That final week: CRUCIFIED

I can remember exactly how my grandad looked the last time I saw him. I can remember that the doctor who told me that my mum had just died was wearing a tie that my husband also owned. I can remember the exact words of the last conversation with my dad. These precious moments are etched into my memory and remain vivid even as the years pass. And yet others who were there on these occasions would have slightly different memories. All are true and real. Each one of us has just focused on a different aspect of those final minutes.

It’s the same here in these four Gospel accounts. In each, Jesus is crucified, but the details are different in each account. So let’s try and build a complete picture (as complete as any picture can be) by combining all the accounts…

So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. John 19:16

Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). John 19:17

As the soldiers led him away, they seized Simon from Cyrene (the father of Alexander and Rufus – Mark 15:21) who was on his way in from the country, and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus. A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him. Luke 23:26-27

Then they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it.  Mark 15:23

Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. Luke 23:32

It was nine in the morning when they crucified him. Mark 15:25

There they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle. John 19:18

Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” Luke 23:34

Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: jesus of nazareth, the king of the jews. Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews.” Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.” John 19:19-22

The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.” The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.”

One of the criminals (rebels – Mark 15:27) who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”

But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”

Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” Luke 23:35-43

When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. 

“Let’s not tear it,” they said to one another. “Let’s decide by lot who will get it.”

This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled that said,

“They divided my clothes among them
and cast lots for my garment.”

So this is what the soldiers did. John 19:23-24

And sitting down, they kept watch over him there. Matthew 27:36

Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman, here is your son,” and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home. John 19:25-27

Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. John 19:28-29

When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. John 19:30

It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.  Luke 23: 44-46

And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).

When some of those standing near heard this, they said, “Listen, he’s calling Elijah.”

Someone ran, filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to take him down,” he said.

With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last. Mark 15:34-37

At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people. Matthew 27:51-53

I don’t feel able to say much here. This story speaks for itself. I hope you can take the time to read this account slowly and without distraction and let it sink in. Each one of us will be touched by different aspects of the events surrounding the crucifixion of Jesus.

Today, I am struck by the surrendering and letting go; Jesus’ capacity for forgiveness and compassion; the sneering, the taunting, the mocking; the innocence – this man has done nothing wrong; the sense of completion; the enormous significance of what has just happened.

Just this, basically.

When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
Save in the death of Christ my God!
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to His blood.

See from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down!
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

His dying crimson, like a robe,
Spreads o’er His body on the tree;
Then I am dead to all the globe,
And all the globe is dead to me.

Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.  Isaac Watts