Paid In Full: An In-depth Look at the Defining Moments of Christ's Passion (25 page)

Matthew 27:36 says, “And sitting down they watched him there.” The Greek word for “watch” is the word
tereo
, which means
to guard
. The Greek tense means
to consistently guard
or
to consistently be on the watch
. It was the responsibility of these soldiers to keep things in order, to keep watch over the crucifixion site, and to make sure no one came to rescue Jesus from the Cross. So as they cast lots and played games, the soldiers were also keeping watch out of the corners of their eyes to make certain no one touched Jesus as He hung dying on the Cross.

When I read about the crucifixion of Jesus, it makes me want to repent for the callousness with which the world looks upon the Cross today. In our society, the cross has become a fashion item, decorated with gems, rhinestones, gold, and silver. Beautiful crosses of jewelry adorn women’s ears and dangle at the bottom of gold chains and necklaces. The symbol of the cross is even tattooed on people’s flesh!

The reason this is so disturbing to me is that in beautifying the Cross to make it pleasing to look upon, people have forgotten that it wasn’t beautiful or lavishly decorated at all. In fact, the Cross of Jesus Christ was
shocking
and
appalling.

Jesus’ totally naked body was flaunted in humiliation before a watching world. His flesh was ripped to shreds; His body was bruised from head to toe; He had to heave His body upward for every breath He breathed; and His nervous system sent constant signals of excruciating pain to His brain. Blood drenched Jesus’ face and streamed from His hands, His feet, and from the countless cuts and gaping wounds the scourging had left upon His body. In reality, the Cross of Jesus Christ was a disgusting, repulsive, nauseating, stomach-turning sight — so entirely different from the attractive crosses people wear today as jewelry or as a part of their attire.

When we fail to remember what it cost Jesus to save us, we tend to treat our salvation cheaply and with disregard.

Whether it’s the Easter season or any other season of the year, it would be good for all of us as believers to take a little time to remember what the Cross of Jesus Christ was really like. If we don’t deliberately choose to meditate on what He went through, we will never fully appreciate the price He paid for us. How tragic it would be if we lost sight of the pain and the price of redemption!

When we fail to remember what it cost Jesus to save us, we tend to treat our salvation cheaply and with disregard. That’s why the apostle Peter wrote, “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Peter 1:18,19).

The kind women of Jerusalem wanted to anesthetize Jesus to remove His pain. But He refused their painkiller and entered into the experience of the Cross with all His faculties.

Let’s not allow the world to anesthetize
us
, causing us to overlook, forget, or esteem lightly the enormous price our Savior paid for each of us on the Cross of Calvary.

The cross symbolizes one of the most barbaric forms of execution in history. When we beautify it, we tend to minimize the shocking and appalling reality of all it represents.

Take the time to reflect deliberately upon the tortuous death Jesus willingly died for you. Think about the excruciating pain and the comprehensive price that was required for your redemption. Jesus gave you His all. Can you give Him any less?

The horror and humiliation of death on the Cross defies comprehension. Yet Jesus refused to be drugged or dulled to the agony of it. Instead, He drank the dregs of the cup He initially besought the Father to remove in Gethsemane.

Think deeply about the hideous process of Jesus’ death and the callous indifference of the soldiers who cast lots for His clothing as He died naked before the world. As Jesus died, He forgave. He forgave those who played a part in His death. He forgave your sin, which was the very reason for His death. If Jesus could go through that degree of suffering because of your sins against the Father and then forgive you, how can you justify refusing to release in forgiveness those who have sinned against you?

First John 3:16 (
NKJV
) states, “By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down
our
lives for the brethren….” What are some ways you can lay down your life for others?

Chapter 26:
It Is Finished!

When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar,

he said, It is finished:

and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.

— John 19:30

The Cross of Jesus Christ is the most precious emblem to those of us who call Jesus the Lord of our lives. We love the Cross and cherish it because of the price that was paid 2,000 years ago when Jesus died for our sins. The Cross represents our forgiveness, our freedom, our redemption. We love it so much that we adorn our churches and homes with crosses, and women even wear them around their necks. But when the pure Lamb of God hung on that Cross we deem so precious — naked, beaten, and bleeding profusely before a watching world — it was a ghastly sight. Indeed, it was the most horrendous moment in human history.

No death was more scandalous than death on a cross. Such a death was dreadful and hideous, designed to discredit and tarnish the memory of the one dying. Blood drenched Jesus’ torso, pouring from His head and brow, running like rivers from the deeply torn flesh in His hands and feet. The effect of the scourging that Jesus had received in Pilate’s palace began to take its toll as His body swelled up and became horribly discolored. His eyes were matted with the blood that poured from the wounds in His brow — wounds caused by the crown of thorns that bore down into His skull as the soldiers pushed it hard upon His head. The whole scene was ugly, unsightly, repulsive, sickening, vile, foul, and revolting.

In the Jewish world, nakedness was a particularly profound shame. Because the body was made in the image of God, the Jewish people believed it was a great dishonor to display a naked body. So as if Jesus’ suffering had not already been enough, He experienced the ultimate act of degradation and shame as He hung on the Cross, naked and exposed before all those who watched the unfolding drama.

Approximately 700 years earlier, the prophet Isaiah correctly prophesied Jesus’ appearance on the Cross. In Isaiah 52:14, the prophet wrote with a sense of horror, “As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men.” In Isaiah 53:2, Isaiah continued, “…He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.”

Jesus had been put through horrendous forms of torture and had been atrociously abused and battered. As a result, “…His face and His whole appearance were marred more than any man’s and His form beyond that of the sons of men…” (Isaiah 52:14
AMP
). In the
New International Version
, this verse is translated to say, “…His appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and his form marred beyond human likeness.…”

In Isaiah 53:3-5, Isaiah continued to vividly describe Jesus’ sacrifice. He wrote, “He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”

When Jesus died on that Cross:

• He bore our griefs.
  
• He carried our sorrows.
  
• He was wounded for our transgressions.
  
• He was bruised for our iniquities.
  
• He was chastised for our peace.
  
• He was scourged for our healing.
  

As Jesus approached death, the Bible tells us, “They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall….” (Matthew 27:34). As we saw in Chapter 25, a man who was to be executed could request a narcotic, mingled together with wine, which would help alleviate the pain of his execution. As noted before, the word “gall” in this verse is a special Greek word that refers to a painkiller that was mingled together with wine. John 19:30 tells us that “When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.”

“It is finished” is a translation of the Greek word
tetelestai
, the perfect indicative passive tense of the word
telos
, which means
to end
;
to bring to completion
;
to bring to a conclusion
;
to complete
;
to accomplish
;
to fulfill
; or
to finish
. One scholar notes that anything that has reached
telos
has arrived at completion, maturity, or perfection. There were many nuances to this word, but four or them have great significance with this defining moment of Christ’s sacrifice.

First
, this was Jesus’ exclamation that He had finished the work the Father had sent Him to do. The work having been fully completed, Jesus bowed His head and died. One writer has noted that when a servant was sent on a mission and then later returned to his master, he would say,
“Telelestai”
— meaning,
“I have done exactly what you requested”
or
“The mission is now accomplished.”

In that moment when Jesus cried out, He was exclaiming to the entire universe that He had faithfully fulfilled the Father’s will and that the mission was now accomplished. No wonder Jesus shouted — for this was the greatest victory in the history of the human race! He had been faithful to His assignment even in the face of unfathomable challenges. But now the fight was over, and Jesus could cry out to the Father,
“I have done exactly what You asked Me to do!”
or
“The mission is accomplished!”