Why Two Pieces of Wood Are Better Than a Valentine's Day Card

Hey gang!  First up, I had originally been planning on saving something like this for Easter.  But the more I thought about it, the more I felt like God was telling me that some of you need to hear this now, myself included.  So I’m going to talk about the cross.  This may get a bit long, and I can guarantee you it won’t be very pretty, but I think the basic message is one we all need.  And I’m actually not talking about the traditional salvation message, although it will come pretty close.  But before you roll your eyes and decide to take a rain-check on this one, let me assure you that this will not be the traditional Sunday school “Jesus died on the cross because He loves you, and isn’t that great?” spiel.  Hang with me for a few minutes, and I’ll show you what I mean. 

Before we get to the cross, however, we need to talk about the Romans.   The Romans were not mediocre guys.  What they did, they did well.  Even after the Empire collapsed, it left an absolutely astonishing impact on the world.  They built roads that connected the world as it had never been connected before.  They played a large part in the architectural movements that followed.  Much of modern law and public administration was inspired by Roman roots.  Today the vast majority of words in the English language are somehow related to Latin. 

There was one thing, however, that has always stood out to me.  The Roman Empire was good at pain.  While crucifixion was not a Roman invention (most give that credit to the Persians), they took large steps to perfect it.  When the Romans were finished, crucifixion was such a painful death that Roman citizens were almost never sentenced with it unless they were accused of high treason.  Instead, it was a punishment reserved for slaves, pirates, severe criminals, and enemies of the state.  Crucifixion was designed to be more than just a simple execution.  It was intended to completely mutilate and dishonor the body of the condemned, to make them suffer and die in horrible agony.  Adding insult to injury (literally) was the fact that a funeral was almost always forbidden.  In the Roman view an honorable death required a burial, and so for the body to be mutilated and then left on a cross for the crows was the worst dishonor imaginable, thus showing off the victim’s low social status.  Crucifixion was ugly. 

Somehow over the years, we have managed to water the crucifixion down to a happy Sunday school story about a guy who loves us very much and died on this thing called a cross and then rose from the dead, and isn’t that nice?  Somehow we managed to completely lose the true story of the cross.  It was not pretty.  Not at all.  In fact, it was the exact opposite.  The cross was a symbol of death and agony and of the tyranny of Roman rule.  But what happened on this particular cross was beautiful.  Extremely so.  Our God seems to really love irony. 

To get to the cross, we have to start in the garden of Gethsemane.  (I highly encourage you to read the accounts of the crucifixion from each of the four gospels, as each one notes different details that the others left out.)  Jesus, knowing what is coming, goes off by Himself and prays.  One of the most famous lines from that prayer is this: “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done. (Luke 22:42)”  Luke goes on to say that Jesus is already “in anguish”, and that He actually begins to sweat blood, a rare phenomenon that only occurs under extreme emotional stress.  When He finally gets up and goes back to check on His disciples, He finds them all asleep.  So much for loyal friends.  All Jesus asked was that they stay awake!  But it is obviously not His night as far as friendships go.  Judas, one of His trusted inner circle, is the one who leads the guards to the garden, a place Jesus had probably taken His disciples often.  Judas marks the soldiers’ target by giving Him a kiss, throwing salt in the fresh wound His betrayal has probably caused.  The disciples prove next to useless (although Peter does manage to cut off a servant’s ear), and rather than trying to buy Jesus time to escape, they split.  I mean, those guys are gone!  It’s almost like a disappearing act.  Now you see ‘em, now you don’t.  Peter and another disciple (presumably John) do find the courage to follow Jesus from a distance, but then even loyal Peter breaks down and denies even knowing Jesus not once, but three times.  This is the part that would have absolutely killed me.  Not only is Jesus facing a horribly painful death, but He is now doing it completely alone. 

Inside the high priest’s house, the Jews are busy eating Jesus alive.  They hold a mock trial, complete with fake witnesses (whose stories are so conflicting that any idiot can immediately tell they are lying).  Even the Pharisees can find no charge to try Him on, until finally they stumble across what they believe to be blasphemy (although in fact Jesus really was the Son of God).  This is where things really start to get physical.  The first actual blow comes from a soldier who strikes Jesus for answering the high priest in what he saw as a disrespectful manner.  When they finally have their charge, the Pharisees hand Jesus over to the palace guards for a while.  They, in turn, begin to hit Him and spit on Him.  Soon they blindfold Him and taunt Him, urging Him to prophesy and tell them which one struck Him. 

When morning finally comes, the Pharisees drag Jesus over to see Pilate, the only one with the authority to give a death-sentence.  At this point Jesus is bruised, battered, sleep-deprived, dehydrated, and emotionally worn-down.  Pilate is unable to find any charge to use against Jesus (because He is innocent!), but he is also absolutely terrified of the crowds, who the Pharisees have managed to stir up.  If he goes against the crowd he might spark rebellion, which could lead to him losing his job, maybe even his life.  So he instead passes Jesus off to Herod, who is in control of the province of Galilee where Jesus is from.  Herod gets excited at the prospect of a magic show, and tries to get Jesus to perform miracles.  (This part always strikes me.  Sometimes we make the same mistake.  Sometimes what we want is not a miracle from God, but a show to entertain us.  Ouch.)  Unable to get the reaction he wants, Herod finally gets bored.  He and his soldiers mock Jesus a bit, dress him up like a king, and send him right back to Pilot. 

Pilot has yet to get over his fear of the crowd.  He tries to stand up to the Jews, insisting that Jesus has committed no crime, but they remain persistent as ever.  Pilot tries to compromise by agreeing to have Jesus flogged.  The Pharisees, however, will be satisfied by nothing less than Jesus’ death.  There is an ancient custom that on the Passover Pilate will release one prisoner, and he tries to use this as an excuse to release Jesus.  But the Jews turn the tables on Him by insisting that he instead release Barabbas.  (Interesting note: Barabbas is presumed to be a freedom fighter, and has been imprisoned on the charge of murder.  However, seeing as he was probably on trial for the murder of Romans, many of the Jews might have viewed him as a hero rather than as the criminal he is traditionally painted as (Mark 15:7, Luke 23:25)).  The Jews begin to cry for Jesus’ crucifixion, and finally Pilate’s fear of the crowd wins out.  He releases Barabbas, and then washes his hands of the responsibility of Jesus’ blood (really little more than a symbolic gesture) and orders that He be flogged and then crucified. 

There are two theories on the how flogging might have gone, although both would have involved Jesus being stripped of His clothes and having his hands tied to a pole.  Both would also have been extremely painful.  One method suggested is the cat o’ nine tails, a handle with nine leather thongs.  Often times these “tails” had sharp pieces of glass, bone, rock, and pottery tied into them to make tearing skin and muscle even easier.  The other theory suggests that a flagrum might have been used: a short whip, also with several leather thongs, although these thongs had small balls of lead tied near the ends to act as weights so that the whip came down with full force.  Either way, the skin and muscle of Jesus’ back, shoulders, and probably legs would have been torn to ribbons.  The whipping would typically not have been stopped until the centurion in charge decided that the prisoner was close to death.  There is some speculation that Jesus might have received 39 lashes (Jewish law forbade more than 40 - Deuteronomy 25:3 – and so the traditional number was 39, just in case someone miscounted), but no one really knows for sure. 

Not satisfied with the whipping, the soldiers proceed to mock Jesus further by giving Him a kingly robe and smashing a crown of thorns onto His head.  When they are finally tired of hitting and mocking, they remove the robe (which might have reopened all of the wounds on His back) and send Him off to be crucified. 

Tradition requires Jesus to carry the crosspiece of His own cross to the place of HHis crucifixion.  The huge wooden beam would have been heavy even for a strong man, let alone one as tired as Jesus must now be.  Not to mention that He would be forced to carry it on His freshly-whipped back.  It’s no wonder that a completely-exhausted Jesus finally gives out.  The Romans pull a man out of the crowd and order Him to carry the crosspiece the rest of the way.  When they finally reach the crucifixion sight, the true ordeal begins. 

Jesus is placed with his back against the cross.  That alone would have been painful.  But then sharp stakes are driven through His wrists.  (In the wrists the nail could be driven securely between two bones.  They could not be placed in the hands, as tradition dictates, because the flesh would have torn and the victim would have fallen.)  His feet are placed one on top of the other and another nail is driven through them.  This would have been excruciating enough in its own right.  Added on top of everything else Jesus had been through, it would have been complete agony.  Although it was probably one of the last things on His mind at the time, there was also the insult of being crucified between two convicted thieves. 

The cross is raised and things only get worse.  The nails in Jesus’ wrists are putting extreme pressure directly on His nerves.  The only way to avoid this pain is to push Himself up on His feet, which causes the same pain as the nail in His feet tears through more nerves.  Muscle cramps only make things worse, eventually leaving Him hanging by His arms.  This position, however, makes it incredibly hard to breathe, and He is forced to pull Himself up again, scraping His torn back against the rough wood.  This cycle could go on for hours, sometimes even days if the victim was strong enough.  Eventually muscles will give out, and the victim will be unable to pull themselves up, resulting in death by suffocation.  (Somewhere in this time one of the thieves also comes to belief in Jesus, but we’ll leave that discussion for another time.) 

Throughout all of this, the Jews below are mocking and jeering, taunting Jesus to save Himself.  They say they will believe if He comes down off the cross.  But, like Herod, they are looking for no miracles.  They only want a show.  And yet, in the midst of their mockery, Jesus somehow finds the breath to say, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”  Wow.  That absolutely blows my mind.  Even after everything they have done, Jesus is still hanging on the cross for them. 

Eventually the time comes.  Jesus, now bearing the full weight of the sins of all humanity, cries out to God, asking why He had been forsaken.  God is unable to bear the sight of sin, even when it is born on the shoulders of His own son.  Jesus is forced to bear that burden alone, knowing that God has turned away.  Finally it becomes too much, and he cries out “It is finished.”  And then He’s gone. 

Finally the Sabbath draws near, and the Jews, ever eager to keep the law, ask for the crucifixion to be ended so they can get rid of the bodies before the Sabbath starts, thus keeping themselves pure.  This was commonly done by breaking the victim’s legs so they were unable to pull themselves up, thus quickening their death by suffocation.  Jesus, however, is already dead, and as such His legs remain unbroken (exactly as foretold by Isaiah).  But just to be sure, the soldiers pierce His side with a spear.  Interestingly enough, what comes out is a mixture of blood and water.  This indicates that Jesus did not, in fact, die from the usual suffocation, but rather from heart failure, presumably caused by the severe trauma He had endured. 

We know the rest of the story.  Jesus is buried in a tomb and rises three days later, victorious over death.  As the song so eloquently puts it, “Christ is risen from the dead, trampling over death by death.”  Jesus won.  We know that.  “Veni, vidi, vici,” as Julius Ceasar once said.  “I came, I saw, I conquered.”  To wszystko (Polish for “that’s it”).  Now we have the chance to spend eternity with our Savior and Lord.  We no longer have to pay the price for our sins.  The debt has been paid, and we are finally free. 

Now to the point.  I am writing this devo on this particular subject for two reasons.  The first is one I mentioned earlier.  Somewhere over time we have forgotten what really happened on the cross.  In order for us to understand just how awesome God’s grace is and how incredibly much we owe to Him, we have to first understand everything that went into the cross.  Because once we do, we will be completely blown away.  I think once we truly understand that sacrifice, we will be willing to give our lives completely to Him with no reservations.  How else could we ever hope to pay Him back?  And even that is so small a gift compared to His.  One of my favorite worship songs of all time is “Once Again” by Fusebox, which describes how humbling it is to realize just how high a price Jesus paid for us.  I also love Jeremy Camp’s song “Breaking My Fall”, which talks about how Jesus took our fall even though we are flimsy and weak, and how we can never hope to pay Him back.  Very cool stuff. 

Before I go on to the second reason, let me say first that I am in no way trying to downplay the message of salvation.  It is the most important message in all of history.  Without it, there is no hope.  Without it, we have no reason to live.  Without it, we are all condemned to an eternity in hell.  But most of us already know that message.  And, as incredibly, indescribably important that message is, there is another message that I think some of us need more right now.  I know from speaking with a lot of you that many of us are going through some rough times.  Many of us are hurting, and in most of our cases the world around us has absolutely no idea.  Some of us are wondering if anyone even cares.   This is the main reason why I feel like God wanted me to talk about the crucifixion.  Because there is a simple, basic, fundamental message here that we so easily forget.  That message is this: God loves you.  I don’t care how screwed up you feel, how hurt, how broken, how depressed, how unworthy, or how unlovable.   God loves you.  It doesn’t matter how many times you have sinned.  It doesn’t matter how often you have run from Him or spit in His face.  It doesn’t matter how hurt or broken or worthless or screwed up you feel.  God loves you.  He may be saddened by your choices, or by the way you have been hurt, but no matter where you are, God loves you. 

I watched a TV mini-series a while back called “Knights of Bloodsteel”.  Personally, I was not a fan.  The actors were talented, and the plot had a lot of potential, but I felt like the script left a lot to be desired.  It was predictable, left far too much unexplained, got a bit overly-dramatic, and some of the humor fell pretty flat.  (Sorry to those of you who did like it.  I’m not trying to bash it or anything.  I just didn’t like it!)  But there was one part that will stick in my mind forever.  A soldier who has failed in his duty has been brought before the villain of the series, a monstrous-looking (but sadly not very intimidating) guy named Dragon-Eye.  Trying to save his own skin, the soldier says everything he can think of to reaffirm his loyalty to his master, even saying that he will die for his lord.  At this, Dragon-Eye looks at him and says something I will never forget.  “Yes, but would you suffer?”  (Not sure if those are the exact words, but that was the gist.)  The profound wisdom of that statement has stuck with me.  In a way, I think what Dragon-Eye says is true.  We always say that the greatest show of love is to die for someone.  But sometimes I think that there are some cases where suffering actually says more.  Taking a bullet in the heart for someone is one thing.  A few seconds of pain and then you enter eternity.  But what if you push someone out of the way of a bus and have to spend the rest of your life paralyzed from the waist down?  I’m not trying to say that one sacrifice is greater than the other, or takes a greater amount of love than another.  But dying for someone can be a snap-second decision.  When people ask us to suffer, sometimes we have to think about it for a minute.  I’m not saying that death is easy.  Far from it.  But suffering…  Suffering can be incredibly hard. 

So back to the point.  Why did I just spend an entire paragraph talking about something a not-so-scary villain says in a TV series that most people have never heard of?  Because suffering is hard.  Suffering for someone shows just as much love as dying for them, sometimes maybe even more.  If someone dies for you, if they are willing to suffer for you, you know for sure that they really, truly love you.  Jesus did both.  Not only was He willing to die for you, He was willing to suffer incredible agony and then die one of the cruelest forms of death in history for you.  He did it because He loved you so much that He could not bear to be separated from you for eternity.  So He gave His life so that you had the chance to be with Him forever.  And even if you were the only person on this earth, even if you had personally hit Him and spit in His face, even if He knew that you would never accept His offer, I am fully convinced that He would have still come and died for you anyway, just so you could have the chance of being with Him.  God loves us more than we could ever imagine or understand.  I know that’s a basic concept, and it’s one that we probably all know, but I feel like it’s something many of us need to be reminded of right now, myself included.  So wherever you are, whatever you’re going through, no matter how worthless or screwed up you feel, know that God loves you so much that it’s insane.  And just so you guys know?  So do I. 

I don’t know what you’re going through, and I don’t know if I can help in anyway.  (If any of you ever want to talk, or if there’s anything I can do for you, or even if you just want prayer, please let me know.)  But God knows exactly where you are, and He knows exactly what you’re feeling.  He understands.  Jesus came and walked among us.  He was human.  He knew what it was to be mistreated and misunderstood.  The people in His hometown tried to throw Him off a cliff (Luke 4:24-30)!  There were times His own family didn’t understand why He did what He did (Luke 2:41-50).  He knew how it felt to be betrayed by friends (Luke 22:54-61).  He knew how it felt to lose people He cared about (John 11:32-36).  He knew how it felt to be upset and angry, to feel like you’re all alone.  And even if no one else does, He understands.  So whatever you’re going through, take it to Him.  Because He loves you.  And I know that doesn’t sound like much help.  But I promise you that Jesus understands, and He will never ever leave you.  Even when you can’t see Him, He is there.  Like the poem “Footprints in the Sand.”  Even if there’s just one set of footprints, know that God never left you.  I love Britt Nicole’s song “When She Cries” because it talks about a girl dealing with cutting and all sorts of other things and how God is there when she cries.  Really good song. 

Okay, so this sort of ended up being about two different things.  But I think it worked out okay.  I could probably go on about this for pages, but you guys have lives, so I’ll cut it short.  :)  Basically I just want you guys to know that God loves you more than you can possibly imagine.  And so do I.  To wszystko.  If there’s anything I can do for you, please let me know.  You can always e-mail me at jesusfreak.Lk923@gmail.com  Praying for you guys.  Catch you later.

-Ash