The Gospel of John On the Cross of Jesus Various Passages Jesus opens his eyes again. His mother and John are gone. The day is dark with a thick darkness. Thunder rumbles deep in heaven. There is a pause of preternatural calm. Then lightning forks the belly of the clouds. The crash follows immediately, and all at once the wind is shrieking down the Jewish tombs. Trees bow and rise again, the leaves torn forward like women s hair. The road to Jerusalem clears swiftly of people. The soldiers huddle on the lee side of the hill. It is noon. And now, when the flashes of lightning themselves are extinguished, the earth is utterly black. Darkness an hour while the fierce wind makes the rain sting like sand on the skin, and no one, no one exists in all the world but Jesus and his wretched body. If he should call out, who would hear? The wind pulls and snaps his hair like a banner. All his wounds have tongues. They are screaming in pitches higher than hearing. Darkness another hour darkness, coiled and thick, itself a power entoiling him, binding his chest and his heart and his mind. Jesus can neither think nor breathe. He is sunk down in tehom, the great engulfing flood of the dead, the deeps that boil beneath creation. He has been swallowed by chaos. This is the place: it is here that he is dying. Darkness the third hour and now he knows obliteration. 1 IX Jesus Arrest, Trials and Crucifixion Chapters 18-19 D. The Crucifixion 2. The Time on the Cross a. The First Three Hours Matthew 27:35-44; Luke 23:33-43 b. The Three Hours of Darkness Mark 15:33-37 c. The Death of Christ Matthew 27:51-56 Introduction: Christ has been on the cross for three hours. Pilate had caused a sign to be placed on the cross, not describing His crimes as would have been the norm, but rather identifying Him as the King of the Jews. A sign which must have given apoplexy to the Jewish leadership. During these hours He s forgiven all those who were directly involved with His crucifixion. After all, it for this He had come and He had come to provide the way of salvation for all, even those who were responsible for His crucifixion all mankind. Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do (Luke 23:34 ESV). And as the crowds gath, many have been harassing Christ, especially those among the powers that be. Even the two thieves crucified on either side of Him also were attacking Him. But apparently the heart of one of the two is softened by the Holy Spirit. He recognizes His own sin and asks Jesus to save Him. Jesus responds 1 Wangerin Jr., Walter; The Book of God, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, MI, 2010, p. 600.
Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise (Luke 23:43 ESV). Finally, in another example of Christ s commitment to others rather than Himself, which is why He is on the cross, He gives John the responsibility to care for His mother Mary. standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, Woman, behold, your son! Then he said to the disciple, Behold, your mother! And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home (John 19:25 27 ESV). Thus closes the first three hours on the cross, on three of the seven last words of Christ. Now we move on to an even blacker period: the three hours of darkness. b. The Three Hours of Darkness: It is worth repeating, a Jewish form of emphasis, that the true suffering of the cross isn t the physical aspect of the crucifixion, aspects that often get obsessive observation. The true suffering of the cross is what is found during this next three hours. It is Christ s suffering as He pays the price for our sin. God draws a veil over these hours, showing us very little, as what goes on is beyond our comprehension. But let s join Mark as he states And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani? which means, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And some of the bystanders hearing it said, Behold, he is calling Elijah. And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down. And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last (Mark 15:33 37 ESV). It appears to me as if, and Mark is consistent with the other Gospels, that we know nothing of the specifics of what occurs between the beginning of the sixth until the end of the eight. We are only allowed a glimpse at the beginning of the ninth. What we do know is that this is when God deals with our sins. I certainly don t feel qualified to speak to this but I do like the way Dr. McGee handles it: I want you to notice here that Mark gives us the Crucifixion by the clock. On the third hour He was put on the cross, and at the sixth hour (which would have been twelve noon) darkness came down. The high noon sun was covered, and darkness came down over the cross. From the sixth hour to the ninth hour, that would be until three o clock in the afternoon, there was darkness. Now will you notice this: the first three hours were from 9:00 A.M. until 12 noon; the second three hours were from 12 noon to 3:00 P.M. Jesus hung on the cross for six hours. In the first three hours there was physical light; in the second three hours there was physical darkness. But in the first here hours there was spiritual darkness; in the second three hours there was spiritual light. Why? Because in those first three hours man did his worst. They crucified Him and they reviled Him. Even those who were hanging with Him on the cross reviled Him. At least at first, both thieves did. At that time the enemy, marching around down beneath the cross, were wagging their heads and ridiculing Him. In the first three hours man was working, doing his very worst; in the second three hours God was working. He was the suffering at hands of man in the first three hours; He was suffering for man ) 536 (
in the last three hours. In the first three hours He was dying because of sin; in the second three hours He was dying for the sin of the world. So during the time of the physical darkness, there was actually spiritual light and God was working. In those first three hours sin was doing all it could to destroy Him; in the second three hours He is making His soul an offering for sin. In those last three hours He is paying for the sins of the world. It was during this period that He was made sin for us; He became sin for us. He was forsaken of God and yet, even at that time God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself. What a paradox we find here. 2 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18 19 ESV). We find Christ s response to God s wrath falling on Him in the fourth of the seven last words, the only one of them recorded by Mark. Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani? which means, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? (Mark 15:34 ESV). We have no way to understand how there could be a split within the singularity that is the Godhead. But that is that what Christ s words seem to express in His pain from taking on the sins of the world. It is for this very reason that God drew the veil of darkness over those three hours. What we have here is Christ s response to them. I believe any effort to try to specifically understand what is happening here is treading on such sacred ground and so impossible to comprehend that we do God and ourselves more than just a disservice to try to do so. All we can really say is what Paul did when he wrote For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV). And even in these words we find the fulfillment of prophecy for David wrote: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? (Psalms 22:1 ESV). It is certainly clear that the crowds didn t understand what was going on. They heard Jesus words and believed He was calling for Elijah. The thinking here could tie back to some of the scoffing we ve seen earlier. There was two thoughts about the coming of Elijah. The first had biblical precedent that Elijah would return to herald God s judgment, that I, arrive before the Messiah. The second was that Elijah could come to deliver those in trouble. And from Mark s account here, that some were waiting around to see if Elijah showed up, we can see the hostility and attacks still continue. 2 McGee, J. Vernon, Mark: The Gospels, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, TN, 1991, p. 232. ) 537 (
Jesus is now physically, emotionally and spiritually exhausted. He has taken on the sins of the world in our place. And now we find the fifth of the seven last worlds. Returning to John: After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), I thirst. A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink (John 19:28 29; Psalms 69:21 ESV). What is the all that was finished? John records the sixth but not the seventh of the last seven words. And we see in two of the Synoptics, these were not weak words choked out in misery but shouted out in victory. Here is the sixth of the seven last words. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, It is finished, and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. (John 19:30; Matthew 27:50; Mark 15:37 ESV). Clearly what is finished is the work Jesus had come to do, the work of redemption. He had accepted God s wrath for the sins He had carried for us. There was nothing left to do to complete the work need for our restoration to God. It was finished! c. The Death of Christ: And with the completion of all that had been foretold, Jesus gives up His life. And while all the Gospels tell us He controlled his own death, only Luke presents the last words following the shout of victory as the shout of release, the last of the seven words Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit! (Luke 23:46 ESV). No one takes it [my life] from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father (John 10:18 ESV). Now there are some other events in and around Christ s dying. One of these is a throwaway in that we have no idea what to do with it. But since Matthew has the most complete recording, let s read his account here and pick up from the other Gospels where necessary. And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many. When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, Truly this was the Son of God! (Matthew 27:51 54 ESV). First I want stop on the throw-away verse 52. Matthew tells us that some graves opened and their occupants where bodily raised. Huh? The wording is a bit tricky here as well. There ) 538 (
was a great earthquake with the death of the incarnate Creator. In conjunction with this, graves opened up, probably in the Jerusalem cemetery, and Old Testament saints come out. What isn t clear is, when they entered Jerusalem. Did they come out of the grave and immediately go into the city, or did they enter the city after His resurrection because Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep (1 Corinthians 15:20 ESV). Okay, I don t have any answer, except all of these events were tied to Christ s death and the impact it has on all creation seen here in signs and wonders. Which in turn brings us to one of the most important of those signs the rending of the veil between the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom (Mark 15:38 ESV). The rending of the veil is God s way of saying the sacrificial system is no longer needed. The final and only efficacious sacrifice has now been completed. Where once the High Priest could only enter into God s presence once a yea, the way is now open to every follower of Christ. His torn flesh and shed blood is the way we have access to God the Father. Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 10:19 22; 4:14 16 ESV). But because the powers that be refused to recognize the significance of all that occurred, they either stitched up the curtain or replaced it and continued the sacrifices until the destruction of the temple in 70 AD. What they were unwilling to do, stop the sacrifice, God allowed to be done for them. So Judaism was forced to redefine itself because it no longer had a sacrifice, since it didn t accept God s. Finally, there are two groups identified and taking specific notice on all that was happening around the cross with Jesus death. These first is the centurio, Matthew tells us that he was actually speaking for the entire group. When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, Truly this was the Son of God! (Matthew 27:54 ESV) ) 539 (
What I find interesting here is Matthew identifies this individual as the centurion. This implies his readers know of whom he spoke. This in turn may lead to the idea that this individual had a testimony of what he saw and his call to follow Jesus. I m just speculating but John MacArthur does say I believe the soldiers confession of Jesus deity gives witness to the possibility of their salvation. Both their fear and their confession were spiritual responses to Christ. From Luke we learn that the centurion, and presumably the other soldiers as well, not only confessed Jesus divinity but began praising God 3 Finally Matthew and Mark also identify a second group at the foot of the cross, some of whom we saw previously. There were also many women there, looking on from a distance, who had followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to him, among whom were Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Joseph and the mother of the sons of Zebedee (Matthew 27:55 56 ESV) Once again there is no mention of the presence of the disciples. Anyway Conclusion: This is the most momentous event in HIStory. It is the ultimate statement of God s love for His fallen creation. It is His statement of love for each and everyone of us. He gave of Himself so we could be saved and move into His presence. The entire of scripture points to and encompasses the cross, the first and second comings of Christ. And in the center is the empty cross on which is Christ s blood. Also at the center is an empty tomb and body wrappings. And in heaven is an altar on which is seen His blood as payment for our sins. All we teach, preach and share with others should present a cross on which our sins were hung, so that the lost may experience the blessing of salvation and peace with God. Nearly one-third of the four Gospels is devoted to accounts of the death of Christ, the incidents leading up to it and following it. A writer has reminded us that the other two-thirds of the four Gospels are given up to a preparation for the account of Christ s death. If the men who gave us the record of Jesus life thought His death was an event of such importance as to justify giving it so large a portion of their attention, is it not possible that we have erred in understanding the comparative importance of the cross? 4 3 MacArthur, John, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, Matthew 24-28, Moody Press, Chicago, IL 1989, p. 280. 4 Kyle, Ted, and John Todd, eds., A Treasury of Bible Illustrations, AMG Publishers, Chattanooga, TN, 1995. ) 540 (
The Gospel of John On the Cross of Jesus Various Passages IX Jesus Arrest, Trials and Crucifixion Chapters 18-19 D. The Crucifixion 2. The Time on the Cross a. The First Three Hours Matthew 27:35-44; Luke 23:33-43 b. The Three Hours of Darkness Mark 15:33-37 c. The Death of Christ Matthew 27:51-56 Introduction: (Luke 23:34, 43; John 19:25 27) b. The Three Hours of Darkness: (Mark 15:33 37; 2 Corinthians 5:18 19; Mark 15:34; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Psalms 22:1; John 19:28 29; Psalms 69:21; John 19:30; Matthew 27:50; Mark 15:37)
c. The Death of Christ: (Luke 23:46; John 10:18; Matthew 27:51 54; 1 Corinthians 15:20; Mark 15:38;Hebrews 10:19-22, 4:14-16; Matthew 27:54, 55 56) Conclusion: Personal Application: This week meditate on all that the cross means to the world and means to you. Praise God for the cross! Prayer for the Week: Lord thank You for the Cross and Your loving mercy. Amen.