Christ Was Crucified – Holy Week.
Christ was crucified on Golgotha along with two criminals during the darkest part of Holy Week. Stephen March explains why.
The Darkest Point of the Week – Christ Was Crucified
We are continuing our look at the week leading up to the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and now we come to the darkest point of the week, when Jesus is nailed to the cross. The fullness of the suffering of Christ had already started. During the trials before Pilate and Herod, the Bible tells us that Jesus was tortured. The Roman soldiers who performed these things had perfected their cruel craft. Jesus was whipped, beaten over the head with a reed, hit, spit on, and then a crown of thorns was pressed onto his head.
Christ Was Crucified After His Trial
By the time they started to lead Jesus along the road that led to mount of crucifixion, he was so weakened by the abuse he had endured that they needed to compel a man from the crowd to carry the cross for him. By this time, Jesus had likely been awake for more than 24 hours. He had been arrested the night before, then stood trial, such as it was overnight, only to be handed off to Pilate in the early morning. It was now a little before nine AM when they started out on the road.
Crowds had started to form, there were those who had followed Jesus, and mourned over what was taking place, and there were others who opposed him, who continued to mock and scorn. Jesus stopped briefly along the way to say, “Do not weep for me, but for yourselves, and for your children.” He then told them how a day was coming when the city would be destroyed again, and if this is how an innocent man was treated now in a time of peace, how much worse would things be in that day. And things did get worse, in 70 AD Jerusalem was destroyed, and the temple with it. History records the destruction as being particularly brutal.
Christ Was Crucified at Golgotha
Finally, they came to the place called Calvary, the place of the Skull, or Golgotha in Aramaic, and there they crucified Jesus, nailing him to the cross. As the soldiers were doing so, Jesus cried out, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” This was undoubtedly an unusual sentiment for the soldiers to hear, and perhaps led to what they would say a little later. But Jesus was different, this was a different execution.
The Two Criminals
Two criminals were also crucified, one on each side of Jesus. And once they were all nailed to their crosses, the crowds began to taunt Jesus, and mock him, saying things like “If you are the son of God, come down from the cross.
The criminals also mocked him, at first anyway, until one of them realized who the man on the middle cross truly was. Eventually, this other criminal would look at Jesus, and then rebuke the other person who was being crucified saying
“Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation, and we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our crimes; but this man has done nothing wrong.”
Then to Jesus he would say,
“Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
Jesus responded,
“Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
This was the second thing Jesus said from the cross.
Christ’s Words to John and His Mother
Next, he would speak to his mother, and the disciple John, ensuring that John would care for her once Jesus was gone. The Bible tells us that from that moment John took her into his home. This also indicates to us that while they were at the foot of the cross for that moment, the time had come in Christ’s suffering for him to be alone.
Luke’s gospel tells us that “all his acquaintances and the women who had followed him from Galilee stood at a distance watching these things. In that loneliness, Jesus would cry out “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” He is quoting Psalm 22, which begins by describing the suffering of the Messiah, and ends with the reminder that God will glorify the Christ, and save all who identify with him, rewarding them for their faith.
It is Finished!
Finally, we get to the end. Jesus says, “It is finished.” It’s a phrase that in that time meant “Paid in full.” The penalty required by God for our sin had been completely taken by Jesus on the cross. Peter would later write, “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit.” What the law demanded as payment for our sin, was paid by Jesus through his crucifixion.
This comes out again in another picture from that day. As Jesus was being put to death, the soldiers took his clothing and cast lots to see who would get to keep it. Of particular interest was Jesus’ tunic, this is how John describes the scene.
“When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, one for each soldier: also his tunic. But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom, so they said to one another, ‘let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be.’ This was to fulfil the scripture which says, they divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.”
The Fulfillment of Scripture
The fulfillment of scripture is amazing in itself, but there is another picture here. In the last part of our series, looking at the trials of Jesus, we had the High Priest of the Day, Caiaphas tear his robes while accusing Jesus of blasphemy. I mentioned how according to the book of Leviticus, it was forbidden for the high priest to do such a thing.
The role of the high priest was to be an intercessor for the people before God, it was only the high priest who was able to enter the most holy place of the temple and make the atonement offering for the sins of the people. By this act of Caiaphas, he was showing himself to be unworthy of this honor and duty. Christ on the other hand, who the Bible calls the Great High Priest, was making the true and final sacrifice to God for the sins of all men, his robe remained whole.
The Veil Torn in Two
When Jesus died, the Bible tells us that the curtain in the Temple that leads to that most holy place was torn in two, from top to bottom, indicating that the Father had accepted the offering of Jesus, and the way to God was now open to everyone through Christ’s atoning work on the cross.
At the end, the Bible says that Jesus cried out in a loud voice,
“Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”
And with that, he died. At that moment, as mentioned the curtain of the temple was torn, there was also an earthquake, and rocks were split. This had all followed three hours of darkness, though it was the middle of the day. On seeing all of this, Jesus’ compassion on the cross, the way he died, and the things that happened as he died, the centurion and those keeping watch over Jesus who were with him were filled with awe and said
“Truly, this was the Son of God.”
Even in his death, the glory of the Lord Jesus and who he is was made known.
The Glorification of the Son of Man
He had spoken of this before, in John chapter 12 knowing he was about to suffer he said, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” He added, “Now is the judgment of this world, now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”
He is still calling out today, wanting all people to see who he is, and what he has done for us. To believe in him and be saved, to have our sins forgiven, and to know that we have eternal life in heaven ahead of us. This is all available because of the amazing things Jesus did for us when He died on the cross. But that isn’t the end of this story, the best, was yet to come.
Jesus’ trial was an extraordinary miscarriage of justice. What surprises you most? We would love to hear from you. Comment below or contact us at HopeStreamRadio.
Stephen March
Stephen March is the President of FBH International and HopeStreamRadio. He graduated from the Broadcasting Program at Niagara College in 2001, and has previously worked in television production and post-production.
Stephen lives in St. Catharines, Ontario, with his wife Corinne and their four children.
Read and hear more from Stephen March on his contributor’s page. Stephen currently has 5 Programs on HopeStreamRadio:
- Please Forgive Me
- Isolation Chronicles
- Faith By Hearing – The Twelve
- Bibles and Baseball
- Bible Tech Talk
More Podcasts Below:
More Blogs:
Palm Sunday, The Coming King, and the Last Week of Christ
Why Did Jesus Say “I Am the Bread of Life
Images courtesy of:
Crucifixion on Golgotha – Tissot
Crucifixion of Christ – Tissot
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