A Heavy Cross to Bear

“Jesus, when He had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.”  Matthew 27:50

No words can accurately and vividly describe the suffering that Jesus endured on the cross of Calvary.  Moviemakers have tried to illustrate the crucifixion, but I believe it was much worse than a simulation with special effects can ever portray.  I remember when Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ” came out several years ago.  A television program was interviewing some Hollywood stars, and I use that term loosely, about the movie.  There was this one actress who mocked the movie and said that Mel Gibson should be ashamed of himself for displaying such blood and gore.  The thing is that Hollywood doesn’t mind making movies with plenty of blood and gore about the devil and the occult, but let one be produced that shows a real Person, who endured real suffering, and who died a real death so that we can be forgiven of our sins and all of a sudden that’s inappropriate.  But we are not surprised.

When Jesus was hanging on the cross, He issued seven utterances that are recorded in the gospels.  The first is found in Luke 23:34.  As Jesus looked out over the people who were jeering and mocking and over the soldiers who were gambling for His clothes, He said, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”  He was praying for the ones who were causing His pain.  He had said in His Sermon on the Mount that those who love God must also love their enemies (Matthew 5:44).  Jesus certainly lived what He taught.  The second utterance is found in John 19:25-27.  Jesus was concerned about His mother.  I can’t imagine how painful it was for Mary to watch her Son hanging on a cross in excruciating pain.  Jesus said to her, “Woman, behold thy son”, referring to His disciple John.  He called out to John, “Behold thy mother”.  We don’t know why Jesus chose John to care for His mother rather than any of His siblings, but it shows how much trust that He had in John.

In Luke 23:43, two thieves hung on either side of Jesus.  One mocked, but the other one was repentant and asked Jesus to remember him in His kingdom.  Jesus promised him, “Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with Me in paradise”.  I find it interesting that this thief did not pray what we call “the sinner’s prayer” nor was he baptized as a symbol of his belief in Christ, however, Jesus could read his heart and know that this man had become a true believer in Him.  In Matthew 27:46, Jesus, under the most harsh suffering cried out to His Father, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani” which means “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?”  There are some Bible scholars who do not believe that God actually forsook Jesus if only momentarily.  However it was necessary for Jesus to be temporarily separated from His Father because Jesus was taking on the sins of the world and God cannot look upon sin.  I think that there is another reason:  the separation from His Father was in order to experience the ultimate penalty that unbelievers will experience–separation from Almighty God.  Those who want nothing to do with God here will be obliged for all eternity.

In John 19:28, Jesus said, “I thirst”.  His executioners could not even be kind enough to give Him water.  Instead they gave Him vinegar and He took it.  He then said “It is finished” (John 19:30) meaning that His sacrifice completely fulfilled God’s requirement for the payment of the penalty for man’s sin.  Previously they had given him vinegar mixed with gall, a painkiller, but He refused it because He knew that He had to bear the pain without any relief (Matthew 27:34).  The last thing that Jesus said before He died was “Father, into Thy hands I commend My Spirit”.  With that He bowed His head and breathed His last breath.

On a personal note, when my son died, it was the most painful experience of my life.  But I didn’t watch my son die like Mary did.  God gave her the grace to bear up under the most trying circumstances of her life just as He gave me grace.  I remember when I was driving home from the house where he and his wife lived, I was crying out to the Lord, and He spoke to me in my spirit and said, “I gave up My Son, too.”  It must have hurt God tremendously to give up His precious, sinless Son for all of us sinners.  Of course, He did get His Son back, and I will see my son again one day along with all those who died trusting in Christ.  Jesus will return one day, not as a Baby in a manger, nor to die again, but as King of kings and Lord of lords.