Passion Week: Stations of the Cross

We've been looking at the last days of Jesus Christ. and today we move to the crucifixion. It was at some point after Joshua's death. I'm not sure exactly when it was. For me, my final real commitment to Christ was not a Damascus Road experience.

It was not a, in a moment, turning. For me, it was a gradual turning, a painful event, searching after the painful event, looking, seeking, reading, studying, thinking, trying to understand what it really means to be committed to Jesus Christ. But when I finally said, yes, Lord, no turning back, I'm yours, I wanted something that would be with me as a visible reminder of my commitment to Christ. and I began to search for a cross, a cross I could wear. And finally, Louise bought me a gold chain with a cross, you see it pictured there, that I wear with me at all times.

I wear it for a couple of reasons. I wear it to remind me that I belong to Jesus Christ. Not only did he create me, but he bought me. at Calvary, I also wear it to remind me of what he did for me. The cross is not the oldest symbol of the Christian faith.

There were other symbols, but it is the cross that has become the most enduring symbol of the Christian faith. We know as early as A.D. 200, Christians were already using it as an outward sign to remind themselves of the crucifixion of Christ. Tertullian, one of the early church fathers, wrote, at every forward step and movement, we trace upon the forehead the sign of the cross. And they would do that as a reminder of their commitment to Christ and what he had done for them.

The cross is such a crucial event in Christian history. Bishop Stephen Neal said this, in the Christian theology of history, the death of Christ is the central point of history. Here all roads of the past converge, hence all roads of the future diverge. I would change that quote just a little bit. I wouldn't say in the Christian theology of history.

I would just say in human history. I don't care whether you're Christian or not Christian. In human history, the death of Christ is the central point of history. Everything had been moving toward that point, and then everything moved out from that point. Martin Luther would call the gospel a theologica crucis.

He said the gospel is a theology of the cross, and without a right understanding of the cross, its meaning, its purpose, one does not understand the Christian faith. John Piper, in a new book he's written called The Passion of Jesus Christ, he wrote it right after the movie came out. It's a book in which he recites 50 reasons why Jesus Christ died. but he says the passion of Jesus Christ is the most important event in history and the most explosive political and personal issue of the 21st century. Pretty powerful statement.

We're going to explore that a little more next week. Well, the death of Jesus Christ, we're going to look at this in two parts. Today we're going to look at how did Jesus Christ die.

next week we're going to look at why did jesus christ die how did jesus christ die secondly why did he die and i'm going to submit to you that why he died is the most important of the two questions the answer to that is the most important answer of the two questions but how he died can help us get a real understanding of many aspects of what god was doing through christ on the cross Let's pray. Lord, this day I pray that as we come to this central event of human history, that we will step back, that we will pause, that we will reflect, that we will listen with new ears, not just dismissing this story of the cross because it's so familiar. We've heard it so many times. But I pray today we'll listen afresh, hear again,

again what you have done for us through Jesus Christ. Help us to perceive, understand, and to be changed by what we learn this day. In Christ's name, amen. I want to make two beginning observations. The first observation is the death of Jesus Christ was a real event of human history. Jesus really did die on the cross. I make that point because one of the other major religions of the world, Islam, says he did not.

Islam goes right at the heart of the Christian faith and says that Jesus Christ was not crucified on the cross. The Muslims teach that somebody was substituted at the last moment. Somebody else besides Jesus Christ was actually crucified. The implication seems to be it may have been Judas in their teaching, but they say Jesus Christ did not go on the cross. Do you see how directly a shot at the Christian faith that is and what a direct shot that is at salvation, the hope of eternal life?

it's a real event. It's attested not only by the Gospels, but it's also attested by Tacitus, who was a Roman historian who wrote about A.D. 110, and also by Josephus, who was a Jewish historian who wrote in the first century A.D. Tacitus said in his annals about the Roman Empire, the name Christian is derived from Christ, whom the procurator Pontius Pilate had executed in the reign of Tiberius. an extra-biblical affirmation that what the Gospels say is true.

Jesus Christ died on the cross. Or as Josephus says, he was the Christ. Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross. Another confirmation. The second observation I would make, first it was a real event of human history, the second point I would make is that the death of Jesus Christ was God's intended plan.

I was at another church one time with a friend listening to a sermon. The sermon was about the crucifixion, and the basic thrust of the sermon taught by that pastor was God didn't really mean for Jesus to die on the cross. That wasn't his intent when Jesus was born in Bethlehem and was sent. things just sort of went awry, got out of hand, and then Jesus did the only thing he could do. He stood firm in his teaching and he died for it.

But that's not what God intended from the beginning.

Well, is that biblically accurate? No.

Isaiah, surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. Isaiah 53, 6, the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53, 10, it was the Lord's will to crush him and cause him to suffer. Peter, in preaching at Pentecost, would say, Men of Israel, listen to these words. Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs, which God performed through him in your midst, just as you yourselves know, this man delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men.

There are other passages I've given you in your handout there that affirm this was God's plan. He intended to do this. The question is going to be, why? Why did God intend to have Jesus Christ die? So ultimately, who killed Jesus?

Who killed Jesus?

Who ultimately, in the ultimate sense, I would say the answer to the question is, God killed Jesus. with Jesus' consent.

Human agents were involved, but in an ultimate sense, it was part of the plan. And there's a reason. There's a reason for this. That's going to be next week's lesson.

How did Jesus Christ die is this week's lesson. The Gospels are very cryptic or reserved in what they say. You know, if I'd been a Gospel writer, would have probably taken the opportunity to describe in intimate detail the suffering Jesus went through. The gospel writers don't do that. They're very reserved. Mark says Pilate had Jesus flogged and handed him over to be crucified. There's no detailed description of flogging, no detailed description of what it means to be crucified. Of course, the people at whom they were writing all knew what it meant. They knew what a Roman flogging was.

We may not appreciate in our day and time exactly what it meant to go through a flogging and go through a crucifixion. Maybe that's how Mel Gibson has helped us as Christians to understand what Christ went through on our behalf. But we're going to talk a little bit in detail today about how did Jesus die. My brother Mark, several years ago, gave me a great article. It's an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association from March of 1986 where some doctors went and studied all the historical accounts and historical information about Roman flogging and crucifixion to try to understand what Jesus went through.

And they were trying to determine, did Jesus Christ really die on the cross as a result of the crucifixion and the flogging? And in this article, they detail a lot of information about what happened in Roman flogging and Roman crucifixion, and you're going to get some of that right now. Roman flogging. The typical instrument used was called a phlegrum or flagellum, and you see what it says here. Flogging was a legal preliminary to every Roman execution, and only women and Roman senators or soldiers, except in cases of desertion, were exempt.

The usual instrument was a short quip, a phlegrum or flagellum, several single or braided leather thongs of variable length in which small iron balls or sharp pieces of sheep bones were tied at intervals. Multi-stranded whip, they would tie sheep bones and iron balls into the strip. The victim usually had his hands tied to some sort of post, and then the flogging was typically administered by two men trained in flogging, usually one on each side. Sometimes the flogging was, if there was only one person, he would flog on one side for a while, then he would switch and flog on the other side. But the flogging was over basically the whole body, the back, the buttocks, the legs, the way the flogging would occur, the iron balls and the sheep bones and the strands would whip around the body and even lacerate the chest, stomach area, the fronts of the legs. Once a flogging was completed, one's entire body basically had been lacerated. The iron balls would cause deep contusions. The leather thongs and sheep bones would cut into the skin and subcutaneous tissues. Then as the flogging continued, the lacerations would tear into the underlying skeletal muscles and produce quivering ribbons of bleeding flesh. The Romans had no limit on the number of lashes given to the victim. The Jews didn't practice Roman flogging. There was a Jewish form of flogging that used rods, not whips with bones and iron.

used rods, and the Jews would lash somebody 40 times minus one. You'd get 39 lashes. In the Roman form, they used the whip with iron balls, the sheep bones, and there was not a limit on how many lashes one would get.

Jesus, after being flogged, one other word on flogging. The Romans called flogging the halfway death. The halfway death. Flogging was not intended to kill you, but it was intended to get you on the way to death. It was called the halfway death.

Remember, at the time Jesus was flogged, he had already been up from the previous day. He had probably been awake 24 hours approximately, was very fatigued, very tired. He had probably already suffered some beating by the soldiers prior to the flogging, but then he's flawed. So he's in a very difficult state at this point. I want to talk about the stations of the cross and the route to the cross.

In the movie The Passion of Christ, Mel Gibson takes us on the route as Jesus goes to the cross.

Here's a map. Let me just point out a couple. This is the Roman fortress Antonio. This is the Jewish temple right here. This is the Roman fortress where soldiers were housed.

Jesus probably left as he went toward the cross, left from this fortress and walked along the route or along the inner wall of the city and then out this gate right here that's number 40. That's called the Henneth Gate, H-E-N-N-A-T-H, the Henneth Gate. And he was taken right here most probably, number 36. Calvary. It's just, it's about 30 yards outside what was then the Jewish wall. I mean, it's not a long way outside the wall. In the, as they went, most people had to carry what is called the patibulum, the cross piece on the cross. It was tied to their shoulders and they carried it.

If you remember in the movie, The Passion of Christ, Christ was shown carrying the full cross, the upright piece and the other. That was sometimes done and it may have happened with Jesus. The more common was that the upright piece called the stites stayed at Golgotha at all times and the victim just carried the cross piece. Then when they got to Golgotha they would be nailed to the cross and then the cross beam would be pulled up and there was a mortise and tenon joint where the cross piece would be dropped on the top of the cross. This probably weighed about 75 pounds, the patibulum, very heavy.

In the Roman Catholic tradition, more so than our tradition, there's a meditation that they do called the Stations of the Cross. And what this is, it's a series of 14 different stations. These are 14 different points or events that Christ went through from the time he was condemned up until the time he was buried. and these stations of the cross are accompanied by prayer it's a way to meditate on the death of Christ and particularly in the Catholic tradition they will, in some places they will set up sort of a mini path and they will stop at specific stations and say a prayer and remember what happened to Christ I'm going to take you through these so you'll understand them and point out where some of them are not recorded in scripture but just so you'll understand this Mel Gibson's Catholic, right? And some of what we see in the movie comes out of this idea of the stations of the cross.

Station number one. I'm going to read some meditation as we go through this. Short, brief prayers at each station. Station number one. Jesus Christ is condemned to death.

And I've given you a biblical passage if this is confirmed in Scripture, so you'll have it. Here's our first meditation. Oh, Jesus, help me to appreciate

more and more. Station number two, Jesus bears his cross. Oh Jesus, you chose to die for me. Help me to love you always with all my heart. Station number three, Jesus falls for the first time.

We don't have in scripture a specific fall recorded, but there seems to be an implication that he did fall because they got Simon of Cyrene to help him carry the cross flogging and trying to carry that beam. It's certainly conceivable he fell not only once but maybe many times. Jesus falls for the first time. Oh Jesus, make me strong to conquer my wicked passions and to rise quickly from sin. Station number three, Jesus meets his mother.

For me, one of the most poignant scenes in the movie. If you saw the passion of Christ, as Christ falls his mother Mary is running to him, and as she's running to him, she's flashing back to when he was a little boy, and he falls as a little boy, and mom is running to save her little boy, and there he falls with the cross in the movie, Mary's running to him. This is not specifically recorded in scripture, but we know that Mary was there. We know she was at the cross, so it's very likely that Mary saw Jesus or came to Jesus on the way to the cross. Oh, Jesus, we remember your love, and we remember that you were born of the Virgin Mary so that you might save us from our sins.

Station number five, Jesus is helped by Simon of Cyrene. Simon of Cyrene helped him carry the cross. Oh, Jesus, like Simon, lead me ever closer to you through my daily crosses and trials. Number six, Jesus and Veronica. This is not mentioned anywhere in Scripture, but there is in the Catholic tradition a teaching that a woman named Veronica met Jesus on the way, brought him some water, and brought him a cloth to wipe his face.

And this is depicted in the movie that Jesus wiped his face on the cloth, and then Veronica kept that and it had the bloody imprint of Jesus' face on it. Is it possible a woman named Veronica met Jesus? It's possible, but we have no recording of that in Scripture. Number seven, Jesus falls a second time. Not specifically mentioned in Scripture, but certainly conceivable that he would fall multiple times.

Jesus speaks to the women, and this is depicted in Scripture, As he's going to the cross, he stops and talks to several women on the way to the cross. Oh, Jesus, grant me tears of compassion for your sufferings and of sorrow for my sins. Number nine, Jesus falls a third time. Then he is stripped of his garment station. Number ten, that's biblical.

Eleven, Jesus is nailed to the cross.

cross. 13, he's taken down from the cross. And then 14, he's laid in the tomb. The 14 stations of the cross.

This is, we don't, in the Protestant tradition, we don't have this meditation on the various stations of the cross. I think maybe there's something helpful about it, though. I would take out the reference about Veronica because we have no indication of that being true. But so often we've heard this story of the cross. We sort of gloss over it.

But to stop and think about each step of the way and what Christ went through, I think would be a helpful meditation for us at times. But I thought you might be interested just to see maybe some of how Mel Gibson's movie is depicted coming out of this idea of the stations of the cross. Let me move now to the crucifixion. Crucifixion was not first practiced by the Romans. It was probably first practiced by the Persians.

Then Alexander the Great used it. But under the Romans, crucifixion was perfected. They took it to an art form, in a sense. And they used it on rebels and the most traitorous of criminals. the purpose was not just to kill people the purpose was to make people suffer sometimes people would linger even for days on the cross before they died the other purpose was to humiliate the person because the person on the cross would be stripped naked would then be hung before the public crowd to be observed so the purpose was not only to inflict pain but to humiliate.

Under Roman law, Roman citizens could not be crucified. You could be killed in other ways, like the Apostle Paul was beheaded, but you couldn't be crucified. The procedure for crucifixion was usually the victim was crucified on one of two types of crosses, what is called the Tau cross, it looks just like a letter T, or the Latin cross, which has the higher, the upright is a higher above the cross piece. This is the type of cross that Mel Gibson depicts, though it was more common in Jesus' day for the Romans to use the tau cross. You see there was a place to put the charge above the person's head, so what that person was accused of was clearly depicted.

Hands and feet were nailed using an iron spike that was five to seven inches long. It was a very lengthy spike. The spike would typically be driven into the base of the hand, right at the base of the hand, because if the spike went in the middle of the hand, the hand tended to tear. It wouldn't hold the body. So typically the spike was done right at the base of the hand where it would hold the body more easily.

the feet would also be nailed to the cross usually one spike both feet nailed together and the knees were usually bent in some fashion so it was harder for the person to support their weight because ultimately with crucifixion typically you're dying almost by suffocating asphyxiation you get to the point you can't hold yourself up and breathe typically to assure death a spear was stuck into the person's side usually through the fourth and fifth between the fourth and fifth rib on the right hand side and the spear would go in you see it pictured here the spear would go in puncture the sack around the heart and actually go penetrate into the what is called the right oracle one of the chambers of the heart. And when somebody was dead, there's usually sort of a water-like fluid in the sack around the heart, and then there would be blood in the chamber of the heart. And if you pierced a dead person's heart, you would get a flow of water and blood, the water in the sack around the heart, and then the blood in the heart. And this biblical account tells us that when Jesus' side was pierced, water and blood came forth, an indication but the spear wound was designed to make sure he had died. The article about the Journal of the American Medical Association journal article ends by saying, and this seems obvious to us when we listen to what Christ went through, clearly the weight of historical and medical evidence indicates that Jesus was dead before the wound to his side was inflicted and supports the traditional view that the spear thrust between his right ribs probably perforated not only the right lung, him in heart and thereby insured his death. Accordingly, interpretation based on the assumption that Jesus did not die on the cross appeared to be at odds with modern medical knowledge.

What an understatement.

the veil of the temple has been torn in two and Satan hates it in the movie after the crucifixion one scene

shows Satan screaming why? because Satan had been defeated as had death as had death