel no envy nor question God while your own needs are far greater and in desperate circumstances, that is dying to self.
When you can receive correction and reproof from one of less stature than yourself and can humbly submit inwardly, as well as outwardly, finding no rebellion or resentment rising up within your heart, that is dying to self.”
Let me ask you: are you dead yet?”
(http://dyingtoself1.blogspot.com/)
