The Crucifixion of Jesus

Luke 23: 32-39

The crucifixion of Jesus is the embodiment of the Salvation story along with the resurrection., however it is also an indictment against the world. Jesus crucified is the true touchstone revealing what the world is: Look around Mt Calvery the people stood beholding “ In Stolid Indifference; the rulers, who wanted religion, but without a divine Christ crucified for our sins ( they wanted a king that they could crown) The reviled him. The brutal amongest them mocked or railed: the conscious sinner prayed; The cross is the judgement of this world.

John 12:31 ASV

Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.

Walk with me around Calvery where men talk smut where they gamble, and cry out in brutal exclamations. Jesus was there counted amid two benefactors. One on the right and the other on the left. We were told that Jesus had been beaten, and mocked, spat on, slapped, whipped with the Roman Flagrum:

“But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought our peace was on him; and by his wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5)

The Gospel writers didn’t give much description to Jesus’ scourging. A depiction was unnecessary because throughout the Roman Empire, people understood the severity of this beating. Isaiah 52:14 suggests that the Romans beat Jesus so brutally that people were appalled to look at Him. His form did not look like that of a “son of man,” or human. A very literal translation reads, “So marred from the form of man was His aspect, that His appearance was not as that of a son of a man.” This might also explain why Jesus was not easily recognizable after His resurrection.

Jesus not only died for our sins but He suffered to save us. His love is so powerful that he endured not only death on the cross, not only a crown of thorns, but also one of the most savage punishments given by the Roman government. The purpose of the Roman flagrum was to beat a person to the point of death. It literally pulled the flesh from the body.

The Roman scourge, also called the “flagrum” or “flagellum” was a short whip made of three or more leather straps connect to a handle. From this word, we get our English word “fillet,” referring to a strip of boneless flesh or a slice of meat, which is a good description of what this weapon would do to a human body.

The leather straps were knotted with a weight at the end and embedded with metal, nails, and bone shards. Sharp fragments from the knucklebone of a sheep were often used. The flagrum would sometimes contain a hook at the end and was given the terrifying name “scorpion.” Scourging would quickly remove the flesh, leaving skin hanging like ribbons, and would expose a bloody mass of muscle and bone, sometimes even exposing the internal organs.

The fragrum was a powerful weapon of torture and a brutal punishment carried out by professionally trained soldiers where the victim would be stripped naked, tied or shackled to a sturdy column or between two columns. Two soldiers, one standing on each side, would alternate hits, beating the victim continuously. According to Jewish law, you could not beat someone more than 40 times, so the Jews always stopped at 39 lest they miscount and accidentally sin against God. The Romans, however, had no such law. This punishment was not so much about the number of lashes as it was about beating the person within “a step” of death and then backing off.

On that hill that day: Three men died but they died in different ways.

One died in Anger, one died in Agony, Jesus died in Appeal; One died a blasphemer, one died a believer but Jesus died a benefactor: one died in Condemnation, one died in contention but Jesus died in compassion: I trying to tell you that they all three died but they died in different ways: one died in derision, one died in decision but Jesus died in distinction; One died in expulsion, one died in election but Jesus died in exaltation; One died in folly, one died in faith, Jesus died in fulfillment: one died in greed, one died in grace , and Jesus died in Glory: one died in hissing, one died in hope but Jesus died in humility.

They talked smut that day: they said He saved others; let him save himself: If thou be the King of the Jews save your self. One of the Thief said If thou be the Christ save your self and us, but the other thief said Doest thou not fear God, we are drinking the water from the well we dug but this man hath done nothing.This this said to Jesus Lord remember me. I don,t know what he saw or what he heard; perhaps on the way up the hill he saw Jesus, when he heard him say Father forgive them for they know not what they do. I don’t know; well darkness fell, the earth realed and rocked like a drunk man the stars loosed from their sockets. the Centurion Soldier remarked glorifirf God and said this was a righteous man. A thief got, a centurian soldier Got it. He died on that tree for you and me. went into that grave, on the third day. death suffered his only defeat.