Day 317 (Luke 23, John 18-19) - Year 4
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Hey, Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for The Bible Recap. ♪

Today's reading has a lot in common with yesterday's reading. We covered the first half yesterday, so today we'll recap the last half. And it may not be suitable for little ears, so use your own discretion. When we left off, Jesus had just gone through six trials and was ultimately handed over by Pilate for crucifixion. At this point, he's been mocked and beaten, had a crown of thorns put on his head, and I'm guessing they didn't do that gently. Then on his way to the cross, Pilate either personally flogs him or orders him to be flogged.

The Jews have a rule that they can't flog a person more than 39 times, but Pilate is a Roman governor, and the Romans have a reputation for being more cruel than other governments. They want to strike fear in the hearts of the insurrectionists with public beatings and visible crucifixions. So we don't know how many times Jesus was beaten. We just know from the prophecy of Isaiah 52, 14 that he seems to be beaten beyond human recognition.

This is not the image we often see of him on the cross with a few cuts and a trickle of blood. That feels like a mockery to what he actually endured.

This beating is a total undoing of his body. In fact, he's so weak that they have to get someone else to carry the cross for him. They pull in a man named Simon, who has likely come to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. He's from the town of Cyrene, which is in modern-day Libya. It's about 1,100 miles away, making it about a six-week journey. As soon as he arrives, they pull him in to help Jesus as he stumbles toward his death.

By the way, most historians indicate that Jesus would have been carrying just the crossbeam, the part that goes behind the arms, because wood was scarce in Israel, so the Romans would often use a fixed upright over and over, and it was possibly just a bare tree trunk that they would nail the crossbeam to. The Romans often crucified people on the main roads going into the city for a few reasons. First, they would only execute people outside the cities, and second, these criminals would serve as a warning sign to incoming visitors.

So Jesus is probably crucified on a main road leading out of the city on a tree trunk. And he was probably crucified at street level, eye to eye with the people walking past, because John 19, 26-27 tells us he's close enough to talk with onlookers, despite not having much breath in his lungs from the torture. Scripture never tells us it happened on a hill, but it probably did because Jerusalem and the outlying areas are basically all hills.

Scripture tells us it happens at Golgotha, which means the place of the skull. Some say that phrase describes any place of death, while others believe it refers to a hill that looked like a skull. There's a spot on the north side of the city with a hill that resembles a skull face, so we'll link to an image of that in the show notes. By the way, the word Calvary is

is just the Latin translation of the word Golgotha. So it's referring to the same place, just in a different language. I say all that to say, we don't know where Jesus was crucified. We just take the piece of scripture gives us and try to put the story together from there. Some believe he was crucified on the Mount of Olives on the east side of Jerusalem. Others say it was at a hill on the west side of the city, which is now marked by the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. And others say it was on the north side of the city, near that skull-faced hill. This spot is now marked by the site of the Garden Tomb.

Those last two options, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on the west and the Garden Tomb to the north, are both on Mount Moriah.

That's the hill where Abraham took his son to offer him up as a sacrifice in Genesis 22, which foreshadows this event 2,000 years later, where God provided the true sacrifice, his son. As Jesus is being crucified, the soldiers cast lots over his clothes, which not only fulfills prophecy, but also potentially gives us some insight into something that happens at his resurrection later. Put a pin in that. We'll come back to it tomorrow.

Then, not only does he ask the Father to forgive his crucifers, but despite his physical agony, he also spends his final moments inviting sinners into the kingdom. Two criminals are crucified on either side of him. One mocks him, but one hails him as king and asks him to remember him when he comes into his kingdom. And Jesus says, guess what? That's today. I'll see you there.

This man spent his life in sin and turned to Christ at the last possible moment, and Jesus says, "You are welcome in my kingdom. You get a seat at the table too." Rome crucified people for roughly a thousand years, and they probably changed up the methods over time, sometimes tying certain limbs and sometimes nailing them. Until recently, there was no archaeological evidence to help us understand crucifixions, despite there being possibly millions of people who died that way.

All we had were biblical and historical accounts. But in 1968, an ankle bone was found. And in 2007, a full skeleton was found. Not of Jesus, of course, but of other people who were crucified. We've linked to articles about both of those stories in the show notes. While we don't know the exact process or placements the Romans used on Jesus, we do know from Luke 24 that there were nails in both his hands and his feet.

As he's hanging on the cross, Jesus quotes the first line of Psalm 22 when he says, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Most people believe this points to a separation between God the Son and God the Father in that moment. They say it's because God can't look on sin. We even sing a song in church that says, the Father turned his face away. But based on scripture, I think that's not only not what happened, but I don't even think it's possible. Let me unpack that. Psalm 22 was written by King David, and parts of it are certainly prophetic statements pointing to the Messiah. But here's what many people forget.

In Jesus' day, the books of the Bible didn't have chapters. So from what I understand, when they went to reference a certain psalm, they would do it by quoting the first line. So here's what I think may have been happening in this moment where Jesus is on the cross quoting the first line of this psalm. I think it's almost as if he's saying, Hey, remember that psalm about the coming Messiah, that prophecy David wrote? It's about me. This is it. I'm it. Here's why I think this is important.

Our faith is founded on who God is, and central to this idea is the Trinity, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit. They are three eternally distinct persons of the one true God. They each have the same characteristics and personality, but with different functions and roles.

They are eternally distinct but also eternally unified. I don't believe it's theologically possible for any person of the Trinity to be removed from the others even for a moment. And in fact, verse 24 of Psalm 22, that same chapter, says, He has not hidden his face from him. He didn't turn his face away.

People tend to think that God can't look on sin, which is an idea that comes from Habakkuk 1.3 but is taken out of context. God sees all sin. In the book of Job, God the Father has conversations with Satan. The reason I think this is important to point out is because if we believe in a God who can't look at sin, who turns away from himself, that often translates to the human heart as shame that drives us from God when we sin, instead of encouraging us to run to God when we sin.

If you disagree with my thoughts on what Jesus was trying to communicate, no worries. We're still friends and you're probably in the majority. I just try to point out this angle anytime I encounter this conversation in case it's a new idea for some of you. We'll even link to a few things in the show notes that may be helpful if you want to dig into this further. Right before Jesus dies, he tells the Father he's committing his spirit into his hands and cries out the phrase that reminds me I can add nothing to his saving work on the cross. He says, It is finished.

When they come to make sure he's dead, they pierce his side and both blood and water pour out. We've linked to an article that explains in graphic detail what is happening to his body at this time, but the summary is that he probably dies of a heart attack. How fitting.

Because the sun is about to set and the new day is about to start, one where they can't do any work, they get him off the cross quickly. A man named Joseph asks for his body and buries him in his own tomb nearby. Then Joseph and Nicodemus and a few women are there and they wrap him and anoint him, then roll the stone over the tomb. These tombs are often cave-like and a big rock is used to cover the mouth of the cave. This day brought up so many emotions. It's exhausting and moving and shocking and terrible and beautiful and I can't get over it.

Picking one God shot was challenging, but I decided to focus on the miraculous things God does that barely get a sentence. These are from all four gospel accounts. In Matthew 27, 52-53, we saw that there was a great earthquake and people who were dead and buried suddenly resurrected and walked through the city. He brings the dead to life.

In John, Pilate accidentally prophesies, writing that Jesus is the king of the Jews. And Matthew, Mark, and Luke all tell us that the sky went dark at noon, and in the temple, the curtain was torn from top to bottom, from heaven to earth, indicating that it was an act of God, opening up his presence to his people in a way they hadn't been able to access before. Hallelujah, and praise the Lord. He's where the joy is. ♪

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