The Cross

The Cross

 

“Greater love has no one to lay His life for His friends” Jesus

 

It was the most important job of all time. His work was cut out for Him before his birth. He had to save the world. God was not going to give Him special powers to save the world. In fact, He would disown Him while accomplishing it, because He is going to carry the thing The Father hates the sins of the world. His father will let Him be punished to death when he sees his only holy perfect child carry our sins. God could have come with millions of angels and sort us out. That was the easy way for Him, but He sent His own Son to die for us. 

 Though Jesus was born to die for humanity, He was not suicidal. He loved life. Even under the occupation of Romans He had a life, people He loved, His disciples (friends), Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. 

 He cared for, taught, healed, and delivered many from demonic torture. He revived the spirit of His country by the power of God. However, when the time came to do His greatest work, He had to die for it. And He was not looking forward to it.

  In the garden of Gethsemane, He prayed it three times through the night. “Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want Your will to be done, not mine.” It was a prayer that came with a sweat of blood. It was a prayer that was contrary to His life‘s primary purpose. Few days earlier He had said, “Now my soul is troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose, I have come at this hour.” Yet, coming closer to His capture and crucifixion, His agony bled through His skin. His heart tossed in Him. He sought some sort of comfort from friends and The Father, but he found it only from the angels.

  This was not the cup of wine but a cup full of punishment against the misdeeds of humanity. Not only He would drink this judgment, but He would be baptized in it head to toe. Jesus paid for our sin not only physically but also emotionally and psychologically for we sinned in all aspects.

   The breezy promising spring had a bittersweet offer to Jesus. Die and save the world. It was a day like Christmas Eve when everyone was running around shopping while brimming with joy to celebrate the Passover for eight days straight. A celebration for when death passed over the Israelite houses while killing the Egyptians who enslaved them. The Israelites were passed over by death because they sprinkled the blood of lamb on their doorpost. The angel of death saw the blood of the lamb and passed them by. Now Jesus was about to become that lamb that was slain to save us from what is worse than death, hell. Jesus just had His last supper as a human being with His friends. And His friends were fast asleep in the garden while He was contemplating the cruel cross.

   None of his friends consoled Him. They slept and could not seem to pray with Him for an hour. They couldn’t comfort Him because they couldn’t picture the savior of the world, who walked on water before their eyes, the Son of God crucified though many times He told them, with the emphasis that “Let this thing sink in your ears the son of man will be crucified”.

   It was not long before the soldiers came to the garden to arrest Him. Though He was more than a king to them, the Jews denied their Messiah and gave Him up to the Romans.   

 

“They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and set up a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand. Then they knelt in front of him and mocked him. “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said. They spat on him and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again.” Matthew 27:28-29

 As it is written in the book of Isaiah, “I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting”

 

He was beaten beyond recognition the Bible describe it as:

“Many were appalled at him that His appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and his form marred beyond human likeness”. 

 

He was flogged with a leather whip that had from five to seven flagella. Each flagellum has two to three lead balls, bones and sharp material embedded in them for maximum pain. When he was whipped once he was already experiencing the pain from the metal balls, violent incision from the bones and sharp material. They flogged Him thirty-nine times, with a power a well-trained Roman soldier can exert. 

     After interrogating Jesus, Pilate, the Roman governor of Judaea, found no fault in him. He wanted to release Him, but the Jews wanted Him crucified. Desiring not to involve Himself in the blood of an innocent man, he washed his hands before them, telling them that he is clean of Jesus’s blood. 

     Then they made Him carry a 50kg cross about to the crucifixion site while shaming Him. He did the walk of shame after being beaten and flogged while carrying the cross, so that He could carry us to heaven in glory.

     Then they pierced His hands and feet and hung Him on the cross, where He was forced to rest His body weight on the nails that dislocated His wrists and tore His ligaments. The cross was the ultimate instrument of cruelty and deterrent that caused maximum pain and suffering. It was so painful that the Romans never used it on their own citizens. It was not long before Jesus felt the prophecy written of him 700 years ago by David:  

 

“I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted within me. My mouth is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death.” Psalms22:14-15

 

When He said He was thirsty, they hung up a sponge of sour wine which He refused, though the wine could have helped him numb the pain. 

     While His hands and feet were pierced, a spear tore through His ribs to ensure He was dead. He was nailed to the cross and mocked “He saved others but He did not save Himself”. This contrasted with His pre-incarnation state when even the best of angels covered their eyes with their wings not to see Him. 

     Unlike the quick guillotine or a bullet shot, the crucifixion was a slow and painful death that involved hours of excruciating pain. 

    Every disadvantage of His was our disadvantage. When He was abandoned by God we were hugged back to heaven. When He took our sin we became righteous before God.

 

“But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.”

 

The emotional toll of His betrayal was as piercing as the nails on His hands and feet. One of his own betrayed Him and sold Him to His captors. The rest of his disciples abandoned Him in His time of dire need, and His closest who promised Him to die with Him, disowned Him three times in front of His captors. His people, whom He came to save, accused Him of claiming to be the Son of God, and gave Him up to Romans to crucify Him. Even when the Roman ruler Pilate was willing to set Him free with flogging, they chose a robber to be set free instead of Him. They mocked him, while He hung on the Cross saying, “He saved others, but He can’t save himself”, “Physician, heal yourself”, and “If you are the king of the Jews save yourself”. 

     He suffered and was crucified on the eve of the eight-day national holiday as big as Christmas. People could not wait to hang Him and celebrate. 

     Those who don’t understand the implications of Christ’s sacrifice say it was cosmic child abuse. Yet we have sent thousands of our sons, daughters, brothers, and sisters to war and in harm’s way to make the world a safe place to live. Would the creator of the universe do any less? God through Jesus showed selfless love, which became a model for humanity. Jesus is equal with God by whom the universe is made, leading by example on humility, sacrifice, and love. As it is written in the Bible:

 

“Jesus Christ, who being in the every nature of God did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather He made Himself nothing by taking the nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in the appearance as a man He humbled himself by becoming obedient to death even death on the cross. Therefore, God exalted Him above every name.”

This was written 2,000 years ago, and it was fulfilled and is being fulfilled all over the world. There is no more popular and powerful name than Jesus. He was the firework that was lighted 2,000 years ago and still shines on billions. He is the ever increasingly brightening shooting star that sparkles hopes in times of despair. 

     In the Old Testament, before Jesus came, every year the Israelites made to sacrifice an innocent lamb for their sin. It was a lamb which they had fed, grown and cared for to show the consequences of their sin. They would lay their hand on the innocent lamb and transfer their sin before it was sacrificed to take away their sin. The innocent for the guilty, an animal for the human. Only those with a clean record can bail out the guilty. Only those who can afford it pay for those who are bankrupt. No innocent, pure, and perfect human being has ever existed. So, Jesus came to the earth to be and do what humanity can’t; to be the lamb that takes away the sins of the world.

    God chose to demonstrate the penalty of our sin on each other by using animals rather than we are punished for it. If it was harsh, we would have learned from the sacrifices of these innocent lambs. The world would have been a better place. Almost a billion people have died in war and homicide.  However, we chose to continue to sacrifice our lambs, rather than give up our sins.

     Every year the Israelites sacrificed thousands of lambs. The sacrifices made no one to change their way for better until at the cross where God Himself gave up His own lamb, His Son. Jesus once for all did a complete work. Jesus as a lamb paid for the sins of everyone who believes in Him. His blood cleanse and sanctifies our hearts and minds from evil desires, guilt and shame that grieves us all and God.  

     What motivated Jesus was the love He has for God, His father and humanity. He said, “Greater love has no one than to lay his life for his friends” just before His crucifixion adding “The world may know that I love the Father as He gave me commandment, so I do”. Jesus’s journey to the cross was mainly based on the love of the Father. Because of that, when the people whom He came to save hated Him, He was still able to go through His suffering. His love for the people was greater than their hate for Him, for He prayed on the cross, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”

 

Humanity was unimpressed by God’s majestic creation of the world and the universe itself. So, He came in humility and love to steal our heart.

     For the nonbelievers and the educated the crucifixion of Jesus Christ is foolishness. It is unintelligible for them to see the God of the universe crucified on the cross by mere men. It is like masquerading weakness as strength, losing as winning. It sounds irrational that the greatest God would allow His son to be crucified. There was an everlasting lesson in the cross: humility, love, sacrifice, mercy, giving the other cheek, loving your enemies and so on. The foolishness of God is greater than the wisdom of man. 

     For those who try to attain righteousness through good works, the cross is a stumbling block and an offense to see and imagine their savior on the cross. Those Jews expecting political salvation disappointed at the Messiah and found Him hardly as they expected, though it had been prophesied in Isaiah 53.

 

 “When we see him there is no beauty, we should desire him. He was despised and rejected of men… and we esteemed him not.” 

 

Any rational Jew or person would tell Jesus is the savior of the world because no Jew ever worshiped all over the world as Jesus. Contrarily, Jews are the most persecuted people since history began. 

    God is so powerful and wise He won the world in weakness and foolishness. It was a weakness to see the Son of God being crucified. It is foolish to give the righteous to die for the sinners. Why not come with billions of angels and put the fear in everyone? Why not punish the guilty ones? What would we have learned from God? Would we turn the other cheek, love our enemies, would we forgive others? We would not because God didn’t. God was willing to look weak and foolish so that we can have an eternal life. 

     Then the Jews offended by it because a crucified messiah, the divine dying the death of a cursed sinner who is the opposite of what He is. It is hard to accept if we don’t know the farsighted, humble and good God. The idea of God as the mythological gods was rife at the time. The Greek notion of God is mighty, wise, powerful and who does everything in pomp. God shows his powerful ways by winning billions to himself by being weaker and foolish than us. As the bible says, “For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.” That is how strong and wise He is. Is it not how we win our toddlers heart using the most weak and foolish looking gesture.

 The cross is the most paradoxical event ever. Weakness became strength, losing winning, dying saving, judgment forgiveness, and the sinners became righteous.

   The cross does for us the impossible; to stand before God blamelessly; even boldly. On the cross Jesus took on Himself the shame and guilt of our sins and failures. Instead, He gave us His righteous merit before God. Therefore, we stand righteous as sons and daughters of God. 

     All of us have sinned. We all err in a small or big way. Yet sometimes the smaller-looking sins can have the worst consequences. Several mass shootings in American schools have been connected to bullying. We can bully someone into a mass murderer. Perhaps bullying is not the only reason, but a contributing factor. Because of our imperfect nature and living in an imperfect world, it is impossible to avoid sin entirely. Does that mean God created us for hell? No, that is why God sent Jesus to pay for our sin. The cross was our escape ticket from hell.

     The cross is the ultimate expression of love. That is why we can’t ignore it but be grateful. It is the price for our sin. It doesn’t condemn us but gives us reverent confidence on the judgment day if we accept it now. It seems God thought long and hard to make sure that we know for sure that we are loved and mean the universe to Him. The diamonds and gold of this world can’t say it and the beauty of this world doesn’t show it but only the blood of His perfect Son.

     The cross makes heaven accessible to everyone. Heaven is offered for everyone humble enough to admit their sin and imperfections and that their self-righteousness would not get them to heaven. It is open for the weak, strong, poor, or rich. Everyone is welcome at the cross. At the cross, we see the crucified Son of God and say, “I believe in you.” The cross is the gateway to heaven. That is why we enter God’s presence happy that we are acquitted, confident that we have witnessed the dear price paid for us and grateful that our eternity is not dependent on our merits. 

     The cross teaches us to love others sacrificially. On the D-Day, the allied soldiers paid with their lives to save Europe from the Nazis. If not for them, the world we have now would be a cruel, bigoted, and destructive place. As Winston Churchill said, “Never was so much owed by so many to so few”. It started with Jesus. “Never was so much owed by so many to one”. Many great men and women who advocated for the life and freedom of others were self-sacrificial men and women who followed the footsteps of Jesus. 

    On the cross, Jesus raised our value, esteem and worth. He raised the standard of how we should see each other. We should love one another unto death. To pray for those who pierce us while we are suffering. 

   God is not a hypocrite who issues commands that we can’t seem to be able to obey while he is supernaturally almighty. He sent part of Him, His Son into this world as a human being to experience what we are going through in our spirit, mind, emotions, and body: the urges to desire the sinful and the temptation to do the unlawful, the frustration that comes with our limitations. Jesus has demonstrated the way to live in love. Love God and love a fellow human. You will never be fully satisfied without God, and you will not enjoy life without love towards people. The universe is full of God, and the world is full of humans. 

     In all contradictions, the best mediator is someone who understands both sides. The perfect mediator has his heart and stake in both places so he can empathize. So Jesus the God became a human being. He lived our life and experienced it all to become the perfect mediator. For he was tempted in all things, hungry, thirsty, hurt, betrayed, and suffered to death. Who can better represent us before God about the challenges we face?

     It must be free so that everyone can have it. It must be by faith so that everyone can receive it. It must be simple, so everyone can understand it. It must be by love and humility so everyone can be encouraged to do it. It must be by choice so everyone can will it. 

     It was written about Jesus 700 years before His crucifixion that many nations will marvel at Him. Jesus is worshiped and admired by many nations. There are 146 countries which have a more than 50% Christian population.  100 countries have over 70% Christians. 

     This shows that God, Jesus, alive even afterlife and heaven as described in the Bible are real because only God can tell the future in advance as Jesus said “go make disciples of all nations I will be with you”. 

     It is self-righteousness, not sin that leads to hell. Just like the alcoholics in the AA meeting, we are to admit that we are sinners before we can leave our bad habits. God wants us all at the cross to claim forgiveness, so he can take the responsibility of making us fit for heaven.

     Christianity is not just about believing but to know and experience what and who we believe in. Our faith is supported by knowledge documented by historians who were not Christians. 

    Apart from the Bible, Roman historians wrote on the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Tacitus the Roman pagan historian witnessed the Roman persecution of Jesus’s followers. After Nero, the Roman emperor blamed Christians for the burning of Rome, Tacitus wrote though Nero himself order the burning of Rome;

 

Nero fastened the guilt ... on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius…

 

There are also other non-Christian historians who witnessed or documented the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Thallus, Phlegon and Josephus wrote about Jesus and the phenomenon surrounding the crucifixion. During the time of Tiberius Cesar an eclipse of the sun occurred during the full moon as the bible at the moment Jesus died on the cross. 

The Jewish-Roman Historian Josephus who believed in Judaism and was not a Christian.

 

“At this time there was a wise man who was called Jesus, and his conduct was good, and he was known to be virtuous. And many people from among the Jews and the other nations became his disciples. Pilate condemned him to be crucified and to die. And those who had become his disciples did not abandon their loyalty to him. They reported that he had appeared to them three days after his crucifixion, and that he was alive. Accordingly, they believed that he was the Messiah, concerning whom the Prophets have recounted wonders. Healing, casting out demons and teaching the kingdom of God.”

 

Either before or after His crucifixion the prophets predicted it and historians documented it. Not only that the resurrected Christ has shown His resurrection by making an impact through the power of the Holy Spirit and His authority over the nations, by changing them for better. It seems His influence seems greater after His resurrection as He is not limited by His human body.

For more get the book on;

https://www.amazon.co.uk/way-Life-Are-right-path/dp/1399927167/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1NJJQDV1RM5LG&keywords=The+way+to+life&qid=1677005593&s=books&sprefix=the+way+to+life,stripbooks,229&sr=1-1