DAY #51: February 20, 2009 - Matthew 27:33-56

Golgotha is the Hebrew word for “skull.” The familiar name “Calvary” is derived from the Latin calvaria (also meaning “skull”). Thus, it became known as Skull Hill, although some say its name was derived from its appearance, a hill with a stony top that may have looked like a skull. Golgotha may have been a regular place of execution. It was prominent, public, and outside the city along a main road. Executions held there served as examples to the people and as a deterrent to criminals.The drink offered to Jesus was wine mixed with bitter gall. But Jesus refused to drink it. He would suffer fully conscious and with a clear mind.

Crucifixion, instituted by the Romans, was a feared and shameful form of execution. The victim was forced to carry his cross along the longest possible route to the crucifixion site as a warning to bystanders. There were several shapes for crosses and several different methods of crucifixion. Jesus was nailed to the cross; condemned men were sometimes tied to their cross with ropes. In both cases, death came by suffocation as the person would lose strength and the weight of the body would make breathing more and more difficult.

A signboard stating the condemned man’s crime would be placed on his cross as a warning. Because Jesus was never found guilty, the only accusation placed on his sign was the “crime” of calling himself the King of the Jews. This sign was meant to be ironic. A king, stripped and executed in public view, had obviously lost his kingdom forever. But Jesus, who turns the world’s wisdom upside down, was just coming into his Kingdom. Few people reading the sign that bleak day understood its real meaning.

When James and John had asked Jesus for the places of honor next to him in his Kingdom, Jesus had told them that they didn’t know what they were asking. Here, as Jesus was preparing to inaugurate his Kingdom through his death, the places on his right and on his left were taken by two criminals (Isaiah 53:12). As Jesus had explained to his position-conscious disciples, a person who wants to be close to Jesus must be prepared to suffer and die as he himself was doing. The way to the Kingdom is the way of the Cross.

Insult was literally added to injury when it came to public crucifixion. The people passing by shouted abuse. They taunted Jesus that if he could boast of building the Temple in three days, surely he had the power to save himself from the fate of the cross. Ironically, Jesus was in the very process of fulfilling his own prophecy. His body was being destroyed, but in three days he would rise again. Because Jesus was the Son of God who always obeyed the will of the Father, he did not come down from the cross to save himself. If he had done so, he could not have saved us. Their words, “if you are the Son of God,” recall Satan’s temptations, revealing that Satan was still at work attempting to get Jesus to give in to the suffering and fail to accomplish God’s will.

Apparently some religious leaders had followed the executioners out to Golgotha, eager to see their evil plot finally completed. Not content to have brought him to an unjust death, they also mocked him, that though he could save others, he couldn’t save himself. The religious leaders had twice before asked Jesus to give them a miraculous sign so that they would believe in him, but Jesus had refused. Here again they were saying, “Give us a sign,” as they taunted, “come down from the cross.” Their words echo Psalm 22:8. But Jesus would not renounce his God-appointed path. The lesson for all believers is that faith cannot be based on visible demonstrations of power; instead, faith is belief in things not seen.

Jesus had been put on the cross at nine o’clock in the morning. Death by crucifixion was slow and excruciating. Three hours passed while Jesus put up with abuse from bystanders. Then, at noon, darkness settled over the land for three hours. We do not know how this darkness occurred, but it is clear that God caused it. Nature testified to the gravity of Jesus’ death, while Jesus’ friends and enemies alike fell silent in the encircling gloom. The darkness on that Friday afternoon was both physical and spiritual. All nature seemed to mourn over the stark tragedy of the death of God’s Son.

Jesus did not ask this question, “Why have you forsaken me?” in surprise or despair. He was quoting the first line of Psalm 22, a prophecy expressing the deep agony of the Messiah’s death for the world’s sin. Jesus knew that he would be temporarily separated from God the moment he took upon himself the sins of the world because God cannot look on sin (Habakkuk 1:13). This separation was the “cup” Jesus had dreaded as he prayed in Gethsemane. The physical agony was horrible, but the spiritual alienation from God was the ultimate torture. Jesus suffered this double death so that we would never have to experience eternal separation from God.

The bystanders misinterpreted Jesus’ words and thought he was calling for the prophet Elijah. Because Elijah had ascended into heaven without dying (2 Kings 2:11), a popular belief held that Elijah would return to rescue those suffering from great trouble (Malachi 4:5). John records that Jesus said he was thirsty. In response, one man soaked a sponge with sour wine. This was not the same as the drugged wine offered to Jesus earlier, but a thirst quencher that was there, probably for the soldiers to drink. This man, either in an act of kindness or further mockery, put the sponge on a long stick and held it up in order to reach Jesus’ lips (again fulfilling prophecy.

The crowd, however, resuming its taunting, thought Jesus had called for Elijah, and said not to give Jesus any relief for his thirst, but instead to wait and see if Elijah would come and save him. Jesus’ loud cry may have been his last words, “It is finished!”. This cry climaxed the horror of the scene and showed his sudden death after over six hours on the cross. Usually crucifixion caused a person to lapse into a coma from extreme exhaustion. Jesus, however, was completely conscious to the end, and then he gave up his spirit.

Some significant events symbolized what Christ’s work on the cross had accomplished. The Temple had three main parts—the courts, the holy place (where only the priests could enter), and the most holy place, reserved by God for himself. It was in the most holy place that the ark of the covenant rested. The room was entered only once a year, on the Day of Atonement, by the high priest as he made a sacrifice to gain forgiveness for the sins of all the nation (Leviticus 16:1-34). The curtain in the Temple was between the holy place and the most holy place.

Symbolically, that curtain separated the holy God from sinful people. By tearing the curtain in two, from top to bottom, God showed that Jesus had opened the way for sinful people to reach a holy God. The opening of the tombs and people being raised from the dead revealed that by Jesus’ death, the power of death was broken. A Roman officer had accompanied the soldiers to the execution site. He probably had done this many times. Yet this crucifixion was completely different. These Gentiles realized something that most of the Jewish nation had missed: “Truly, this was the Son of God!” Whether they understood what they were saying, we cannot know. They may simply have admired Jesus’ courage and inner strength, perhaps thinking that he was divine, like one of Rome’s many gods. They were terrified because of the other events (darkness and earthquake) that had surrounded this particular crucifixion, which they attributed to the wrath of God (or a god). They certainly recognized Jesus’ innocence. While the Jewish religious leaders were celebrating Jesus’ death, a small group of Gentiles were the first to proclaim Jesus as the Son of God after his death.

There had been many people at the cross who had come only to mock and taunt Jesus or, like the religious leaders, to revel in their apparent victory. Some of Jesus’ faithful followers were at the cross as well. Among the disciples, only John was there, and he recorded in his Gospel in graphic detail the horror he observed. Many women were also there, watching from a distance.
Mary Magdalene was from Magdala, a town near Capernaum in Galilee. She had been released from demon possession by Jesus. Another Mary is distinguished by the names of her sons who may have been well known in the early church. Zebedee’s wife was the mother of the disciples James and John. Her name was Salome, and she was probably the sister of Jesus’ mother. These women had been faithful to Jesus’ ministry, following him and providing for his material needs. John wrote that Jesus’ mother, Mary, was present and that, from the cross, Jesus spoke to John about taking care of Mary.

These women could do very little, but they did what they could. They stayed at the cross when the disciples had not even come; they followed Jesus’ body to the tomb; they prepared spices for his body. Because these women used the opportunities they had, they were the first to witness the Resurrection. God blessed their devotion, initiative, and diligence. As believers, we should take advantage of the opportunities we have and do what we can for Christ.



SO WHAT? (what will I do with what I have read today?)

I am speechless. I am completely broken by our Lord's sacrifice. Lord let this passage linger in my heart and mind today. Live through me and help me be like You.