The Crucifixion of Jesus: What It Means

In 1947, a young New Yorker named Glenn Chambers decided to recognize his lifelong dream to work with the Voice of the Andes ministry in Ecuador.

The day of departure, he arrived at the Miami airport and realized he’d forgotten to buy a card to send to his mother. There was no time to select and purchase one before he had to rush onto his flight. Spotting a piece of paper on the terminal floor, he scooped it up.

The paper was part of an advertisement with ‘Why?’ featured prominently.

Glenn scribbled his note around the single word then stuffed it in an envelope and dropped it in a post box. Minutes later, he boarded a DC-4 bound for Ecuador’s capital, Quito.

The giant prop plane rumbled through the growing gloom as night fell and clouds began to thicken over Colombia’s humid jungles. The pilot squinted as a sudden darkness filled his view, then the plane smashed into the side of the 14,000 foot peak El Tablazo with a deafening scream of warping metal.

Everyone aboard died instantly.

Glenn’s mother received his note some days later, emblazoned with the haunting question, “Why?” -Rachel Chimmit

Why do bad things happen to good people? Why is there evil in the world? We often wonder why. And for all those why questions, why this, why that, we need to go back to the ultimate why question.

The question that causes us to either understand or misunderstand our Christian faith: Why did Jesus have to die?

The Lord laid it on my heart for us to go to the cross, and examine exactly what took place. And then to ask the question: Why? Why did this need to happen this way for us to saved?

We’re going to Matthew chapter 27. At this moment Jesus has been ministering, healing, and shaking things up for three years. He spread the word and healed in numerous towns, but now he’s in the capital city of Israel, Jerusalem. The religious leaders have plotted and schemed against Jesus. And one of Jesus’ own disciples, Judas, has secretly met with the Jewish leaders to plot to turn Jesus over to them.

Jesus knew ahead of time that all this would happen. He knew it was meant to happen. In God’s word, in books like Isaiah and Psalms, the persecution and death of Jesus was predicted.

Jesus told his disciples ahead of time: “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.” -Luke 9:22

The first important truth you must remember today is that God planned for Jesus to be crucified before the creation of the Earth, to become a ransom offering for our sins.

If you read the crucifixion of Jesus as a sad thing happening to a nice man you’ve completely missed the purpose for why Jesus died.

After being betrayed by Judas, Jesus was taken before the high priest, questioned, then taken before the romans, and questioned again. He was sentenced to death for the charge of claiming to be the king of the Jews. Pontius Pilate the roman governor ordered Jesus flogged, and then turned over to be crucified.

So let’s jump into the scripture, starting with verses 27-31:

"Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. 28 They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, 29 and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand. Then they knelt in front of him and mocked him. “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said. 30 They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. 31 After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.”

It says Jesus was brought in front of a whole company of soldiers. That’s not the best translation, the word there is actually "cohort." A cohort was part of a roman military unit, and it would typically have 480 soldiers attached to it.

So Jesus was being publicly mocked in front of hundreds of soldiers, who were all laughing at him. I’ve experienced a few times in my life when I was publicly mocked by a group of people, and it was very painful and ugly.

But notice what the soldiers are doing. Jesus really is the king of the Earth. He really should be worshiped by every human being on the planet. Yet the opposite happens. They mock his kingship. They put a robe on him to mock him, a staff in his hand, and a crown of thorns onto his head.

They grabbed the staff and struck him with it. They spat on him. They pretended to worship him.

This is a nightmare beyond imagining, for someone to experience something like this is brutal. But Jesus was willing to experience this for us.

Jesus is forced to carry a wooden cross to the place where they are going to execute him.

Next, verses 32-34: "As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross. 33 They came to a place called Golgotha (which means “the place of the skull”). 34 There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it.”

I think it’s fascinating that Simon of Cyrene carries Jesus’ cross for him. It’s believed Simon was an African man, since Cyrene was located in Libya, in north Africa.

I believe that Simon of Cyrene should’ve been Simon Peter. If Simon Peter had stayed awake and prayed, he would’ve not fallen into temptation, and been filled with fear and fled from the persecution of Jesus.

I imagine if Peter had been there through the crucifixion, he would’ve been the one who would’ve ran over and helped Jesus carry his cross. I can’t prove that, I have no scripture to back that up, it’s just a theory that I have.

But it’s an interesting reminder I think, don’t let the enemy stop you from being where you’re supposed to be, in the will of God. Now Jesus forgave Peter later, even though Peter abandoned Jesus during his sufferings. But, imagine if Peter had been there to the very end.

Next, they brought Jesus to the hill of Golgotha, and drove rusty metal spikes into his hands and feet. He was hoisted up on this piece of wood, and it was dropped into a hole in the ground. The trauma would've been intense as the base of the cross landed in the hole and jostled the wounds in Jesus' body. 

Next, verses 35-37: "When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots. 36 And sitting down, they kept watch over him there. 37 Above his head they placed the written charge against him: this is jesus, the king of the jews.”

Crucifixion was invented by the Persian empire, and later practiced extensively by the roman empire, until later in the 4th century AD it was outlawed as a form of execution by Constantine. Crucifixion was so severe that it was actually unacceptable for a roman citizen to be crucified, if they were executed it was done by decapitation, not by crucifixion.

Verse 35 tells us that they divided up his clothes and cast lots. That was predicted in the Old Testament as well.

Notice also the crime he committed was nailed to the cross on a plank of wood above his head. Interesting that the "crime" that he committed, that he was the king of the jews is actually true. Jesus is the king of all Jews, indeed he’s, the king of all peoples everywhere.

So at this point Jesus is now on the cross. He’s been flogged. He’s been humiliated. They’ve robbed Jesus of his dignity. They’ve forced a crown of thorns on his head. Jesus has been beaten and spat on. He is bleeding profusely. Yet he is still alive.

Next, verses 38-44:38 "Two rebels were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. 39 Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads 40 and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!” 41 In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. 42 “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! He’s the king of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. 43 He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” 44 In the same way the rebels who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him.”

Next to Jesus on the left and right are two men who are being crucified with him on that day. In Luke’s gospel we get the dialogue between the two men, one of which begs Jesus to help them escape, the other of which admits his own wrongdoings and asks Jesus to remember him in paradise. Jesus responds by saying that he will be with him in paradise on that day.

Also in this moment we see the final temptation of the devil against Christ. I believe Satan inspired the people walking by, including the religious leaders to tempt Jesus to come down from the cross.

“Come down from the cross” is the last temptation of Christ. It’s spiritual warfare, Satan trying to tempt the all powerful son of God to use his power to escape his own death. How tempting that would be, when you are going through such incredible horrible suffering. We can’t even imagine the kind of pain Jesus was in, and yet, he refused to leave the cross.

The son of God refused to leave the cross, what about you? Can you endure the struggles you’re going through without giving up your faith. The enemy may whisper to you, and try to convince you that if you just give up this Jesus thing, life will be easier. Don’t listen to those lies. Even in the struggle, stand firm in Jesus. He’s suffered much worse than you have. He knows what it means to suffer.

Next, verses 45-50: "From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land. 46 About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli,[a] lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).

47 When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “He’s calling Elijah.”

48 Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. 49 The rest said, “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to save him.”

50 And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.”

Suddenly at noon, the brightest moments of the day, it goes completely dark. And it’s dark for three hours. Can you imagine this? You're out there watching Jesus getting crucified. Many are celebrating this moment, and yet, suddenly at noon it goes dark in the sky, for three hours.

Might you stop and think to yourself, maybe we’ve made a serious mistake. Something is not right here.

For three hours it’s dark as night. Something evil and horrible is happening.

Gospel means good news. How is this good news? It’s horrible beyond imagining what happened to Jesus that day. Yet the symbol we Christians use, the emblem we wear around our necks is in the shape of a cross. 

Jesus cries out to the heavenly father, and says, “Why have you forsaken me?” In that moment I believe the presence of God departed from Jesus, and he was left utterly alone on the cross, so that he could die for our sins.

He was completely alone in those moments. The Old Testament law says cursed is anyone who is nailed to a tree, Jesus became cursed for us in those moments.

His blood was poured out, dripping from the wounds on his head, his back, his hands and his feet. His body was broken. He was humiliated and shamed in front of hundreds. People walking by shook their heads. He became cursed.

At 3pm, after the three hours of darkness, Jesus screamed out in utter horror and suffering one last time, a brutal cry, and then he died.

How is this good news for you and for me?

Sin are the things in our lives that separate us from God. Sin are those times when we’ve hurt someone we love, made our children feel inferior and alone, made our wife/husband feel empty and disappointed, sin is when we’ve taken something that wasn’t ours, used a substance that did damage to our own body, used someone for our own pleasure, all of these things separate us from God.

In God’s universe, meaning the one you live in, sin is serious, so serious it warrants the death penalty from God.

In the old Testament if you sinned, you had to bring a sacrifice to the temple, a sheep or a dove, and it would be slaughtered, it’s blood would be poured out, and that sacrifice would cover over the sin you had committed.

The sins we commit can only be washed away with blood. But the blood of animals was never enough to cover our sins.

All of that was pointing to the future, when Jesus would come into the world, for the purpose of going to the cross, to be crucified, to have his blood poured out as an offering to take away our sins.

That’s why this brutal crucifixion event of Jesus that is so ugly and horrifying and dark, became life and salvation to us.

You can’t understand how wonderful the bloody death of Jesus was until you understand just how offensive your sins are to God. One of the worst things we can do is pretend that we don’t have them. God’s law makes it very clear that we’ve all sinned. We’re lying if we say we haven’t sinned. We all know what it sin is deep down and we all know we’re guilty of it. We can say things like "hey it’s in the past" but that isn't how God sees it.

God will deal with our sins, and it will either be that Jesus died for our sins, and reconnected us to God, or our sins remain on us, and on judgment day God will turn us over to outer darkness, a place set aside for sinners, away from the light of God’s presence.

We can pretend like we have no sins. But we all know we do. We can hide from God. But in the end, we all have our meeting with God face to face.

Get your sins under the blood of Jesus. Only His sacrifice on the cross is sufficient to pay off your debt. We all know that deep down. It’s hard to admit, I get it. But if you can admit it, and ask for forgiveness, Jesus will forgive you.

Let’s see what happened immediately after Jesus died:

"51 At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split 52 and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. 53 They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and[c] went into the holy city and appeared to many people."

The temple in the times of Jesus had three courts, and in the third court there was a curtain that blocked access to the most holy place. When Jesus died, that curtain was ripped in half. 

It says an earthquake occurred. Old Testament heroes rose from their graves and appeared to people throughout the city of Jerusalem. This was truly a day unlike any other!

Lastly, verse 54: "When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God!”

We started in verse 27 with the roman soldiers mocking Jesus and pretending to worship him. Now, we see the same romans terrified by what they’re seeing, the earthquake, the darkness that came over the land, and one centurion calls our, “Surely Jesus is the son of God!”

In conclusion today, I know if you were there that day you would say the same thing, "Jesus is the son of God, Jesus is the King." Yet we only have these words to tell us that Jesus really did die for us.

I understand that sometimes it's hard. We've never met Jesus face to face. We only have the words on the page and the sense of His presence within us. Sometimes it feels far away and difficult to understand. Yet somehow we know deep within: It's real. It's all real. 

Yet the question remains: Why? We all want to know why. Why am I here? What is the meaning of my life? Why is sin so bad? Why did Jesus have to die?

I know we get so lost in our own thoughts. We try to rationalize our sins, we try to hide them in our own minds. We try to ignore the problem. We even lash out at God and call him bad. We try philosophy, psychedelics, politics, social justice, post-modernism, self help psychology, new age ideology, anything to escape from our sins, to explain away our sins, to prove that our sins really don’t matter that much.

Set all that aside and simply confront your sins. See them. See how they are wrong. Face them, and then instead of running from them, trying to bury them in dirt, or put a pretty ribbon on them and call them good, instead, take them, carry them over to Jesus, and leave them at the foot of the cross. Jesus will forgive them all.

I know it’s hard. I know we want to look away. I know it makes us angry. I know we want to lash out. I know we want to use our mind to explain it all away…

But if you will reach out for Jesus right now, and even examine your own heart, and your own sins, you will see that everything written here is true. Jesus did die for you that day. As you turn toward Jesus, you will sense His love for you. And that what Jesus wants most, to be with you in love relationship. That is also the answer to the question of why…

Why did Jesus have to die?

For His love for you, he came on a rescue mission, to bring you back home to him, after you got lost in a dark, dark place. He saw you there in that dark dark place, and came riding into this world, for love, for a restored connection with you, that is why he had to die for you. And why he would do it all over again, to come and get you today.

He sent out an army to find you, in the middle of the darkest night. 

Did he die on the cross to tell you how bad you are? To make you feel bad? No. Does it take an admission of our sins to Him? Sure. But the real purpose was love. Jesus’ desire to have you with Him in heaven, in love relationship, forever.

Give your life to him. It's ironic, as a Christian, you understand completely how much Jesus loves you, the meaning of the cross becomes radically clear. But before we know Jesus, it feels blurry, far away, in a cold dark reality, that seems devoid of the love of God. That is the challenge, a challenge of faith. Will you dare to reach out in that cold, cold reality in which you live, toward a love that will cut through that darkness faster than the curtain ripped in the temple when Jesus was crucified? The darkness around the dead savior of the world, breaks to light beyond imagining bursting forth in our world as we call on Jesus name in faith, faith that He really loves us!

Let’s pray a prayer of surrender, and give our lives to Jesus Christ, who will forgive all of our sins.

Lord Jesus, we admit freely that we've sinned in numerous terrible ways. We don't hide it Jesus, we show it all to you. Here it is Jesus, all of it. We see you Jesus nailed to the cross, bleeding and dying, and we know you did it for us. You did it for me. I believe in you Lord Jesus Christ. I believe you are the savior I need, that your sacrifice is sufficient to pay off all my sin debt. And I believe you rose from the dead, you're a living savior. Thank you! I'm set free! I receive the gift of the Holy Spirit within to guide me always. I embrace God as my Heavenly Father. Thank you Lord Jesus for your amazing gift! I am born new of the Spirit. I repent of every sin in my life. I renounce the evil one and all his evil schemes. I embrace Christ in all things! In Jesus name, amen.