On the Cross // Easter Without Chocolate, Part 4

You see people wearing gold crosses on chains all the time. Even earrings. But on that first Easter – what really happened on that cross.  I mean, what did Jesus actually go through?

It's almost Easter and this week on the program we've been taking a bit of a look at the goings on in the week leading up to the first Easter. There's been nothing about chocolate or eggs or bunnies. Nothing’s wrong with any of those things, they just don't fit into any of the events that first Easter.

Today I thought it would be interesting just to have a look at the real physical suffering of Jesus. Churches and theologians alike make much out of the spiritual suffering of what went on, on that cross at Calvary. But Jesus wasn't and isn't just the Son of God, He was also the son of man, in fact, that's how most he often referred to himself. What did Jesus the man, go through at Easter and why is that so important? Stick with me over the next few minutes as we unpack that just a little bit.

I remember going to the dentist when I was young. His name was Dr Champion, Harry Champion and his surgery was up on the first floor of this building, I'll never forget it. You walked in this door and it was fairly dark and there was these steps – the steps seemed like they went up forever into the sky to me – and they had this dark pink swirly lino with black capping on the stairs, and I remember looking up at those stairs with complete dread every time I went there.

I remember, back in those days, I don't know how it is where you live but there was no fluoride in our water here so we used to have fillings all the time and place had that unmistakable smell of a dental surgery. I don't know what chemicals they used there but you know what a dental surgery smells like and I'd get this sick feeling in my stomach days before going. It all came to a head every time when I stood at the bottom of those stairs, that long interminable walk up, maybe you can relate to that, it was all about pain, it was all about physical pain.

Back then they didn't use any anesthetic for fillings, they just drilled. You know that little gadget that blows the air to get rid of saliva and bits of tooth and that cold air would just blow on the open, raw nerve of the tooth. All the water that comes out of the drill, that cold water just onto the nerve of the tooth, makes you feel queasy, I tell you, every time I think about it I get a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach and I feel queasy.

I had a filling replaced recently and these days they even put a swab of anesthetic in your mouth before they give you the injection so that the needle doesn't even hurt its great stuff. But I have to tell you I still hang on to that chair for dear life. That fear and trepidation of physical pain of those childhood visits to the dentist haven't left me; maybe you can pay for my deliverance. You get the point though, physical pain and emotional pain are closely linked, and it’s a big deal.

Imagine for a minute that it's not a flight of stairs up to Dr Champion’s dental surgery but an exorable journey to the brutal crucifixion on a cross, how did Jesus feel? I read recently an article by a physician, written some time ago, Dr Truman Davies and he was analyzing the crucifixion from a medical perspective. He talks first about Gethsemane.

In Luke, chapter 2, verse 44, you read about Jesus' sweat turning to blood. He says it's very rare but it does occur and it's well documented in the medical literature: under great emotional stress tiny capillaries in the sweat glands can break, mixing blood with sweat, that would have produced a marked weakness and quite probably shock.

Now, next after the arrest He had the trial of the Sanhedrin in front of the High Priest. And a soldier struck Jesus across the face for remaining silent when questioned. Palace guards blindfolded Him and mocked Him, they taunted Him and they struck Him across the face. Have you ever been struck across the face hard? Maybe you haven't been struck across the face but you know when you go into the kitchen and one of the higher cupboard doors has been left open and you whack your head on the corner of the kitchen door, it really hurts doesn't it?

Imagine being beaten across the head and the face multiple times, just one knock hurts but multiple times must have been brutal and then early the next morning, battered and bruised and dehydrated and worn out from a sleepless night.

Jesus is taken across to Jerusalem to the Praetorian of the Fortress of Antonia, the seat of government where Pontius Pilate was, and Pilate tries to duck shove the case to Herod Antipas the Tetrarch of Judea. But he sends it back to Pilate and there's a crowd outside baying for his blood, it was Barabbas or Jesus, when they said, "We want Barabbas." And of Jesus they shouted, "Crucify him, crucify him."

Now, crucifixion was common in those days so Jesus knew what crucifixion was all about, he didn't know first hand at that point but he knew how brutal and painful and ugly that death would be. And Jesus was condemned by Pilate to a scourging and a crucifixion. Now we often skim over that scourging bit but let’s just have a look at that.

When a prisoner was scourged, he was stripped of all his clothing; his hands were tied to a post above his head. A Roman legionnaire would step forward with a flagellum, a whip consisting of several heavy leather thongs with small beads of lead attached near the ends of each and he brought it down with full force again and again and again across Jesus' shoulders and back and legs. And first they only cut through the skin but as this continues they cut deeper and deep into the subcutaneous tissue, first producing an oozing of blood from the capillaries and veins of the skin and finally spurting arterial blood from the vessels and the muscles. The skin of his back was hanging in long ribbons, the entire area unrecognisable as a mass of torn and bleeding tissue, many prisoners died in the scourging.

Then he was mocked and beaten, they shoved a crown of thorns that pressed into his head. Imagine that? And there was more beating and driving the thorns deeper and deeper into his tissue and skull and then he had to pick up an incredibly heavy cross over his shoulder and bloodied, remember his back, drag it through the streets up the hill, about a 650 meter journey and he collapsed and a man who was watching, called Simon was conscripted into carrying the cross.

Then they threw the cross on the ground and they threw him on top of the cross and they drove nails through his wrists into the wood, blow after blow and nails were driven through the arch of each foot and now he was crucified and then the cross was erected and his full body weight hung on the nails. It must have been excruciating and the way people died was through chest cramps and the muscles were unable to act to breathe, they were able to draw air in but they couldn't exhale and ultimately they suffocated and died.

No greater love has any man than to lay down his life for his friends.

And Jesus said:

They aren't taking my life from me but I lay it down.

Father,
I've just heard the story of Jesus' crucifixion and Lord, it just touches me deep inside. Father I know that what You did there was You paid for my sin, for all my failings and Lord, I just want to say thank You. I just want to say thank You and I'm sorry for the things that I've done wrong and right now I just want to give my life to You. I want to take You and accept you as my Lord and my King and my Saviour. Jesus, thank You, I turn away from all the things I've done wrong in the past and I give my life to You. Jesus, You're my Lord, You're my Saviour, I want to live my life, the rest of my life here on this earth for You and then to spend the rest of eternity with You. So Father, thank You for your forgiveness, thank You for the future I have. I pray in Jesus Christ’s name.
Amen.