New Testament BIBLE STORY #32

New Testament BIBLE STORY

#32

Especially written for children

Chapter Forty-one:

Jesus is Crucified on Golgotha - part one

      So the members of the Sanhedrin and the Jewish mob took

Jesus, and He went out having to carry His own cross, to the

place of a skull, which is called in Hebrew "Golgotha" (meaning -

place of a skull).

     Jesus was so weakened by now with all the beatings and the

scourging He had endured, that it became impossible for Him to

carry His cross. So they compelled a passer-by, one name Simon 

of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of

Alexander and Rufus, to carry Jesus' cross.

     There had by now a large crowd gathered behind Jesus and

along the sides of the road. Many women were crying and lamenting

in sorrow for Him.  It is perhaps more than interesting, that we

see here and will again up to the time of Jesus' resurrection,

while the men were at the point of giving up (going back home 

and back to their secular jobs) many women were quietly in their

hearts holding on to their faithfulness to Jesus.

     Christ could see and hear many of the women crying for Him

as He was being led to His death on the cross. He turned to them

and said, "Daughters of Jerusalem do not weep for me, but weep

for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are

coming when they will say, 'Blessed are the barren, and the wombs

that never bore, and the breasts that never gave suck to new born

children!' Then they will begin to say to the mountains, 'Fall on

us'; and to the hills, 'Cover us.'  For if they do this action when 

the wood is green, when things are relatively good, what

will happen when it is dry, when they will really have something

to complain about."

     

     They were doing evil against a man that did nothing but good

for people, and taught wonderful truths of the word of God. The

Roman Government allowed the Jews freedom to travel, freedom 

to practice their religion, times were quite "green" in many ways.

If they were doing this kind of evil in the time of green, Jesus

was saying, then what on earth would they do when it was dry?

Christ was once more telling them that the time was coming, in

the next generation of the children many of them would have, 

and their children of those children, that people would have wished

they never would have brought children into the world. It would

all come to a head in 70 A.D. when the armies of Rome would 

sweep into Jerusalem, destroy much of the city and the all of the

Temple except a part of the outer Temple retaining wall (which is

still standing in Jerusalem today, called the Wailing Wall), and

kill tens of thousands of Jews. It would be a bitter and terrible

time that would lay ahead for the people of Judea.

JESUS ON GOLGOTHA and CRUCIFIXION

     Jesus, with two other criminals, who were to also be

crucified and put to death for their crimes, and the large crowd,

arrived at the place of the skull, or Golgotha in the Hebrew

tongue.

     We need to stop here and learn a few things about

"crucifixion."  There are a number of false ideas people have

about the death of Jesus and about crucifixion itself, as

generally practiced by the Romans. And they did practice it 

a great deal in putting criminals and their enemies to death.

     I will quote from "Manners and Customs of the Bible" 

by James M. Freeman. This is from the old original edition, 

not the new one that most are familiar with today.

     "Crucifixion was NOT a Jewish punishment, though among the

     Jews culprits were sometimes tied to a stake by their hands

     AFTER death. See Deut. 21: 22. It was an ancient mode of

     capital punishment.....It was used by the Persians, Assyrians, 

     Egyptians, Carthaginians, Scythians, Greeks, Romans, and 

     ancient Germans. It was a shameful and degrading punishment, 

     and among the Romans was the fate of robbers, assassins, 

     and rebels. It was especially the punishment of criminal slaves.

     There were several kinds of crosses used. One consisted of

     two beams of wood laid across each other in the form of an 

     X.  Another had two beams of unequal length, the shorter

     placed on top of the longer, like the letter  T.  In a third

     variety, a small portion of the longer piece appeared above

     the transverse beam; and on this the inscription was placed

     (the shape as our popular Christian cross that appears in

     churches etc. - Keith Hunt).

     This was doubtless the form of cross on which our Lord was

     crucified. From the center of the perpendicular beam there

     projected a wooden plug or horn, on which the body of the

     condemned rested. The bottom of the cross was sharpened,

     that it might be more easily driven into the ground...It was

     not generally more than ten feet high, so that when erected,

     a part of it being in the earth, the feet of the sufferer

     were not far from the ground.

     The condemned man was first stripped of his clothing, which

     seems to have been the perquisite of the executioners. He

     was then fastened to the cross, which had been previously

     fixed in the earth - though sometimes he was first fixed to

     the cross - which was then lifted and thrust into the ground. 

     He sat on the middle bar or horn, already mentioned, and his

     limbs were stretched out and tied to the bars of the cross.

     Large iron spikes were then driven through the hands and

     feet. Sometimes the feet were nailed separately, and at

     other times they were crossed and a long spike was driven

     through them both.

     In this situation the poor sufferer was left to linger until

     death slowly came to his relief. This usually required two

     or three days, though some lingered a longer time before

     their sufferings ended. 

     The pain was severe, though not so intense as has sometimes

     been represented. On this subject Dr. Stroud says,  'The

     bodily suffering attending this punishment were doubtless

     great; but either through ignorance or design, have been

     much exaggerated. The insertion of the cross into its hole

     or socket, when the criminal was previously attached to it,

     did not necessarily produce the violent concussion which has

     been supposed; and; as the body rested on a bar, it did not

     bear with its whole weight on the perforated extremities. 

     At all events there have been many examples of persons en-

     during these sufferings with the utmost fortitude, and almost

     without a complaint, until relieved from them by death. A

     fact of importance to be known, but which has not been

     sufficiently regarded, is that crucifixion was a very

     lingering punishment, and proved fatal, not so much by loss

     of blood - since the wounds in the hands and feet did not

     lacerate any large vessel, and were nearly closed by the

     nails which produced them - as by the slow proses of

     nervous irritation and exhaustion ' (The Physical Cause of

     the Death of Christ, p.55).

     After death the body was left to be devoured by beasts and

     birds of prey. The Romans, however, made an exception in

     favor of all Jews who were crucified; this was on account of

     their law, as contained in Deut. 21: 22, 23. They were

     permitted to bury the crucified Jews on the day of crucifixion. 

     This usually made it necessary to hasten their death, which was 

     done by kindling a fire under them, or by letting hungry beats 

     attack them, or by breaking their bones with an iron mallet."

     End of quote from "Manners and Customs of the Bible" old

edition.

     I think it would be good to re-read the quote above, slowly,

and let it all sink in. There are things mentioned that most

Christians do not understand and have not been taught about Roman

crucifixion. Especially to note is that it was NOT usually a

quick death. It was not DESIGNED to be a quick death, in fact the

opposite was true. It was designed to be a slow humiliating

death. And we need to note that there was a peg on which the body

of the victim rested, so the weight was not on the hands, and the

victim was not having to pull himself up to breath. When this is

understood we can see why the victim often lived for two or three

days or in some cases even longer, before death came to them.

     True, in the case of Jews their death was hastened, often by

breaking their bones, so they could die on the same day they were

crucified, in keeping with their law, as given by God through

Moses, Deut. 21: 22, 23.

     We shall see, as we come to it, that they did come to break

the legs of Jesus, but found He was already dead, and the reason

for this, His already being dead,  I will give as I cover that

part of the crucifixion. It is another bit of truth that most do

not realize because in most translations of the Gospels, a verse

has been missed out that was in the original Greek manuscripts.

     Golgotha was near the city of Jerusalem. The now they had

Jesus up on the cross, with the other two criminals, one on His

right had and one on His left hand, also up on crosses. Pilate

wrote an inscription and placed it above Jesus' head. The

inscription was in three languages, Hebrew, Latin, and Greek.

Just about anyone could them read it, the Greek language was

especially the most common language of all who were within the

Roman Empire. The inscription read, "Jesus of Nazareth, the King

of the Jews."

     The chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, "Do not write,

'The King of the Jews,' but 'This man said, I am King of the

Jews.' "

     Pilate with a cold and straight face answered them, "What I

have written I have written. It will not be changed."

     The Gospel of Mark tells us that it was the "third" hour

when they crucified Jesus.  Now, hours by the Jews were counted

this way. 6 a.m. to 7 a.m. was hour ONE.  7 a.m. to 8 a.m. was

hour TWO.  8 a.m. to 9 a.m. was hour THREE.

     The Jews only gave "the hour" (at least in the Gospels).

They did not give any exact time as we might today, in saying

something like "8: 30"  or  "8: 45" or  "ten minutes to 9 a.m." 

We only know Jesus was put up on the cross between 8 a.m. and 9

a.m. on the morning of the 14th day of the first month in the

Jewish calendar.

     Many who were looking on and passing by were laughing and

making fun of Jesus. Here was this man that had worked many

mighty miracles for over three years, but now he was badly

beaten, His back and sides shredded by the Roman scourging, the

crown of thorns smash into His head, and black and blue bruises

all over His face, chest, arms, from being slapped and punched.

Here was this miracle working man, who claimed to be the Son of

God, who had raised Lazarus from the dead, now He was helpless

under Roman crucifixion. Yes, many were laughing at Him. Many

said, "You who would destroy the Temple and build it back in

three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down

from the cross."

     The chief priests, with many of the scribes and the elders,

and some of the Pharisees, mocked also, saying, "He saved others;

he cannot save himself. If he is the King of Israel; let him come

down from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts

in God; let God deliver him now, if he is special in his eyes;

for he said, 'I am the Son of God.' "

     It is recorded that the soldiers also did their share of

mocking Jesus. They must at that time have really been feeling

like they had the power, and not this Jesus man. Probably

thinking this man's power was not so great after all.

     Yes, Jesus' enemies, and those who had become disenchanted

with Him, for not doing things their way against the Romans, were

now having a field-day, a great time deriding Him as He hung

there on the cross, seemingly completely helpless to do anything

about the situation He was in. Little did they know it was all in

the salvation plan of the Father in heaven, for all sinners who

would repent and accept Jesus Christ as their personal Savior.

     Some standing by offered Jesus some wine mingled with myrrh.

But He refused it. This was a  wine that had some bitterness

added, such as myrrh, that was a bitter substance, produced in

Arabia. It had the effect of stupefying the senses. It was often

given to those crucified to help make them insensitive to the

pains of death as they hung on the cross. Jesus knew this, and so

refused to drink it. He had to suffer the full physical suffering

and not be numbed from it in any way. This was the Father's will.

     With most now deriding and laughing at Him, saying all the

things recorded for us in the Gospels, and probably a whole lot

more not recorded, Jesus looked at them, knowing they were

blinded by Satan, and their own human mind, and said, "Father,

forgive them; for they know not what they are doing."

     Jesus was, as we have seen, stripped of His clothes. He may

have been put on the cross naked, but then they may have left His

under garment on him, that covered His private parts. We cannot

say for sure. But His clothes that were looked upon as useful

for others to have, were stripped from Him. There was enough

clothing for four parts, one for each soldier the apostle John

tells us. There were obviously four main soldiers that were in 

charge of this crucifixion.  Jesus' outer tunic John tells us, 

was woven without a seam from top to bottom. This was a

special and costly way to make a tunic. It would have been

regarded by anyone in that day, as one of the finest tunics you

could have. The soldiers knew this tunic was of the highest

quality, and so they said, "Let us not tear it, but cast lots for

it to see who shall have it."

     This was done to fulfil the prophecy of the Scriptures that

said, "They parted my garments among them, and for my clothing

they cast lots" (Psalm 22: 18). 

             ..................................

Written January 2003