Tag: crucifixion of Jesus

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He Suffered Under Pontius Pilate

“He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.”

It is fitting that we read these words on this day of days. This phrase from the Apostles’ Creed reminds us of what happened to our Lord Jesus on Good Friday.

In Good Friday services today believers will be reminded of the stark facts surrounding Jesus’ agonized prayers in Gethsemane, his betrayal, his mock trials, his death on a cross, and his burial. Sometimes worshippers will be instructed to depart from services in silence to emphasize the solemnity of these themes.

“He suffered”

The gospel of Mark, chapter 15, recounts the sufferings of Jesus. He suffered open rejection by his own people. “Crucify him!” they shouted (v. 14). He was also rejected by friends who betrayed him, denied him, and fled the scene when he was taken captive.

He suffered torture. Roman soldiers flogged him (v. 15). This was a brutal whipping that lashed and lacerated his back, hips, arms and neck. It was not unusual for prisoners to die by this means.

He suffered mockery. Mark describes how the soldiers put a purple robe on him, twisted thorns together to form a rude crown for his head, and then knelt before him in sarcastic mockery of “the king of the Jews” (vv. 12, 16-20).

He suffered disgrace. If you and I had witnessed all this in person, we would probably have turned our eyes away in embarrassment and shame. He was paraded through the streets of Jerusalem with insults being hurled at him. He was too weak from the flogging to carry his own cross. He was led to the place of execution to be crucified with common criminals. He was stripped naked and soldiers gambled to see who would get to keep his clothes (vv. 20-24).

It is important to remember that he did not deserve this. The apostle Peter says that “he committed no sin” (1 Peter 2:22). Paul adds that he “had no sin” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Hebrews 4:15 declares that Jesus “was without sin.” He was like “a lamb without blemish or defect” (1 Peter 1:19).

“Under Pontius Pilate”

Why was Pilate named in the Apostles’ Creed? Perhaps it was to establish the historical certainty and time of Jesus’ trial and death.  There are references to Pontius Pilate in the annals of Roman history, as well as in the writings of the Jewish historian Josephus. In 1964, archaeologists discovered at Caesarea in Israel, a first century inscription bearing the name and title of Pilate. Also, naming him in this way establishes the complicity of the Gentile governor in the death of Jesus. The Jews were not the only ones responsible.

Mark’s account of the interrogation of Jesus before Pilate reveals how eager the governor was to appease the Jewish leaders. He knew Jesus had done nothing wrong, but he was willing to violate all the laws of justice to keep himself in power and to try to keep order in Judea.

It has been said that when Pilate thought Jesus was on trial before him, it was he who was on trial before Jesus! William Barclay wrote this about Pilate: “He did the wrong thing because he was afraid to do the right thing. He was not the first, who, when confronted with the choice between worldly ambition and obedience to Jesus Christ — chose worldly ambition.”

“Was crucified, died and was buried”

Crucifixion has been described as a hideous death in which the victim literally dies a thousand deaths. It is hard not to think of Jesus as a victim of a great tragedy. Humanly, it is a tragedy and a travesty of justice. But theologically — and we are called to think theologically about this — it is not a tragedy, but a victory.

Mark does not explain the theological significance of the crucifixion. His gospel states the historical facts, but it does not interpret them. It is the teaching and writing of the other apostles that gives us the fuller explanation. Nor does Mark give a detailed description of all that was involved in crucifixion. Many contemporary scholars have researched the matter. History and archaeology give ample evidence to support the Bible’s brief description of events.

The Creed is correct. Jesus died by crucifixion. The Romans executed thousands by this method. They were experts at it. They knew when a victim had died. Jesus was buried. This is proof of his death. This is what we remember on Good Friday.

Why?

Looking at this from God’s point of view — and that is what it means to think theologically — we are given reasons for Jesus’ suffering. It was God’s purpose. It was his eternal plan. Jesus prayed shortly before he died, “What shall I say? ‘Father save me from this hour?’ No, it was for this very reason that I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name” (John 12:27).

It was the Son’s obedience. Jesus said, “I lay down my life. . . . No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again” (John 10:18).

It was our sin that caused the death of Jesus. It was necessary that a perfectly sinless human being (God’s Son) die for the sins of the world. “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:24). “Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God” (1 Peter 3:18).

Not long after the release of his film “The Passion of the Christ” Mel Gibson was interviewed by Diane Sawyer. “Who killed Jesus?” she asked. “We all did,” he answered.

Pastor Randy Faulkner

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Mary’s Sword of Sorrow

“Then Simeon blessed them and said  to Mary his mother . . . a sword will pierce your own soul too” (Luke 2 :35).

These words cloud the Christmas story. A sword is a symbol of pain, suffering and violence. These prophetic words were spoken in the temple by Simeon at the dedication of the baby Jesus. I wonder if these words hung over Mary as her son was growing to manhood. Doubtless she later heard his repeated predictions of the death he would die.

Maybe this was one of the things she pondered in her heart (Luke 2:19, 51). I think it was a detail she shared with Luke the historian if he interviewed her about the life of Jesus for the writing of his gospel (Luke 1:1-4).

Joseph and Mary brought the infant boy to the temple to be consecrated. This was in accordance with the law of Moses: “You are to give over to the Lord the first offspring of every womb” (Exodus 13:12). Joseph and Mary brought a sacrifice of two doves for the occasion (Luke 2:24, Leviticus 12:8). Simeon and the aged Anna were two eyewitnesses to the naming of the child.

When Simeon recognized who the child was, he uttered his cryptic and disturbing prophecy. “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that  will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your heart also” (Luke 2:34-35).

Simeon’s mysterious words refer to the way Jesus would raise those who believe in him. He will also be the final judge against those who reject his offer of salvation. In the final judgment there will be no place to hide. Everything will be revealed.

We cannot know the effect of these words on Mary. Luke says she and Joseph “marveled” at what was said. We can only imagine the sense of foreboding in her heart as she pondered the prophecy. The reference to a sword meant that Mary was destined to experience deep anguish of soul because of the world’s response to her son.

Simeon’s words about the sword came true at Calvary, where Mary watched her son die. She stood at the foot of the cross. She saw the crown of thorns, the scourge, the nails, the piercing of his side with a spear. She witnessed the cruelty of the soldiers. She heard the mocking insults of the religious leaders. She heard his dying words of loving concern for her as he entrusted her to the care of John the beloved disciple (John 19:26-27).

We honor Mary’s grace, dignity, courage, and obedience. She was found among Jesus’ most faithful disciples. After his resurrection she was associated with them in the prayer gatherings at the beginning of the Christian movement (Acts 1:14). God had used her to be the earthly mother of his son. Then he used her to strengthen the worship and testimony of the early church.

All that Mary witnessed, the ministry, the suffering, the death, and the resurrection of Jesus, was in keeping with God’s sovereign plan. Simeon’s words to Mary at the beginning prove it. Mary’s life magnified Jesus. She knew he was the son of God. She believed in him. Her example teaches us to do the same.

Pastor Randy Faulkner

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Another Prophecy Fulfilled

“Fulfilled” is a key word in John chapter 19. John the apostle repeats it several times to show his belief that the Hebrew scriptures (Old Testament) pointed forward to the sacrificial death of Jesus. In John 19 we have John’s eyewitness report of our Lord’s crucifixion. He takes pains to show that it fulfilled prophesies written hundreds of years before.

The Christian message is that the death of the Son of God removed the barrier of sin that separates us from a holy God. This makes possible our reconciliation with our Creator. Paul wrote, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Peter wrote, “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit” (1 Peter 3:18).

John had in mind the writings of the ancient prophets as he reported the death and resurrection of Jesus. For example, Psalm 69:21 says, “They put gall in my food and gave me vinegar for my thirst.” John recalled this text when he wrote, “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 19:29). He said this happened “so that scripture would be fulfilled” (John 19:28).

This was in response to Jesus’ plaintive cry, “I am thirsty.” The soldiers who had crucified the Lord gave him some of the cheap sour wine they had been drinking. Some historians believe this may have had an astringent effect that could contract the throat of the victim. Luke 23:36-37 indicates this drink was offered in mockery.

His intense thirst was predicted in the prophecies of the Bible. His anguished suffering is described in Psalm 22:15, “My mouth is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth.”

“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). “Finished” was a word used in biblical times to refer to the paying of a debt. The phrase “It is finished” means “paid in full.” The debt we owe to God for our sins has been fully paid by his beloved Son on behalf of those who believe in him.

The fact that Jesus “gave up his spirit” is consistent with his earlier word that he, as the Good Shepherd, would lay down his life for his sheep. “No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again,” Jesus said (John 10:18).

This should elicit a response of reverent awe. Even if the prophets did not fully grasp the implications of all that they wrote (1 Peter 1:10-12), their prophesies came true in minute detail, as we see here. God planned the sacrifice of his Son who loved us and gave himself for us (Galatians 2:20). Fulfilled prophecy means God keeps his word.

This should elicit a response of faith in Jesus as Savior, and obedience to him as Lord and Master. He suffered and died that we might live with him eternally. Shall we not live for him now? The One who said, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink” (John 7:37) suffered thirst on the cross as he died for our sins.

This should elicit a response of thankfulness. How long has it been since you thanked the Lord Jesus for what he endured in death so that you might receive the gracious gift of life eternal?

Pastor Randy Faulkner

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Gambling for a Seamless Tunic

During these weeks leading up to Good Friday, I am writing about the apostle John’s references to fulfilled prophecy. John points to several details about our Lord’s crucifixion which were prophesied in the Old Testament.

Of course anti-Christian antagonists deny this. I remember the publication of a controversial book by Hugh Schonfield in the mid-1960s. In The Passover Plot the author claimed that Jesus was a fanatical genius who thought himself to be the Jews’ Messiah. He brilliantly and subtly organized his ministry to make it appear that everything he did was a fulfillment of biblical prophecies.

According to Schonfield, this involved a plot to fake his own death. He included his disciples in this audacious strategy. They conspired with him to try to make it appear that he had died on the cross and to contrive an artificial “resurrection.” According to Schonfield, Jesus did not claim to be the divine Son of God, and he did not rise from the dead. He was merely a mortal man who believed himself to be the Messiah. His supposed death and resurrection were to bring about the launch of his reign as king of the Jews.

There are too many problems with this far-fetched theory to answer them all. One of the most obvious is how a group of uneducated Galileans could have persuaded Jesus’ enemies to go along with such an elaborate scheme. The powerful religious leaders of Israel were the very ones who wanted him dead and who turned him over to the Roman authorities!

John, in fact, was writing as an eyewitness to the events he described in his gospel. He was present at the crucifixion of Jesus, along with the Lord’s mother and a few other faithful women. What he wrote has the ring of truth. He recognized that these events fulfilled what the ancient Hebrew scriptures had prophesied.

He personally witnessed what he described in John 19:23-24: “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.'”

Then John adds this telling word: “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.”

Are we to believe that the dying Jesus would have contrived in advance for his Roman torturers to gamble for his clothing? These were people who had no knowledge of the prediction of this event in Psalm 22:18. They had no idea they were fulfilling a prophecy written hundreds of years before. Their actions showed contempt for the dying prisoner, not cooperation with his followers.

Psalm 22 is one of several Messianic psalms. It is the psalm which is quoted the most in the New Testament. It’s author is probably King David who was a prophet as well as a poet. The psalm begins with words Jesus spoke from the cross: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (v. 1, Matthew 27:46). Surely one cannot read the opening words of Psalm 22 without thinking of Jesus.

This psalm, in verses 14-16, prophetically describes crucifixion. This was unknown as a method of execution at the time it was written. It graphically pictures a dying man who is being shamed by mocking, tortured by thirst and asphyxiation, an object of horror to all who look on his emaciated frame and nail-pierced hands and feet. Yet unlike other psalms, this one contains no prayer for retribution or confession of sins by its speaker, facts which align with the Lord’s righteous character and forgiving spirit.

Three spiritual lessons have been advanced based upon John’s citation of Psalm 22:18. First, fulfilled prophecy is evidence for the truth-claims of Christianity. No false pretender could have devised a plot which involved controlling other people’s reactions. The betrayal, false accusations, torture, and crucifixion of Jesus were all prophesied in scripture and were carried out by hostile actors, not co-conspirators. This includes the precise detail about his clothing being taken by the executioners. This happened as prophesied in Psalm 22:18, according to the apostle John.

Second, in dying on the cross for the salvation of sinners, Jesus endured public humiliation. E.A. Blum has written, “That Jesus died naked was part of the shame which he bore for our sins. At the same time He is the last Adam who provides clothes of righteousness for sinners.”

Third, The seamless tunic which the soldiers valued may have been the type of garment worn by the high priests of Israel. If this is true it suggests the priestly ministry of our Lord on behalf of his people as he now prays for us continually as our defender, advocate and friend at the Father’s right hand (1 John 2:1-2; John 17:20).

Pastor Randy Faulkner