Jesus Takes up the Cross

Jesus Takes Up the Cross

They Crucified Him

They Crucified Him

Once the Roman soldiers had beaten him, they took Jesus to his execution site.

When they got there, they stripped him of his clothes and crucified him.

Now, Mark doesn’t tell us much about the crucifixion…he doesn’t give us very many details… not because it’s unimportant…it’s because everyone he was writing to knew very well the true horror of crucifixion.

By Jesus’ day, The Romans had perfected crucifixion not only as their preferred way of execution, but also as way to torture people as they died. It was their favorite way of making an example out of anybody who would challenge their authority.

Here’s what they did. When they arrived at the crucifixion site, a nail was hammered into each of Jesus’ wrists pinning his arms stretched out across a beam. Then one would be driven through his ankles so that when the cross was set upright, his body would form a T. The Romans knew exactly where to place the nails so that they would pierce major nerves in the body…and it was designed to be as painful as possible…without actually killing you…so that Jesus would suffer for as long as possible before eventually dying.

But it wasn’t the crucifixion itself that killed anyone…in fact, we know that most people who were crucified would stay alive for days before dying! The thing is, the only way for you to breathe while you were hanging there in front of everybody who'd gathered to watch you die, was for you to push yourself up…putting ALL your weight on these three nails now holding you to the cross. Eventually, it would become so unbelievably painful and physically draining to do so over and over again for hours, and maybe even days on end…that you would eventually loose your ability to hold themselves up long enough to take a breath…most would die because they couldn’t breathe any more.

And yet as he is crucified, Jesus was silent...so Jesus was willing.

This was the horror of His death.

And while this is happening, we’re told a crowd gathered to watch all of this because again, crucifixion was a public message to everyone who saw it that this is what will happen to any one who challenges Rome.

And as Jesus is hanging on a cross…having been stripped of his clothes…the soldiers nailed a sign to the top of the cross which said, ‘The King of the Jews’…as a way to say this is what will happen to anyone who follows this King…

And then the crowd began to insult Jesus while he died.

Some were walking by, shaking their heads as they called out, “What a fool!…if you really are who you say you are…WHY DON’T YOU SAVE YOURSELF!?”

The religious leaders were also there to see the culmination of what they’ve been working for…to see Jesus finally exposed as a fraud…and executed.

They said, “He saved others…but he can’t even save himself!” If he really is the Christ…if he really is the King…then he could come down off the cross right now! So of course he’s not who he says he is! Of course he’s not the Son of Man…of course he’s not the Son of God… In fact, IF he did come…THEN we’d see who he is…THEN we’d believe him.”

And in his final hours, He was betrayed by a follower, denied by a friend, and mocked by the crowds.

And yet as he is mocked, Jesus is silent...so Jesus was willing.

This was the humiliation of his death.

And everything that was said here…by the soldiers, by the religious leaders, by the crowds...is really summed up with the question, ‘WHAT KIND OF KING IS THIS?! Right? What kind of King is this who is humiliated like this…what kind of King is nailed to a cross?! It is in fact the same question we should be asking right now…WHAT KIND OF KING IS THIS!?

And yet friends, as we read this story of Jesus crucifixion we are confronted, not with a king who is powerless…or weak, or a failure…but with a king who knows exactly what he is doing.

See we know what Jesus could have done in this moment.

He could have called down Angels to his defense before the Roman authorities, showing that HIS power FAR surpassed what Rome believed it had! He could have given the religious leaders…and the soldiers a glimpse into his majesty as the true Son of Man…to show that he was a greater King than they could ever imagine…Jesus could have done something!

But instead…as he faces the horror and humiliation of his death…the one thing Jesus shows us is his willingness to die! It is his silence in the face of his humiliation that shows that he will had every intention of being humiliated. He had every intention of being beaten….he had every intention of suffering…he had every intention of making his way to the cross…see what we see here is that in all of this, JESUS WAS WILLING TO DIE!

See, He did not simply end up on the cross…he did not happen to be crucified…he had every intention of getting there.

Why?

Why was Jesus silent?

Why was Jesus willing to do this?

Friends…Jesus was willing because Jesus is loving.

On the cross we see Jesus…the only one who was truly innocent, crucified as a guilty man.

And the great irony is that WE are the ones who are guilty…because WE are the ones who have failed to live as God commanded!

We are the ones who have sinned against God and each other, and so we are the ones who have earned this death…

And as we see Jesus on cross tonight, the words we should all hear echo inside us are, ‘That…should…be… me…’

And yet Jesus was willing.

Jesus was willing to take our guilt…and put it on himself.

Jesus was willing to take our sin…as if it was his own.

Jesus was willing to take our cross…and carry it himself!

Jesus was willing to die our death…so that we could have life.

Friends, tonight…we look at horror and humiliation of the cross and must remind ourselves THAT SHOULD BE ME! That should be you!

But it was Him…

Jesus was willing because Jesus is loving.