Crucified, buried . . .

Crucified, buried . . . Finally, the procession reaches the top of Mount Calvary--Jesus and two criminals are to be crucified.  Jesus is stripped naked, his bruised and bloodied arms outstretched on the rough wood--a five-inch long, three-eighths-inch square nail is driven through each of his hands--actually, more the wrists. Crucifixion is meant to be humiliating beyond compare, excruciating without any other equal, as each painful hour drags by before death by suffocation eventually occurs . . . it is horrific. The soldiers bend Jesus’ knees, place his feet flat against the wood, and drive a nail through each foot. At high noon, the soldiers raise the cross, and position its base in the hole, and drop it in with a jarring thud.

Scripture from Matthew 27, Mark 15, Luke 23, and John 19~ From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land. The Light of the World was about to be extinguished--the darkness was a cosmic sign--though it was midday, the sunlight was blocked, perhaps a reaction to the Son of God being put to death. About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"--which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken Me?" -fulfillment of David's words in Psalm 22:1. (My heart aches at the incredible alone-ness Jesus experienced, as God the Father had to look away from him and he became our sin.)

When some of those standing there heard this, they said, "He's calling Elijah." Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that Scripture could be fulfilled, Jesus said, "I am thirsty." Immediately, one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a stick, and offered it to Jesus to drink.

When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." "Tetelestai!" Jesus called out in a loud voice, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit."

 "Tetelestai!" He uttered, and then drew his last breath. It was a Greek expression, but everyone standing within earshot would have understood what Jesus said. " It is finished." Tetelestai when used in accounting, meant "paid in full." In fact, archaeologists have found papyrus tax receipts with the word written across them . . . interesting. With Jesus' dying breath, our sin was paid in full--our debt was cancelled.

 Our Lord died on the cross; and then, he was buried. A man named Joseph (of Arimathea), a member of the Sanhedrin,  went to Pilate and asked to care for the body of Jesus. He took a big risk in doing so, because he obviously 'came out' in support of Jesus by making such a request.  The disciples, except for John, had fled the scene, concerned that their close relationships with Jesus might find them imprisoned or worse, executed. No, it was not a safe time to make a show of support for Jesus--too much risk, too much unknown. So it was particularly unusual that Joseph and Nicodemus (a Pharisee and Jewish ruler), requested to take Jesus. Besides, this was no small labor; the burial spices that Nicodemus brought are said to have weighed 95 pounds. The women also brought spices with which to wrap the body--so, really--with all that they were doing, do you think they trusted that Jesus was going to be resurrected? Were they even thinking about it?  I just can’t imagine that they were.

I remember when my father died, in 1998; I had been en route to my oldest son's high school basketball game, when I got the call. I turned the car around and headed for the hospital morgue. I told Dad 'good bye' that day, face-to-face, but his body had already begun to set, and he was no longer my dad. When a body has drawn its last breath, rigor mortis begins to set in--first in the smallest muscles such as those in the face and hands, and then extending to the muscles in the limbs, causing them to stiffen—like my dad’s—the mouth is slack and seems to freeze while agape. In our culture, we do not typically handle our loved one's lifeless bodies--certainly not in preparing them for burial; but families and loved ones did in Jesus' day. When Joseph and Nicodemus took Jesus down from the cross, they rubbed his stiff arms to remove the rigor mortis (which kept them in a V-shape), and then carefully washed his bloody, bruised body. Then they anointed it with oil and wrapped it in one long linen cloth. A separate napkin tied under his chin kept his mouth from gaping open after the muscles began to loosen.

Next, they wrapped his body from head to toe in long strips of linen, using spiced resin and seventy-five to one hundred pounds of heavily scented spices to offset the smell of decomposition. (This was common for the Jews.) The men were working quickly to be sure that Jesus was in the tomb by nightfall. They wanted to keep the Sabbath day sacred (began at sundown), and also knew the Law required the body of someone who had been executed to be buried that same day.

 “Dear Lord, since a little girl, I have believed you lived and died for human beings, who you love so much.  But revisiting some of the details is so humbling—how you suffered!  When you hear the word ‘Calvary’, do you wince?  Every time you look at your hands, do you rub them?  And, in view of these things, how then shall I live?”

  “Be devoted to me—that is my highest desire—love me, spend time with me.  Jeremiah captured the passionate question that burns in my heart, “Who is he who will devote himself to be close to me?”   Simply, Jesus”

Christine

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