After - Day 8

This week we will spend our time thinking about the last moments of the life of Jesus, and the time in between his death and resurrection, and of course include the resurrection in our study. These final moments have had books written about them. If I were going to recommend a book about the Cross of Jesus Christ it would be John Stott's book, “The Cross of Christ.” It is a seminal work of theology and devotion. It is not the easiest of reads, but it is important for us to understand the importance of the Cross to our faith as Christians.

Why is the Cross so important? And what was Jesus doing up there? Wasn’t there another way that he could have shown his love for us? Was God so bloodthirsty that he needed a human sacrifice? And did we spend time without a God because he died on that Cross? What implications does that have for us in the world, and what does it do to the Trinity to cease to have three entities in one?

Wow, these are a lot of questions that all deserve a great deal of time. Perhaps the best way to take a look at it is to spend time in the biblical account, using the synoptics, and taking a few moments each day to lean into the facts of what happened. Today, Jesus on the way to Golgotha:

I will assume that you will go and look at the verses in their entirety to make all of this make sense. But what we see is that when the Romans were finally tired of mocking him (Matthew, Mark) they began to move him toward Golgotha, or the hill of the Skull. We know from other accounts of crucifixion that he probably would have been carrying the Patibulum, or the crossbeam. Regardless, it would have been heavy, and he would have been exhausted from the beatings that took place earlier.

Then, we see Simon the Cyrene, from Africa, subscripted into service and to carry the cross the rest of the way up the hill. Whether he was reluctant, we do not know. We do know that he was willing to continue the journey to the cross with Jesus, carrying the burden that had become too much for Jesus. Let us not forget that Jesus had to carry the weight of the Sins of the world with him as well.

In the Lucan account we see that Jesus makes a comment to the women of Jerusalem. The prophecy is difficult and a hard one to hear, and we don’t know why it was not included in the previous two synoptic gospels. Then, we see two others, both criminals put next to him on the place of the skull.

This all happened by about 9am!

1. Are you familiar with the timeline of that last day? 
2. How can we put ourselves into the crowd and take in what Jesus was going through? 
3. How would you have felt if you were Simon the Cyrene?