I assume most people are aware of the crucifixion of Jesus. If not, I would encourage you to stop now and read about it in the four Gospels…Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. It doesn’t matter how many times I read it, the emotions that swell up inside me are overwhelming. I literally get teary-eyed when I read about the pain and suffering my Lord went through to save me from my sin. It’s a story that never gets old, it feels new each time I read it.

But have you ever thought about what feelings the crucifixion brought about in the people involved? I know this leaves a great deal of room for assumption, but follow this thought for a moment…

The Jewish historian Josephus records several crucifixions that took place at the hands of the Roman authorities. On one occasion, he writes about 2000 people being crucified on one day! The Romans must have been re-using crosses. Have you ever given thought that the cross Jesus was nailed to might have been used before? Reason tells us that the Romans would not have cut down a tree and make a new cross every time. And to add to that point, they must have had a place to store all the upright and cross beams close to Jerusalem, how else would they be prepared to crucify three people one afternoon? Could you imagine being the person that was in charge of storing the wood? Knowing what these were used for? Putting them away, covered in blood?

Also, with so many crucifixions that took place, it stands to reason that Jesus saw people die this way in the past. Can you imagine what was going through His mind each time He saw a person crucified, especially after He began His ministry? Each time He sees the cross, He knows that is where He is headed. Is it any wonder the agony Jesus felt in the Garden of Gethsemane was overwhelming?

What about Joseph of Arimathea that requested to remove the body of Jesus off the cross to bury. Have you ever given thought about how he did it? How he must have stood there for a moment, looking at the battered, bloody body of the Lord, working out the way he would remove the nails. How the tears must have rolled down his face as he slowly and lovingly wrapped the Lord in a clean, linen cloth.

And how could we forget about the mother of Jesus, Mary? The thoughts going through her mind as she sat at the cross watching her oldest son die. Maybe she recalled what Jesus said when He was 12, after frantically looking for Him only to find Jesus in the temple, “Don’t you know I must be about my Father’s business?” Maybe she thought about what the angel told her when she was pregnant. How could she forget, how could she understand?

Do you realize that most historians tell us that when a person was crucified they were probably less than a foot off the ground? There would not have been any reason to hang a person 20 feet in the air. If historians are correct, can you imagine what those that stood by and watched might have thought? Being able to look at Jesus eye-to-eye, seeing the pain, not only from the scourging and the nails, but the sin…the sin of the world, that was squarely on His shoulders. A guilt Jesus had never felt before.

Oh…there is so much more to the story…

By: Justin Odom