The Resurrection of Jesus - Part 3

It is possible to concentrate so much on the crucifixion of Jesus, that the hours beforehand are all but overlooked.  This is a major mistake. Let's think, all too briefly, of some of what happened, from the moment when, led by Judas Iscariot, the soldiers - accompanied by the leading priests, and the elders - arrested Him in the Garden of Gethsemane (Lk.22:47ff). 

First of all, He was taken to the home of Annas, father-in-law of the High Priest where He was questioned about His teaching.  Then He was sent to Caiaphas, the High Priest, where He was 'tried' (if it can be called a trial) and found guilty of blasphemy.  Then He was taken to the Roman Procurator, Pontius Pilate - where the main charge suddenly became one of telling people not to pay their taxes (an outright lie!).  Pilate then discovered that Jesus was a Galilean, and had Him taken to Herod Antipas, who was in Jerusalem at the time - possibly for the Passover.  Herod had Jesus returned to Pilate, who then tried to have Him released.  The chief priests were having none of this, and informed Pilate that, if he let this Man go free, then he was "... no friend of Caesar" (Jn.19:12).  Neither for the first, nor the last, time, political expediency won the day!

Of course, all of this was not done with sensitivity and compassion.  During these trials, Jesus was knocked about; butted with spears; spat upon; and mocked.  Then Pilate decided that He should be flogged and crucified.  The flogging has been described thus: "The adjudged criminal was usually first forcefully stripped of his clothes, and then tied to a post or pillar in the tribunal.  Then the awful and cruel scourging was administered by the lictors or scourgers.  Although the Hebrews limited by their law the number of strokes in a scourging to forty, the Romans set no such limitation; and the victim was at the mercy of his scourgers."  

The brutal instrument used to scourge the victim was called a flagrum, and was made of long strips of cord, or leather, into which were tied pieces of bone and/or metal. These ensured the total laceration of the victim's flesh.  When we add to all of that the 'crowning' with thorny branches; the agony of being re-clothed as the material rubbed against the broken and bleeding flesh; and the fact that all of this was at the end of a period of sleeplessness of more than 24 hours; and we get some idea of the physical torture that the Saviour experienced.

Yet there was more to come.  Now He had to carry His cross - or, at the very least, the horizontal beam - all the way to the place of execution.  This proved too much and, eventually, the Roman soldiers - not known for dispensing much of 'the milk of human kindness' - compelled Simon of Cyrene to carry the cross for Him.

At Golgotha, He was tied, and nailed, to the cross, which was then raised to the vertical position. Each of the Gospel records has the simple words "And they crucified Him", because when they were first written, people were all too aware of the horrors of that method of executing the death penalty.  One, more modern, author spells it out in graphic detail: "The unnatural position made every movement painful; the lacerated veins and crushed tendons throbbed with incessant anguish; the wounds, inflamed by exposure, gradually gangrened; the arteries - especially at the head and stomach - became swollen and oppressed with surcharged blood; and while such variety of misery went on gradually increasing, there was added to them the intolerable pang of a burning and raging thirst; and all these physical complications caused an internal excitement and anxiety, which made the prospect of death ... bear the aspect of a delicious and exquisite release."

Yet, in enduring all of that - and much worse, for His suffering was not only physical, but also spiritual as He became all the ugliness, and vileness, and evil, and depravity, and wickedness, and contemptibility, that is sin (see II Cor.5:21) - He was still able to utter those amazing words, "Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they are doing." (Luke 23:34).

"Amazing love, O what sacrifice,
the Son of God, given for me.
My debt He pays
and my death He dies
that I might live,
that I might live!"  (Graham Kendrick)