We all love happy endings. We love when the prince comes and rescues
the princess; we love when the evil step-sisters get what’s due them;
and we love when our team wins the Super Bowl. But sometimes in our
excitement to experience the happily ever after, we fast forward to the
end of the story instead of starting from the beginning. In fact, this
is so common in our culture that a man named Paul Harvey created a radio
show just to give us the rest of the story! Why? Because sometimes,
in order to fully appreciate the “happily ever after” we need to hear
the whole story.
And so it is with the Easter story. Oh, we all
know the G-rated version of the Easter story, but most of us just want
to rush to the empty tomb and forget about the not-so-nice part of the
story. But without a TRUE understanding of the rest of the story, we
cannot fully appreciate the empty tomb in the happy ending.
So
come back with me 2000 years ago to the Holy Week in Jerusalem. Let’s
pick up the story where Pontius Pilate has washed his hands of Jesus and
handed him over to the angry crowd. By this time Jesus has already
suffered a great deal: Judas has betrayed him and the other disciples
have abandoned him, the palace guards have “spit in his face and struck
him with their fists.” (Matt. 26:27); and he has been subjected to
unlawful trials in which he is falsely accused of blasphemy. Here is
where the story becomes even more unbelievable.
Now in the hands
of the angry crowd, Jesus is stripped completely naked in front of a
large crowd of soldiers, his hands are tied to a post above his head,
and a Roman legionnaire steps forward, mockingly delivering the first
blow of the whip, a whip made of several strips of leather embedded with
sharp pieces of bone and lead. The first few blows rip into Jesus’
flesh. One, two, three, four, five.…39 lashes later, Jesus’ skin is
hanging in long ribbons and the entire area is a mass of torn bleeding
tissue.
Oh, but the soldiers are not done yet! They can’t believe
their good fortune! They have permission from the higher-ups to
pulverize a KING! And not just any king, but the King of the JEWS! And
so their tortuous rampage continues. They throw a scarlet robe across
His bleeding shoulders and place a staff in his hand for a scepter. To
complete the kingly outfit, they construct a crown of thorns and pound
it onto his head. All the while they continue to mock him, spit on him,
and strike his head over and over with the staff they have placed in
his hand. Finally, beaten and battered beyond recognition, the guards
violently rip the robe off Jesus’ back, the robe that has now glued
itself to the strips of flesh.
After putting his clothes back on
him, the soldiers stand Jesus up and tie the 110 pound cross bar of the
cross on his shredded shoulders. Then they begin the 650 yard journey
along the Via Dolorosa. The crowd is mocking him, and the guards
continue to spit on him and beat him. There are people everywhere,
watching, but Jesus is alone.
Part way to Golgotha, Jesus stumbles
and falls from the weight of the cross beam, the copious amounts of
blood loss, and the excruciating pain from his beatings. An onlooker,
Simon of Cyrene, is ordered to carry the cross for Jesus the rest of the
way.
They reach Golgotha and Simon drops the cross beam. Once
again, Jesus is stripped naked. The guards throw him back on to the
cross beam with His bloodied shoulders scraping against the wood. The
soldiers waste no time in driving the 6 inch wrought-iron nails through
Jesus’ wrists and into the wood. The cross bar is lifted into place on
the vertical post of the cross which is permanently in the ground. His
left foot is then pressed against his right foot and another long nail
is driven through both feet and into the wooden cross. A sign is nailed
to the cross above Jesus’ head reading, “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the
Jews.”
Dr. C. Truman Davis describes what happens next: “At this
point, as the arms fatigue, great waves of cramps sweep over the
muscles, knotting them in deep relentless, throbbing pain. With these
cramps comes the inability to push Himself upward, and thus air can be
drawn into the lungs, but cannot be exhaled. Spasmodically, he is able
to push Himself upward to exhale and bring in the life-giving oxygen.
It was undoubtedly during these periods that He gasped, “Father, forgive
them for they know not what they do.” And finally, six long and
excruciating hours after the crucifixion began, Jesus cries out, “It is
finished. Father! Into thy hands I commit my spirit.”
Some time
later, when the soldiers come to break his legs to hasten his death,
they notice he is already dead. But just to make sure, one of the
soldiers pierces Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of
blood and water. In the medical world, this escape of water indicates
that Jesus has not died from suffocation as is usually the case in
crucifixions, but rather, he has died of heart failure, aka, a broken
heart.
Finally, His mission of atonement is complete.
And
here is where we reach our happy ending: Jesus is risen! Because of
that fateful day 2000 years ago, our sins are dead and we have new
life! Don’t let a romanticized version of a beautiful wooden cross
standing in the middle of a daffodil patch minimize what Jesus did for
you and me! Don’t allow the cross to become a cliché in your life, its
meaning as empty as Jesus’ tomb on Easter morning!
Yes, the death
of Jesus is horrific and painful to talk about. But if we don’t ever
visit Jesus’ death and acknowledge that our sins put him on the cross,
we will never fully appreciate the empty tomb in the happy ending. And
without the empty tomb, there IS no happily ever after!
I want to
challenge you to not let your Easter celebration slip by without
thanking Jesus for taking your place on the cross. Thank him for
carrying all your sins and failures to the grave and leaving them there
when He rose again. And thank Him for showing his love for you through
the REST of the story.
