Ch. 66, The Crucifixion
“Son of Man: Urantia,” 2nd edition
The Crucifixion
After the two thieves were made ready the soldiers under the orders of a Roman centurion started for Golgotha. The man in charge of these twelve soldiers was the same captain who had led the Roman soldiers to arrest Jesus in Gethsemane. The Roman’s practice was to assign four soldiers to each person to be crucified. The two thieves were whipped first but Jesus was not punished any further: the captain undoubtedly thought he had already been whipped enough, even before his condemnation. The thieves were friends with Barabbas, and they would have been put to death with him had he not been released as Pilate’s Passover pardon.
What Jesus is about to do, submit to death on the cross, he does of his own free will. When predicting this experience he said “The Father loves and sustains me because I am willing to lay down my life. But I will take it up again. No one takes my life away from me: I lay it down by myself. I have authority to lay it down and I have authority to take it up. I have received such a commandment from my Father.”
It was just before nine o’clock in the morning when the soldiers led Jesus from the palace. They were followed by a group of over two hundred people, many of them who secretly sympathized with Jesus. But most of this crowd was either his enemies or spectators coming along to enjoy the shock of the crucifixions. Only a few of the Jewish leaders went out to see Jesus die on the cross. Knowing that he had been turned over to the Roman soldiers by Pilate and that he was condemned to die, they busied themselves with their meeting in the temple where they discussed what should be done with his followers.
On the Way to Golgotha
It was Roman’s custom to make the condemned person carry the crossbeam to the site of the crucifixion, so before leaving the palace courtyard the soldiers placed the crossbeam on Jesus’ shoulders. The condemned person did not carry the whole cross, only this shorter timber. The longer and upright pieces of timber for the three crosses had already been taken to Golgotha, and by the time the soldiers arrived with their prisoners they had been firmly planted in the ground. According to tradition, the captain leading the procession carried small white boards with the names of the criminals and their crimes written in charcoal. After the criminal had been nailed to the crossbeam and hoisted in place on the upright timber, this board was then nailed to the top of the cross above the criminal’s head so that everyone would know the person’s crime. For the two thieves the centurion had written their names and then underneath, one word, “Thief.” On the board to be nailed above Jesus’ head, Pilate himself had written in Latin, Greek, and Aramaic “Jesus of Nazareth: the King of the Jews.”
Some of the Jews who were present when Pilate inscribed the board protested loudly against calling Jesus the king of the Jews. But Pilate reminded them that the accusation was part of the charges that had led to his conviction. When the Jews saw that they could not force Pilate to change his mind, they begged that he change what he had written to read, “He said ‘I am the king of the Jews.’”
But Pilate would not give into their protests, and to all of the rest of their hollering he only said “What I have written, I have written.”
Ordinarily the procession to Golgotha, the official crucifixion site for Jerusalem, would follow the longest road to arrive so that more people could see the condemned criminal. But this time they took the fastest route to the Damascus gate, which led northward out of the city, and following this road they soon arrived. Beyond Golgotha were the rich people’s villas, and on the other side of the road their tombs.
Crucifixion was not a Jewish form of punishment. Both the Greeks and the Romans had learned this way of killing people from the Phoenicians. Even Herod with all of his cruelty did not resort to crucifixion. The Romans never crucified a Roman citizen: only slaves and subjects were put through this dishonorable death. Just forty years later during the siege of Jerusalem all of Golgotha was covered with thousands and thousands of crosses on which, day after day, were killed the flower of the Jewish race. A terrible harvest indeed for the seeds they sowed this day.
As the execution party passed through the narrow streets of Jerusalem, many of the tenderhearted Jewish women who had heard Jesus’ good cheer and who knew of his loving ministry could not stop themselves from crying when they saw him being led to such a shameful death. As Jesus passed by many of these women moaned out loud. When some of them dared to follow along by his side, Jesus looked at them and said “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me but rather weep for yourselves and for your children. My work is about done; soon I go to my Father. But the times of terrible trouble for Jerusalem are just beginning. Watch, the days are coming where you will say ‘Blessed are the barren, and those whose breasts have never fed their young.’ In those days you will pray that the rocks of the hills fall on you so that you can be delivered from the terrors of your troubles.”
These Jerusalem women were indeed courageous to show sympathy for Jesus because it was strictly against the law to do so. The rabble was allowed to jeer, mock, and ridicule the condemned but no one was allowed to show any sympathy or friendliness to them. Though Jesus appreciated their sympathy in this dark hour when his friends were in hiding, he did not want these kindhearted women to suffer the wrath of the soldiers by daring to show him compassion. Even at such a time as this Jesus thought little about himself. His only thought was of the terrible days of tragedy ahead for Jerusalem and the whole Jewish nation.
As Jesus trudged along to the crucifixion, he was tired: nearly exhausted. He had not drunk or eaten anything since the Last Supper at the Mark’s home the night before; neither had he been permitted to enjoy one moment of sleep. There had been one hearing after another right up to the hour of his conviction, not to mention the abusive whippings with their pain and loss of blood. On top of all of this was his mental anguish, spiritual tension, and a terrible feeling of loneliness.
Shortly after passing through the gate on the way out of the city, Jesus staggered carrying the crossbeam; his strength gave way and he fell beneath the weight of his heavy load. The soldiers kicked and shouted at him but he could not get up: the captain, knowing what Jesus had already endured, commanded the soldiers to stop. Then looking into the crowd he chose a man passing by, one Simon of Cyrene, and ordered him to take the crossbeam from Jesus and carry it the rest of the way to Golgotha.
This man, Simon, had come all the way from Cyrene in northern Africa to attend the Passover. He had stopped with the others from his city just outside the Jerusalem walls and was on his way to the temple when the Roman captain forced him to carry Jesus’ crossbeam. Simon stayed at Golgotha the entire time that Jesus died on the cross talking with his friends and enemies. After the resurrection and before leaving Jerusalem, he became a fearless believer in the gospel and when he returned home he led his family into the heavenly kingdom. His two sons, Rufus and Alexander, became successful teachers of Jesus’ gospel in Africa. But Simon never knew that the Jesus whose burden he bore and the Jewish tutor who once helped his injured son were the same person. It was just after nine o’clock when this death procession arrived at Golgotha and the Roman soldiers set themselves to nailing the two thieves and the Son of Man to their crosses.
The Crucifixion
The soldiers first tied Jesus’ arms to the crossbeam with rope, and then they nailed his hands to the wood. After they had hoisted this crossbeam up on the post and had nailed it to the upright timber of the cross, they tied and nailed his feet to the wood using one long nail to go through both feet. The upright timber had a large peg sticking out at the right height that served as a sort of seat to support the person’s weight. The cross was not high: Jesus’ feet were only about three feet off of the ground. He was able to hear everything that was said about him, and he could easily see the expressions on everyone’s faces who thoughtlessly mocked him. At the same time everyone who was there could easily hear everything that Jesus said during his slow torture.
The Roman’s normally crucified people naked, but since the Jews objected to publicly exposing the body the Romans put a loin cloth on the people they killed in Jerusalem, which the soldiers did with Jesus right before they nailed him to the cross. Crucifixion was chosen because it provided a cruel and long-lasting punishment, the victim sometimes not dying for several days. There were strong feelings against crucifixion in Jerusalem, and there was a group of Jewish women who always sent someone to the executions to offer the person a drugged wine to lessen their suffering. But when Jesus tasted this wine and realized what it was, as thirsty as he was he refused to drink it. Jesus chose to keep his human consciousness up until the end. He intended to meet death, even in this cruel and inhuman way, and conquer it by voluntarily submitting to the full human experience.
The two thieves cussed and spit at the soldiers as they were nailed to the cross, but Jesus’ only words were “Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do.” Jesus died as he lived: the true ideas, motives, and longings of a lifetime are clearly revealed in a crisis.
After Jesus was hoisted up on to the cross, the captain nailed the execution plaque above his head: it read in three languages, “Jesus of Nazareth: King of the Jews.” The Jews were insulted and infuriated. But Pilate was resentful over their disrespectful treatment; he felt he had been humiliated and intimidated and he was using this way to accommodate his petty revenge. He could have written “Jesus, a rebel” but he was well aware how the Jews in Jerusalem detested the name of Nazareth and Pilate was intent on humiliating them. He also knew that they would be cut to the quick by seeing this executed Galilean called “King of the Jews.”
When the Jewish leaders heard how Pilate was insulting them a group quickly made its way to Golgotha. But they did not dare to try and remove the sign because the Romans were standing guard: instead, they mingled with the crowd and did everything in their power to ridicule the idea of Jesus being the king of the Jews before anyone gave it serious thought.
The Apostle John with Jesus’ mother Mary and Ruth and Jude arrived on the scene just after Jesus had been hoisted to his position on the cross, and just as the captain was nailing the execution plaque above his head. John was the only one of the eleven apostles to witness the crucifixion, and even he was not present the entire time because after he brought Jesus’ mother to the scene he ran back into Jerusalem to return with his own mother and her friends. As Jesus saw his mother with John and his brother and sister, he smiled but said nothing. Meanwhile, the four soldiers assigned to crucify Jesus, as was the custom, divided his clothes among themselves. One took the cloak, one the girdle, one the turban, and the fourth the sandals. This left the tunic, or seamless robe reaching down to near the knees, to be cut up into four pieces. But when the soldiers saw what an unusual piece of clothing it was, they decided to gamble for it. Jesus watched, and the thoughtless crowd jeered him.
It was a good that the Roman soldiers took Jesus’ cloths, or otherwise his followers would have been tempted to resort to superstitious relic worship. Jesus wanted his people to have nothing material to link to his life on Earth: his intention was to leave humanity only the memory of a life blessed to do the Father’s will.
Those Who Saw the Crucifixion
Jesus had been hung on the cross about nine-thirty. Before eleven o’clock close to one thousand people had gathered to witness his crucifixion. Throughout these dreadful hours the unseen host of a universe silently hovered above gazing on this extraordinary phenomenon of our Creator dying the most shameful death of a condemned criminal.
Standing near the cross at one time or another during the crucifixion were Mary, Ruth, Jude, John, Salome, and a group of sincere women including Mary Magdalene; Rebecca onetime of Sepphoris, and Clopas’ wife and Jesus’ aunt, Mary. These and Jesus’ other friends held their peace as they watched his fortitude, patience, and intense suffering. Many of the other watchers who passed by shook their heads and teased Jesus saying “You who would destroy the temple and build it again in three days, save yourself. If you are the Son of God why do you not come down from your cross?” In a similar way some of the Jews mocked him saying “He saved others but he cannot save himself.” Others said “If you are the king of the Jews come down from the cross and we will believe in you.” Later on they mocked him even more saying “He trusted in God to deliver him. He even claimed to be the Son of God. Look at him now, crucified between two thieves.” Even the two thieves mocked and teased him.
Since Jesus would not answer their taunts and it was nearing noon on the day to prepare for the Passover, most of the jeering crowd left: by eleven-thirty, less than fifty people remained. The soldiers prepared their lunch and drank their sour cheap wine as they settled in for the long deathwatch. Mockingly they offered Jesus a toast, “Hail and good fortune! To the king of the Jews.” They were astonished at the Master’s tolerant acceptance of their ridicule.
As Jesus watched them eat and drink, he said “I thirst.” The captain of the guard put a sponge stopper wet with wine on the end of his javelin and raised it up so Jesus could wet his parched lips. Jesus had intended to live without using his supernatural power, and in the same way he decided to die as an ordinary mortal on the cross. He had lived as a man and he would die as a man: doing the Father’s will.
The Thief on the Cross
One of the thieves lashed out at Jesus saying “If you are the Son of God why do you not save us and yourself?”
But the other thief who had many times heard Jesus teach said “Are you not afraid of even God? Do you not see that we are justly suffering for what we have done, but that this man suffers unjustly? Better that we should look for forgiveness for our sins and salvation for our souls.”
Jesus turned to the thief and smiled. When the criminal saw Jesus looking at him he mustered up his courage, fanned the flickering flame of his faith, and said “Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
Jesus said “Truly, I say to you today you will sometime be with me in Paradise.”
Jesus took time in the middle of the pangs of mortal death to listen to the faith confession of a believing thief. When this man reached out for salvation he found deliverance. Many times before this he had thought of believing in Jesus, but only in these last hours did he turn with a whole heart to his teaching. When he saw the way that Jesus faced death on the cross, this thief could no longer resist the belief that this Son of Man was indeed the Son of God.
During this episode between Jesus and the thief the Apostle John was absent. John’s story of the crucifixion like he remembered it was written two-thirds of a century later. The other records of the ordeal were based on the Roman centurion who, because of what he saw and heard later, believed in Jesus and entered into the full fellowship of the kingdom of heaven on Earth. This was from where Luke later heard this story.
This young man, the regretful thief, had been led into a life of evil and violence by those who praised robbery as a way of patriotic protest against social injustice and political oppression. This sort of teaching plus the urge for adventure led many otherwise well-meaning young men to join in these daring feats of robbery. This young man had looked on Barabbas as a hero: now he saw that he had been mistaken. Here on the cross beside him he saw a noble man, a true hero. Here was a hero who fired his zeal, inspired his highest ideas of moral self-respect, and quickened all of his ideals of bravery, courage, and manhood. In looking at Jesus there sprang up in his heart an overwhelming sense of love, loyalty, and genuine majesty.
If any of the other people in the jeering crowd had experienced the birth of faith in their souls and had appealed to Jesus’ mercy, he would have received them with the same loving consideration shown the believing thief.
John returned from the city along with his mother and a group of almost a dozen women just after the repentant thief heard Jesus’ promise that they would sometime meet in Paradise. John took up his position near Mary, Jesus’ mother, supporting her. Her son Jude stood on her other side. It was noon as Jesus looked down on this scene and managed to say “Woman, behold your son!” Speaking to John, Jesus said “My son, behold your mother!” Then he addressed them both, saying “I want you to leave this place.” So John and Jude led Mary away from Golgotha. John took Mary to where he was staying in Jerusalem, and then hurried back to the crucifixion. After the Passover Mary returned to Bethsaida where she lived at John’s home for the rest of her life. Mary died less than a year after Jesus’ death. After Mary left the other women withdrew for a short distance and remained attending Jesus until he died on the cross, and they were still standing by when Jesus’ body was taken down for burial.
Last Hour on the Cross
Although it was early in the year for this to happen, shortly after noon the sky darkened because of the fine sand in the air. The people in Jerusalem knew this meant that one of the hot wind sandstorms from the Arabian Desert was soon to arrive. Before one o’clock the sky was so dark the sun was hidden, and the rest of the spectators hurried back to the city. When Jesus died shortly after, less than thirty people were present: the thirteen Roman soldiers and a group of about fifteen believers. These believers were all women except two: Jude, Jesus’ brother and John Zebedee who returned to the scene just before the Master died.
Shortly after one o’clock during the increasing darkness of the fierce sandstorm, Jesus’ human consciousness began to fail. His last words of mercy, caution, and forgiveness had been spoken. His last wish concerning his mother’s care had been expressed. During this hour of approaching death Jesus’ human mind resorted to repeating many passages in the Hebrew scriptures, particularly the Psalms. The last conscious thought that Jesus had concerned a portion of the Book of Psalms now known as the twentieth, twenty-first, and twenty-second Psalms. While his lips would often move, he was too weak to utter the words as these passages he knew so well by heart passed through his mind. Those standing around only a few times caught some utterance like, “I know the Lord will save his anointed,” “Your hand will find out all my enemies,” and “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Jesus did not for one moment have the slightest doubt that he had lived according to the Father’s will, and that he was now laying down his life according to that will. He did not feel that the Father had abandoned him: he was merely reciting in his fading mind many scriptures, among them this twenty-second Psalm that begins with “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” This happened to be one of the three passages that were spoken with enough clarity to be heard by the people standing close by.
The last request that Jesus made was about one-thirty, when for a second time he said “I thirst” and the same captain of the guard again moistened Jesus’ lips with the sponge wet with sour wine, in those days commonly called vinegar.
The sandstorm grew more intense, and the heavens darkened. Still the soldiers and the small group of believers stood by, the soldiers huddled near the cross protecting themselves from the cutting sand. John’s mother and others watched from a distance where they were somewhat sheltered by an overhanging rock. When Jesus finally breathed his last breath, present at the foot of his cross were John Zebedee, Mary Magdalene, his sister Ruth, his brother Jude, and Rebecca onetime of Sepphoris.
It was just before three o’clock when Jesus with a loud voice cried out “It is finished! Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” Jesus’ head dropped to his chest and he gave up the struggle to live. When the Roman centurion saw how Jesus died, he smote his breast and said “This was indeed a righteous man; truly he must have been a Son of God.” From that hour he believed in Jesus.
Jesus died royally, like he had lived. He freely admitted his kingship and remained master of the situation throughout the tragic day. He went willingly to his humiliating death after he had provided for the safety of his chosen apostles. He wisely restrained Peter’s trouble making violence, and arranged that John could be near him right up to the end of his mortal existence. He revealed his true nature to the murderous Sanhedrin, and he reminded Pilate of the source of his sovereign authority as a Son of God. He started out to Golgotha bearing his own crossbeam, and finished up his loving bestowal by handing over his spirit of mortal achievement to the Paradise Father. After such a life and at such a death, Jesus could truly say “It is finished.”
Because this was the preparation day for both the Sabbath and the Passover, the Jews did not want these bodies exposed on Golgotha. They went before Pilate asking that the legs of the three men be broken so that they could be taken down from their crosses and thrown into the criminal burial pits before sundown. Pilate agreed, and immediately sent three soldiers to break their legs and kill Jesus and the two thieves.
When the soldiers arrived at Golgotha they did their duty to the two thieves, but to their surprise they found Jesus already dead. However, to make sure he was dead one of the soldiers pierced his left side with his spear. Though it was common for those crucified to linger alive on the cross for two or three days, Jesus’ overwhelming emotional agony and his acute spiritual anguish brought his mortal life to the end in less than five and a half hours.
After the Crucifixion
In the midst of the dark sandstorm, about three-thirty, David Zebedee sent out the last of the messengers to Mary and Martha’s home in Bethany carrying the news of the Jesus’ death. John sent the women, under Jude’s watch, to Elijah Mark’s house where they stayed over Saturday night. John himself, by this time being well known to the Roman centurion, remained at Golgotha until Joseph and Nicodemus arrived with an order from Pilate authorizing them to take possession of Jesus’ body.
Thus ended a day of tragedy and sadness for a vast universe whose myriads of celestial beings had shuddered at the shocking spectacle of the human incarnation of their beloved Sovereign being crucified; they were stunned by this exhibition of human perversity and mortal callousness.