Most believers are familiar with the overall events of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. They understand how that the enemies of Jesus had been plotting to see his death for quite some time. The motivating force was around jealousy for the popularity of Jesus and the fear that if Jesus succeeded in an earthly kingship, they would lose their jobs. Let us not fool ourselves. There is so much more about that time when Jesus took upon himself the sins of the world.
When the religious leaders took Jesus to Pilate, they claimed that it was his responsibility to see that Christ was crucified because it was not lawful for them to put him to death.(John 18:31) This was a significant lie! They took a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery asking Jesus to sanction their intention to kill her. After Jesus brought Lazarus back from the dead, they plotted how they might kill him. Then Stephen became the first martyr of the church when they stoned him to death. These are just three examples of how the Jews leaders were willing to commit murder by their own hands. The only explanation I can think of for why they lied to Pilate was it would be a fulfillment of prophecy without them even realizing it. (John 18: 32)
More than once, Jesus told his disciples that they should be prepared to take up their own cross if they were to follow him. Keep in mind that this was a Jewish Messiah talking to Jewish disciples about the future of the Jewish work to be done. Using our own thinking, one would assume that Jesus would tell his disciples to be prepared for death by the Jewish leaders through stoning or some other similar practice as dictated by the Mosaic Law. By foretelling the cross for each disciple to bear and by his own death on the cross, we can discover how even then the Jews and the Gentiles were brought together in the murder of Jesus so that our guilt and our forgiveness is universal to everyone. (Mark 10: 33)
Jesus was concerned about everyone that surrounded his crucifixion. He even prayed that those who were responsible for his murder would be forgiven because they did not know what they were doing. The only disciple at the place of crucifixion was John standing next to Mary the mother of Christ. Jesus instructed John to take charge of his mother so that thereafter she would live with him and be under his care. Since Jesus had many siblings, it brings into question why he did not expect one of them to make sure that Mary had proper care. My speculations are that he knew John would remain in the area. At that point until after his resurrection, the siblings of Jesus did not yet believe he was the Messiah. After his resurrection it is unknown what his siblings did. We know that Jude became a follower because he wrote a book in the New Testament. His commission to John would be for Mary to have a stable home because the other siblings were about a new business in their lives.
Shortly before Christ died, he called out asking why his Heavenly Father abandoned him. One would think this would not happen since he was the Son of God. However, this demonstrates the total of Christ’s substitutionary work for us. Without salvation, persons would be damned in a state of eternal separation from God. Not only did Jesus take on our suffering, he took on the separation that would have been ours without our salvation.
When Peter and John went to the empty tomb, they found the napkin that had been placed over Jesus was folded separately from everything else. This is significant in that Jesus did not just run away or make an instant escape. He took his time to indicate his work in the completion of that work. He did not scramble out of the tomb in an escape mode. He was resurrected, took time to fold the napkin, and calmly walked out of the tomb. Just as we reviewed more details about the crucifixion of our Lord, so should we pay closer attention to the work he did for us, his total submission for all the needs we have so that we might be saved. How could we not live a life of appreciation for our resurrected Lord!
Christian Writer 