Second Presbyterian Church

"What Jesus' Crucifixion Means to Me"
Maunday Thursday, 2005
March 24, 2005

Upcoming Events

Worship Schedule

Sermons

About the Church

• Accessibility to the Church

• Directions to the Church

• History of the Church

Church Staff

Groups & Organizations

• Boy Scouts of America - Troop 175

• Choirs

• Presbyterian Women

• SPY (Second Presbyterian Youth)

Committees

• Building & Grounds

• Church Growth

• Congregational Care & Fellowship

• Education & Nurture

• Finance

• Office & Personnel

• Stewardship

• Witness & Service

• Worship & Celebration

Ad Hoc Committees

• Architectural - Engineering

• Building Fund

Presbyterian Internet Sites of Interest

Virginia Links

• Virginia Cities

Web Site Statistics

Site Map

Second Presbyterian Church Homepage

Sermons Homepage » Sermons for 2005 » Sermons for March 2005

• Matthew 26: 14-68
• Matthew 27: 1-2, 11-54

Tonight I feel led to share with you what Jesus' crucifixion means to me. I do so with caution, because it sounds so self-centered. But my intent is this. If I share with you what Jesus' crucifixion means to me, then I hope that it encourages you to become more focused about what Jesus' crucifixion really means for you.

I will not go into all the theories of the atonement that have been officially espoused about what the crucifixion of Jesus means. I basically understand it as Jesus, as both fully human and fully divine, taking upon himself the sin of all humanity and sacrificing himself in our place. Because we are sinners, we deserve death. Jesus was God's plan to take our place concerning the death we deserve. Admittedly we don't like to talk about sin and how we are sinners, but the truth remains: we are sinners in need of redemption. Jesus' death did just that.

Let's look a little closer. Jesus died a horrendous death: execution by crucifixion. In that process he was mocked, spat upon, flogged, crowned with thorns. Those of you who saw Mel Gibson's The Passion saw a graphic description of what it was like to be crucified. It is said to be one of the cruelest, most painful ways to die. Once on the cross, you had a choice. Either you slumped in order to ease the pain in your feet where the nail was driven through to fix you to the cross. But when you slumped like that, you could not breathe. Or you could painfully push against your nail-driven feet in order to take a breath. So, you could breathe only while in excruciating pain or you could not breathe while only in incredible pain. People who were crucified would painfully bob up and down for as long as two to three days. If the Roman authorities wanted the execution to end more quickly, they would break the legs of the victim and he would painfully suffocate to death.

So, there was no doubt that being crucified was a horrendous, painful way to die. But what come to mind was this: Jesus was NOT the only one who experienced this kind of death. Rome executed countless criminals and political enemies by crucifying them. In fact, Jesus' execution was, if anything, relatively mild compared to what some had experienced. Jesus died in approximately six hours and he died before the guard had come around to break his legs in order to finish him off. Many prisoners spent a much longer time on the cross.

The question that this raised in my mind was this: how was Jesus' death so unique that we can proclaim that he died once and for all? How was Jesus' execution so unique that Jesus died so that we can all be redeemed? Or was it just like any other death by execution? Let's look for clues from scripture itself.

The scriptures record that darkness came over the land for three hours. I doubt that other crucifixions typically had a period of three-hour darkness accompany them. The scriptures also record, that Jesus refused the drugged wine, wine laced with myrrh. It is clear that Jesus was not going to go through this execution in a drugged state of mind. The scriptures also record that the curtain in the temple was torn from top to bottom. The curtain symbolized the separation between sinful humankind and the Holy God. Jesus also cried out with a quote from Psalm 2, "My God! My God! Why have you abandoned me?!"

And these are the clues that the crucifixion of Jesus Christ was different than any other execution. The suffering that Jesus experienced was not just an emotional or physical suffering - as bad as that had been. The suffering that Jesus experienced was the hell of having God turn his back upon him. It was the suffering of hell itself, even before he died! Jesus was so trusting and obedient to God that he was willing to suffer what it was really like to be abandoned and rejected by God!

At this point words used to describe what Jesus went through begin to fail us. We don't really know what hell is like. Regardless of what suffering and rejection we have experienced, they are nothing compared the abandonment of Jesus by God!

If I were crucified tomorrow, it wouldn't be the same. Why? Because I believe that the Lord would be with me while I am crucified. He promised to be with us until he returns to complete the establishment of His Kingdom.

But Jesus' execution was different. He not only experienced the physical pain, he also experienced the pain of being separated from God. And Jesus was willing, voluntarily, to do this for our sakes, for our redemption. Amen.

The Rev. Daniel E. Hale, D. Min.