The Story of Easter – Day #7
(Devotional by Pastor Ben)

 Roman crucifixion is a cruel punishment. Nailed to a wooden cross by wrists and feet, it is an excruciating, slow, and very public way to die. The victim’s groaning and screaming becomes a morning’s entertainment for onlookers. Yet, the loud insults and caustic jeers and mocking taunts do not drown out the astounding request Jesus makes on their behalf.

 “Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, ‘So! You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, come down from the cross and save yourself!’

    “In the same way, the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked him among themselves. ‘He saved others,’ they said, ‘but he can’t save himself! Let this Messiah, this king of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe.”
                                (Mark 15:29-32a)

    “Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals — one on his right, the other on his left. Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”        (Luke 23:32-34a)

Read Matthew 6:38-48 from the Sermon on the Mount to discover Jesus’ own words about how to treat enemies.

For those made to suffer crucifixion, death itself was the only resolution. So Jesus waits for death to overcome Him. Before that, however, a deeper pain is coming, a pain that goes far beyond the nails in His feet and wrists or the thorns puncturing His brow. God pours out humanity’s rightful punishment for sin upon His Son. Even nature physically reacts. The sun is prematurely shuttered at the height of its midday arc. The earth convulses with cataclysmic effect, releasing the dead and destroying the partition between God and man.

 “It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, for the sun stopped shining.”
                                (Luke 23:44-45)

    “About three in the afternoon, Jesus cried out in a loud voice, ‘Eli, Eli, Lesa sabachthani?’ (Which means “My God, my God, what have you forsaken me?”) When some of those standing there heard this, they said, ‘He’s calling Elijah.’

    “Immediately, one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. The rest said, ‘Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to save him.’ When he had received the drink, Jesus said, ‘It is finished.’ With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”

    “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 too many people.”

    “When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, ‘Surely he was the Son of God!”
                            (Matthew 27:46-54)

Jesus’ moment of greatest agony is the moment when God turns His back on Him. Read the rest of the psalm that Jesus started to quote, Psalm 22, looking for the many striking predictions that were fulfilled on this terrible day.