Title: Only the Cross / Mark 15:24-37
The four Gospels, namely, the crucifixion of Jesus recorded in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, are as follows.
Jesus was tried before Pontius Pilate. Crucifixion fell. Roman soldiers put a crucifixion on Jesus' shoulders. Jesus began to walk with the crucified on the 'via dolorossa', called the road of suffering, from the castle of Antonia in Pilate, where he was sentenced to death, to the hill of Golgotha where he was crucified.
While walking for a long time, Jesus was crushed by the weight of the cross and fell over and over again. At the same time, Simon the Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was watching Jesus carrying the cross from the countryside. The Roman soldier summoned Simon of Cyrene and forced him to go with him to carry the cross of Jesus. They led Jesus to the hill of Golgotha, which is called the skull.
Many people followed Jesus' procession to the cross. Among them were many women, including Jesus' mother and aunt, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. They followed Jesus, beating their breasts and weeping. It was at this time that Jesus beat his breast and spoke to those who wept with sorrow.
“Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for you and your children. Behold, the days come when people will say, “Blessed are the barren, the unbearable belly, and the barren milk. “Fall over us, and the hills will cover us. If you do the same to the green trees, what will happen to the dry trees?” (Luke 23:28-31).
The Roman soldiers gave Jesus wine mixed with myrrh before he was crucified. It was a kind of anesthetic. But Jesus did not drink an anesthetic.
At the third hour, 9:00 a.m. our time, Roman soldiers laid Jesus on the crucifixion and nailed Jesus to both hands and feet. And the evildoers on the left and right of Jesus were also crucified.
On the cross of Jesus, the name of the sinner, written by Pilate, was affixed. "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews." This indictment was written in three languages: Hebrew, Roman, and Greek. In fact, the high priests of the Jews did not write it like that, but asked to write a plaque of “self-proclaimed King of the Jews”, but Pilate said, “I wrote what was for me” (John 19:19-22).
Jesus first prayed to God on the cross.
"Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing" (Luke 23:34). This prayer was the first of the seven words of Jesus on the cross.
The Roman soldiers who crucified Jesus divided the clothes that Jesus was wearing into four parts, each with one quill, and divided by lot because the underwear was woven from above without being pulled.
Many people watched the crucifixion of Jesus. Some of them were speaking abusive language toward Jesus.
Some people shook their heads and insulted Jesus.
“You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself, the son of God in the last days, and come down from the cross (Matthew 27:41).
The chief priests, the scribes, and the elders also mocked and said,
"He saved others, but he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel. Come down from the cross now, and we will believe. He trusts in God, and if God pleases him, he will save him now. I mean, I am God. Son of the Lord" (Matthew 27:41-43)
The soldiers also mocked Jesus. He gave them sour wine and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save thee” (Luke 23:36).
Even the thief who was crucified with him slandered Jesus and said: "Aren't you the Christ? Save yourself and us" (Luke 23:39). Then the thief on the other side of Jesus rebuked him and said, "Do you not fear God, even though you are under the same condemnation? We receive a fair reward for our deeds, of course, but what this man has done is not right. "(Luke 23:40-41).
Then he said to Jesus, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." At this time, Jesus promised the thief, "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise" (Luke 23:43). These were Jesus' second words on the cross.
Jesus saw Mary his mother and John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, standing beside them. He looked at his mother Mary and said, "Woman, behold, this is your son." And he said to the disciple whom he loved again, "Look, your mother." This is the third word spoken on the cross. From that time on, the disciple took Mary the mother of Jesus to his house.
It has been three hours since Jesus was crucified. It was the sixth o'clock, twelve o'clock in our time. The sun lost its light, and darkness covered the whole earth. This darkness continued until the ninth hour, three o'clock in the afternoon. It was at this time that the veil that separated the Holy and Most Holy of the Temple in Jerusalem was torn from top to bottom in the middle.
Jesus cried out with a loud voice. "Eli Eli lama sabachthani", that is, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Then he said again, "I am thirsty."
After some time, people offered him sour wine. After receiving it, Jesus said, “It is finished” (John 19:30), and finally prayed with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I entrust my soul”, then bowed his head and died.
According to the words recorded in the Gospel of John, after Jesus died, the Jews asked Pilate. Since the Sabbath begins at 6 p.m. that day, I asked Pilate to break their legs and remove the bodies so that the bodies would not be left on the cross on the Sabbath. The soldiers went and broke the legs of the first and the other who had been crucified with Jesus. When they came to Jesus, they confirmed that they were already dead and did not break their legs. One of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear. Soon there was blood and water. In this way, Jesus' leg was pierced with a spear in his side instead of unbroken.
All of the above is the story of Jesus' crucifixion.
Jesus was crucified with robbers, but there was nothing wrong with what he did. His inscription read "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews." Jesus, the King of all kings, not only the King of the Jews, died on the cross. He was the one who could rebuild the temple in three days and was the Son of God. He was a man who trusted in God, and he was pleased with God. The Son of God was crucified. As if Heavenly Father did not want to see this scene, he covered the whole earth with darkness. Our Lord has been forsaken by God. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” You cried. What was more painful than physical pain was the moment of being abandoned by God. Jesus Christ, who bore the sins of all people on the cross, was a great sinner at that very moment. So God abandoned him at that moment.
The next moment, unable to bear his physical thirst, he cried out, "I am thirsty."
Our Lord was crucified to save sinners. It was to save all mankind. It was to save you and me. So when one of the robbers who ran with him begged, "Remember me when you come into your kingdom," he promised salvation, saying, "Today you will be with me in paradise."
The Lord has completed the work of atonement for our salvation. That is why He declared, “It is finished,” saying that He has accomplished the work of salvation.
We must listen to the prophecies of the prophet Isaiah while looking at Jesus Christ crucified.
"Surely he has borne our afflictions and borne our sorrows, but we thought that he was chastised, smitten by God, and afflicted. He was pierced for our transgressions, and he was bruised for our iniquities. Because of his chastisement, we are at peace, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way, and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Come on (Isaiah 53:4-6).
The apostle Paul confessed:
“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18).
"We preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. The foolishness of God is wiser than men, The weakness of God is stronger than men” (1 Corinthians 1:23-25).
And we must make a sincere confession. We must confess that the only cross that our Lord carried on Calvary Hill is the cross that saves us. We must confess that only the cross that our Lord bore for our sins is the cross of which we will be proud forever.
“But I have nothing to boast about except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Galatians 6:14).
We hope only for that cross, we long for only that cross, we boast and praise only that cross, and only that cross will be glorified.
Hymns 471:3
I will live in the shadow of the cross
The brilliance I long for is only your face.
Even if you forsake me in this world, I have nothing to do with you
My immeasurable glory is only the cross
One morning the farm owner asked the pastor to go to the chicken coop with him. A hen was sitting in the nest, and under its wings the chicks were sticking their heads out and looking out the spiers. The farmer said, “Look at the scar on the head. Last night the weasel had sucked up all the blood. But I stayed still for fear that the young cubs would get hurt by the weasel.”
Then the pastor said: “Teacher, this is just like our Christ! Christ endured all that suffering on the cross. It could have moved, it could have saved a life. But if he had moved, the teacher and I would have died.” The farm owner said that he accepted Christ as his Savior shortly after realizing the pastor's meaning.
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