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INTRODUCTION
We have a large chunk of Scripture to work through today.
It was tempting to try and break it up.
Why look at verses 32-56 in one day?
There have been times in Luke where we spent entire Sundays on two verses.
Why look at 24 verses in one shot?
Well, I really want us to take in the scene of the Cross in one day.
I want us to see it all.
I want to place us there at Golgotha and as the hymn says, “Behold the man upon the Cross...”
And I felt that handling it in one shot—in one 30-40 minute time span, would be the best way for us to feel the weight of the crucifixion and to have our affections stirred for the Savior who laid down His life for us.
For the sake of context, let’s just remember where we are as we read:
Jesus has been betrayed and arrested
He has stood religious and political trials
He has been beaten and mocked and spit on
He was so weakened by the suffering that He could not carry the crossbeam to the place of execution
Simon of Cyrene was involuntarily selected for the task
Simon carried Jesus’ cross
But Simon’s part is over now.
It is time for Jesus to die.
I will read the passage this morning and then we will work through it by taking the scene and dividing all of the elements up into four categories:
The Murder of Christ
The Mockery of Christ
The Mercy of Christ
The Messiahship of Christ
In the process, may our affections be stirred and our hearts be reminded once again of who Jesus is and what He has done for us by looking at Him through the lens of His death on the Cross.
Let’s pray now, to that end:
Gracious God,
we do not live by bread alone, but by
every word that comes from your mouth.
Make us hungry for this heavenly food,
that it may nourish us today
in ways of eternal life;
through Jesus Christ,
the bread of heaven.
Amen.
(John Calvin, Prayer of Illumination)
READ Luke 23:32-56
THE MURDER OF CHRIST (v.
32-33)
The Gospel writers use very few words when describing the crucifixion of Jesus to us.
Luke tells us that two criminals are going to be put to death with Him.
We will come back to the significance of that, in terms of prophecy.
It is another reminder to us that what is happening is scandalous.
Jesus, the innocent Son of God, is going to be put to death in the company of criminals.
Like He is one of them.
Just another transgressor who fell to the Roman sword.
Jesus and the criminals are led to the “place that is called The Skull.”
In Aramaic, it is called Golgotha.
In Latin, it is called Calvaria.
There are two main sites that historians point to as being the place where Jesus is crucified.
One of them now has a Roman Catholic Church built on it.
That is the traditional site of the crucifixion.
The other has been more recently proposed.
It might not have happened at either place.
Honestly, the location is not so important.
The event is important.
And in verse 33, Luke uses just three Greek words and four English words the actual event of the crucifixion of Jesus.
“…there they crucified him...”
It is a bit surprising that the crucifixion of Christ, which the salvation of the world hinges on, is described in just three Greek words.
But the horrors of crucifixion were so understood by the culture that Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are writing in, that is was unnecessary to say more.
If I tell you that someone dies of cancer, I don’t need to explain to you the process of cells growing uncontrollably and spreading to other parts of the body.
I don’t need to get in the weeds of the science.
You live in a culture where everyone pretty much understand what cancer is.
The word speaks for itself.
“Crucified” was a similar word in the first-century
σταυρόω (stauroō).
vb. to crucify.
To kill a person by crucifixion, or to hang a person.
The word speaks for itself.
But for our purposes this morning, let’s spend some time talking about crucifixion because outside of Jesus’ cross, it is not a mode of death that has a place in our vocabulary.
One of the most important studies ever done on crucifixion was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 1986.
An in-depth study was done to find out what actually happened to the human body during crucifixion.
Crucifixion as a form of execution began in the 6th century BC.
It was invented by the Persians.
King Darius reportedly crucified 3,000 Babylonians.
From there, it was used by peoples like the Greeks and the Hasmoneans.
But what the Persians invented, the Romans perfected.
They had mastered the art of a publicly humiliating, slow, agonizing death that served to punish criminals and warn the innocent to keep in line.
According to that 1986 study, everyone who was crucified was first beaten.
The victim’s arms were tied to a pole and the a leather whip, with bone and metal woven into it, was used for the lashing.
Two attendants of the Roman government would take turns inflicting the blows.
The bone and the metal would tear into the skin and cause deep bruises and lacerations.
Pain and blood loss would lead to circulatory shock where there would be a weak pulse, rapid breathing and sweating.
All three of the men we are reading about would have been scourged that day—Jesus and the two criminals with him.
But in Jesus case, the soldiers had thrown a robe of mockery on Him that would have been abrasive to His open wounds.
They placed a crown of thorns on His head and they beat on Him with a stick.
They spit on Him.
At some point, they tore the robe off of Him, which would have inflicted more damage.
On top of that, our Lord had not slept.
And He has not eaten or drank anything, as far as we know.
Once they got to the place of crucifixion, the prisoners would be offered some sedation, but Jesus refuses it in Matthew 27:34
After that, victims would be thrown to the ground on their backs and the crossbeam would be placed under their shoulders.
At that point, five to seven inch long iron spikes were driven into the wrists, which would hold the body on the Cross.
Then the victim was lifted up and the cross beam was attached to the upright post.
The feet were nailed with one spike.
The knees were bent so the victim could push up in order to draw a breath.
If the soldiers wanted a quicker death, they could break the legs, which is why John 19:31-32 says
In order for the crucified to breathe, they had to push themselves up, causing the wounds on their back from the scourging to rub against the wood of the Cross.
The nails in the wrists and feet would send lightning bolts of pain throughout the body.
When highest word we have in the English language to describe pain is excruciating.
It comes from a Latin word which means, “Out of the cross.”
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