The scene: Golgotha—the place of the skull, where for three hours an eerie darkness has covered the land. Three men hang on crosses. At their feet, Roman soldiers gamble to pass the time, while people all around watch and wait for the inevitable. Suddenly the man on the middle cross cries out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani? Which means, “My God, My God why have You forsaken Me?” Someone runs to get the man a sponge of sour wine, another stops him and mocks the man on the cross for calling on Elijah to save Him. “He saved others, but could not save Himself.” The Man in the middle has an inscription written over his head. It states the charge against Him; “The King of the Jews.” Two robbers are one on each side of the King. One robber derides the King, while the other humbly asks to be remembered. Jesus, the King, promises, on that very day, the humble robber will be with Him in paradise. Before the Romans break their shinbones, which the crucified use to lift them up in order to catch a breath, Jesus exhales and releases His spirit.
At that moment, a large earthquake shakes the entire region. The ground beneath the soldiers moves. Rocks are split, tombs are opened and dead saints are seen alive in Jerusalem. Inside the Jewish temple, the curtain separating the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place—where the presence of God resides, is torn in two, from top to bottom. The Roman soldiers rise and in awe experience this chaos happening all around them. One soldier—a centurion—stands facing Jesus. He sees Jesus breathe his last, watches the events and exclaims, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”
Roman soldiers were the toughest of men. They were known to be without mercy in battle and indiscriminately brutal to their prisoners. Hours earlier they had gathered an entire battalion—equal to about 600 men—to have some sport with Jesus. They had stripped Him, spit on Him, pulled out chunks of His beard. They had mocked Him, kneeling and repeating, “Hail, King of the Jews.” They twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and beat Him with a reed they had put in His hand. Jesus was so badly beaten, He was hardly recognizable and when it came time to be crucified, the Romans had to force Simon, a man from Cyrene, to carry His cross.
These same Centurions had been watching the trial before Pilate. They had released Barabbas to the Jews, so that instead of being able to have their way with the hated criminal, they were left to make sport of this Jesus, the King of the Jews. The same Centurions had perhaps seen the crowds gathered to Jesus as He taught them on the hillsides and by the sea. The same Centurions had perhaps heard of the miracles performed by Jesus—one of a servant belonging to a fellow Centurion being healed with just a word and without Jesus having to enter the Centurion’s house. These same Centurions surely knew who Jesus claimed to be, but they did what they were supposed to do—they obeyed orders and crucified Him as if He were a common criminal.
Something spectacular happened that afternoon on Golgotha. Besides the house of God triumphing over the house of evil, besides Jesus completing His mission to earth to die as full and complete payment for the sin of mankind, besides the last minute transformation of a robber to reborn, besides the earthquake, the rocks and the tombs being opened, there was an end to an era and it happened inside the temple of the Jews and outside on skull hill in the realm ruled by the gentiles. The true confession of the Centurion articulated the tearing of the temple curtain from top to bottom. God demonstrated there need no longer be a division between man and Himself. Because of Jesus’ death as payment for the sin of all mankind, the way to the Holy of Holies or Most Holy Place was wide open for all to approach. “Truly, this man was the Son of God.” The Centurion said it for all the world to hear and God showed it for all to believe and draw near.
There is nothing keeping you and me from enjoying fellowship and relationship with God. Jesus has removed the barrier by His death on the cross. Acting as our High Priest on Calvary He removed the barrier to God so that we may “with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need,” (Hebrews 4:17). Whatever help we need, be it salvation and a new start to a relationship with God, be it healing, strength, wisdom, guidance, forgiveness, love for others…we may with confidence draw near to the source of all things and find grace to help in time of need.
Truly, Jesus is the one and only Son of God. This is the truest confession of them all.
No comments:
Post a Comment