Crucifixion
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In this report we will deal with Crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ. This report well have as bible text the gospel of Matthew 27:32-50, and these verses will be analyzed verse by verse. Its very great to observe that all gospels talk about Jesus Crucifixion in a larger section than others events from his life. There is a great reason: for Jesus this last part of his work means the finishing Gods plan of salvation. Paul says he humbled himself, and become obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross (Philippians 2:8). So we will observe the following of event as Matthew wrote in his gospel.
27:32-34: 32 And as they came out, they found a man of Cy-rena, Simon by name: him they compelled to bear his cross, 33 They were come unto a place called Gol-go-tha, that is to say, a place of a skull, 34 They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink.
These verses are about the passions of Christ before his crucifixion. History says that traditional station of the Cross begins in Via Dolorosa, which is one of the principal east-west streets of Jerusalem. Today on this street we can find the chapel of Flagellation and Covent of the sister of Zion. Our Lord, Jesus, has borne his cross a part of the route and they came out of Jerusalem. The soldiers compelled a man Simon, by name, from Cyrena a town from North Africa, to bear the cross of Jesus. Some theologists believe that Simon was a Jewish man anthers believe that he was a black man. But the most important is that he had the great privilege to bear the Jesus cross.
Verse 33 is about the crucifixion place. All four gospels have the geek word kranian, which has reached into English by many of the Latin form cranium. In Matthew, Mark and John this is translated skull in the King James Version, but it is translated Calvary in Luke (23:33). This word Calvary comes from the Latin Vulgate, where calvaria is the regular translation of the Greek kranion writes Earle Ralph in Beacome Bible Commentary.
They came to the execution place; probably the common place of execution, the soldiers in charge with execution of Jesus Christ gave him vinegar to drink with gall. That drink was usually offered to convicts that their pain to be improved. But Jesus didnt drink this drink, he refused it because he wanted to “drink all undiluted bitterness”.
27:35-38: 35 And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them and upon my vesture did they cost lots. 36 And sitting down they watched him there. 37 And set up over his head his accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS. 38 Then were there two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand, and another on the left.
Jesus was crucified, his hands and foot were mailed to the cross, and then reared it up and
him hanging on it; because that was the manner of Romans to crucify. Henry Matthew writes in his commentary next thing: “The barbarous and abusive treatment they gone him, in which their wit and malice vied which should excel. As if death, so great a death were not bad enough, they contrived to add to the bitterness and terror of it.”
The sufferings of Jesus intensified as he drew near to the cross. In Matt. 26:38 Jesus told
His disciples of something of the agony he was going through and he said, “my soul is very sorrowful, even to death.” Jesus bore the penalty for our sins and died in our place. The Holy Scriptures teaches us that there were three different aspects of the pain that Jesus experienced. Wayne Grudem writes in his book Systematic Theology who are these four different aspects.
The first one is physical pain and death. We need to hold that death by crucifixion was one of the most horrible forms of execution ever devised by man.
A physician writing in the Journal of American Medical Association in 1986 explained the pain that would have been experienced in death by crucifixion:
“Adequate exhalation required lifting the body by pushing up on the feet and by flexing the elbows However, this maneuver would place the entire weight of the body on the tarsals and would produce searing pain. Furthermore, flexion of the elbows would cause fiery pain along the damaged median nerves….Muscle cramps and paresthsias of the outstretched and uplifted arms would add to the discomfort. As a, each respiration effort would become agonizing and tiring and led eventually to asphyxia.”
In some cases, crucified man would suffers for several before to die this was why the executioners would sometimes break his legs. The gospel of John says that so the soldiers come and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who had been crucified with him, but when they come to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not broke his legs (John 19:33). That has happened that scripture should be fulfilled. A bone of him shall not be broken (John 19:36).
The second pain of cross was the bearing of sins. That pain was more awful that the pain of physical suffering that Jesus endured. The pain of bearing of sin was a psychological pain of bearing the guilt for our sins. Jesus was perfectly holly and still to be perfect holly, but in that moment he become sin for us says apostle Paul. All sins of world were put in his account. Jesus Christ hated sin with his entire being, so we can think that the thought of evil, of sin, contradicted everything in his character. Scripture says that our sins were put on Christ. The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all (Isa. 53:6), and he bore the sin of many (53:12). His cuisine, John the Baptist call him the lamb of God, who takes away the sin of world (John 1:29). Jesus voluntary took on himself the guilt for our sins, so our guilt of sins was transferred from us to an innocent person, Christ.
The third aspect of cross pain was the abandonment. The first two paints of cross were aggravated by the fact that Jesus faced this pains alone. When Jesus cried in Matthew 27:47 “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthany? What is “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me? In this moment he showed that he was finally cut off from the sweet fellowship with his heavenly Father, that had been the unfailing source of his inward strength. Jesus bore our sin on the cross, he was abandoned