“They
crucified him.” This simple phrase describes how Jesus died. By the time this
point was reached, Jesus had been beaten with a whip whose leather throngs were
embedded with small bits of pottery or sharp rocks. The crown of thorns would
have produced more bleeding and increased the pain and physical stress.
Carrying the
cross beam from the place of trial to the place of crucifixion would have taken
most of what energy Jesus had left. Using nails instead of or along with ropes
would have added to what Jesus had already suffered. Then, unable to maintain
the ability to breathe easily due to a tightened diaphragm, Jesus would have
reached a point of exhaustion hastened by the severe beating he had already
received. Blood loss and asphyxiation combined to bring about a relatively
quick death.
The lashings
are something we understand. The crown of thorns is something we understand.
The nails and the cross are things we understand. Yet at the sixth hour, the
hour of noon, Jesus entered a darkness into which we were not intended to
follow and we can never understand. It was a point in the Divine Existence
where the events that occurred could only be understood within the Person of
the Triune God.
The concept
of the Trinity will always be discussed in inadequate terms: Three in One, One
in Three. How much more are we faced with our intellectual inadequacy when we
are forced to consider what transpired in what to us were three hours of time!
For the Trinity this was taking place in some arena where time had no meaning.
Our only
glimpse into this darkness inhabited by Jesus is the cry of dereliction. We cannot
comprehend what was involved in those three hours when God the Son found
himself separated from God the Father by the sins of the world placed upon his
soul. “Eli, Eli, lama sabach thani? My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”
(Matthew 27:46) For people gathered around the cross, the darkness was the
absence of the light of the sun. For Jesus the darkness was the absence of the
glory of the Father.
With all the
pain that Jesus suffered in the crucifixion, thousands who died at the hands of
the Roman authorities had gone through the same torturous death. Ancient
historians record that 6000 captives were crucified at one time after the
failed rebellion led by the former gladiator Spartacus. In fact Jesus’ time on
the cross was far less than suffered by some who had hung there for several
days.
The accounts
are multiple that describe the medical details of what Jesus experienced. The
descriptions are gruesome and horrible even to read. Yet the curse of dying on
a cross/tree will remain the closest we can ever come to understanding what
happened during those three hours of darkness.
When the
Father placed the veil between himself and his Son, we don’t know what
happened. When it was over, however, our salvation was guaranteed by a simple
statement, “Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit.” (Luke 23:46) Jesus had gone
through the darkness and remained the faithful Son. The minions of hell
celebrated with the cry of abandonment. They screamed in despair at the words
of surrender.
When Jesus
refused the temptations of Satan (Matthew 4) to become Lord of the earth by the
methods of hell, he was left with the path that would lead to the cross. On a
cross one Friday, innocence was sacrificed for the guilty. The faithful was
sacrificed for the rebellious. The One and Only Son was rejected so that those
who had turned away could be adopted into the family of their Creator. Three
hours of darkness made possible for us an eternity of light.
