The Brutality of Jesus’ Death

“Jesus was put through inhumane and brutal treatment. Why? There were many ways Jesus could have died, but why this way? Why such a torturous death?”

As I was considering what to write this column, a question came to mind, “Why was Jesus’ death so brutal?” I have never really pondered the thought before. I have read stories in the Bible about His death and even preached on them, and saw the whole scene as vicious, but never asked, “Why was it so brutal?” (Image from godsotherways.com)

Years ago, there was a movie produced that primarily focused on Jesus’ death and it was rated “R,” because of how real the movie made the torture and crucifixion of Jesus. It was gory. The actual historical and biblical account has soldiers spitting in Jesus’ face along with punching and slapping Him. He was stripped down and His back was struck multiple times with a whip containing pieces of bone and metal. This shredded the flesh down to His bones, causing a terribly bloody scene. Afterwards, long and piercing thorns from a tree were woven together to form a fake crown, which was pressed down into Jesus’ skull. He was beaten some more with a wooden stick and forced to carry a long and extremely heavy wooden cross. When He came to a place where He would be crucified, His body was laid down on the cross and nailed to it. One nail in each hand and one through both feet. The three nails kept His body on there for several hours as people milled about mocking, spitting and hurling insults at Him as He slowly inched toward death. Then finally, He died. And just to be sure, soldiers thrusted a spear into His body.

 
Jesus was put through inhumane and brutal treatment. Why? There were many ways Jesus could have died, but why this way? Why such a torturous death? 

Because of the immense wickedness and vileness of sin.

Simply put, the type of death Jesus experienced was to be reflective of how evil sin is.

Read this description about Jesus’ crucifixion, “…he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. (Isaiah 53:5) Notice the words pierced, crushed, chastisement and wounds. They speak of how awful His death was, because of how awful sin is.

Sin is an invisible curse that indwells the human body and soul of every person. It defiles us. For Jesus once said, “…out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.” (Mark 7:21-23)

And what does God call for in response to this partial list of sins? Death! One must die because of their sin. Jesus’ death was brutal because sin is brutal. It destroys lives and brings about the overwhelming wrath of Almighty God.

Do you see yourself as having this curse of sin within you, and unworthy to receive anything good from God? If not, then it is impossible for you to see the grace and mercy of God in all this suffering and death. Because it was for your dark heart and your disobedience that Jesus endured the cross. He took the brutality so you would not have to.

 
Where is the hope in the ugliness of the cross? It is that Jesus rose from the dead! He defeated, smashed and conquered the beast of sin. He paid your penalty of death His Father demanded, so you would not have to – that is mercy.
Escape the sentence of eternal death this hour. Receive the mercy heaven is extending to you.

A prayer for you – O wise and marvelous God, thank you for helping us to understand the awfulness of sin. We see our own defiled heart and how unworthy we are. We praise you for Jesus choosing to suffer for us. We turn from our ways and toward you. Change us Almighty God! In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Where to Find Happiness

“The happiness we are looking for is not found in marriage, success or any other earthly human experience we can control or create for ourselves.”

Have you ever said to a friend or family member, “I just want you to be happy.” as they were considering marriage, a new job or some other major decision? (Image from Sasha Freemind on Unsplash)

Once I watched a documentary on a highly accomplished NBA basketball player from the 1980s and 90s. The program ended with the camera on him as he said, “I have five NBA Championships and I’m world famous. Is that supposed to make me happy?” Then he bowed his head and began to weep.

Happiness is that inner experience some label as a state of contentment and well-being. How many of us want that for ourselves or wish it for those whom we love? It often seems the inner experience of happiness is tied to something external. Like if we find marriage or love externally, that will provide us happiness internally. If we find success externally, that will provide happiness internally. As a result, we search the world over for something that will provide us that inner happiness.

I firmly believe we were all created to want this happiness for ourselves. This is the common human experience. Rich or poor. No matter our race or religion, we hunger to be happy.

Jesus once made a startling claim to a crowd about Himself, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst” (John 6:35). These words of Jesus show His understanding of the human heart. He knew people were searching outwardly for what they longed for inwardly. Sometime after these words were spoken, Jesus went on to suffer, die, then rise again. After He arose and ascended back to His home in heaven, He sent His Spirit to live on the earth. His Spirit indwells anyone who turns from their evil ways and trusts in Jesus alone for complete forgiveness for all they have ever done wrong. When this happens, the Spirit brings the life of Jesus into that individual which gives, “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). Right there, that is what every human truly longs for. It is something deeper and more profound than superficial happiness.

What we are looking for is not found in marriage, success or any other earthly human experience we can control or create for ourselves.

The contentment, joy and meaning in life we seek is found in Jesus and nowhere else. And it is not something He dispenses outside of Himself. He embodies it all. When we come to our senses and realize we have been going after the wrong things and receive the Spirit of Jesus within us, we receive all of who He is.
Are you ready to stop going here and there looking for temporary happiness? Are you ready to surrender all to Christ?

A prayer for you - Lord God, I pray you will lead those who are searching for contentment and inner well-being to Christ. Open their spiritual eyes to see that Jesus is all they are looking for, that in Him all their desires and longings will be met. Bring them to surrender all, to turn from their ways and trust in You with all their heart. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Stop Judging Me!

“God calls every one of us to treat others with love, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and gentleness, while exercising self-control.”

Jesus said, “Judge not, that you be not judged.” (Matthew 7:1) This is a popular Bible verse that is used by people to shame their critics. “Stop telling me what I should be doing. It’s my choice. Plus, Jesus said not to judge, and that’s what you’re doing to me.” (Image by Nino Carè from Pixabay)

 

Is this what Jesus and the Bible teaches, that no one should ever voice opposition to another? Of course not, and this is not what the often-quoted Bible verse is referring to anyways.  

 

When Jesus talks about judging, He is referring to making some kind of decision or judgement about someone. The judgements can be made based on what another person has said, done, written, thought, posted on social media or even what their motives are. Jesus is not talking about legal judgements, but personal relationships. How we treat family, friends, neighbors, or even our enemies.    

 

Look at this illustration Jesus gave about judging, to help us understand, “Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.” (Matt. 7:3-4)

 

Jesus is not saying, to never speak up and address someone’s behavior. Far from it. He encourages us to do that, and models it for us as well. Instead, Jesus is addressing not being a fault-finder or critic on minor, inconsequential things. Additionally, when dealing with people on both the small and big things, He is telling us to not have a morally superior attitude that looks down on them.

 

Here are four lessons from Jesus about why we should not have this kind of judging spirit.

 

1-Because it belittle’s others while portraying you as more virtuous. Observe in Jesus’ illustration, that the one with the log in his own eye, was completely oblivious to it. All he noticed was the speck in the other person’s eye.

 

When we have this type of spirit, all we can see are other people’s problems. We are blinded to our own short-comings, while being eager to point them out in others. This is a self-righteous kind of judging, that portrays others as inferior to you.       

 

2-Because it turns us into critics. When we have a giant log in our eye, so we cannot see clearly, we end up with a judgmental spirit on the small stuff. The situations are not moral failures, sins or crimes. No, they are trivial things people have disagreed with us on, or they have fallen short of our standards in some way. Yet, instead of overlooking inconsequential things, we focus on them and go to battle.   

 

3-Because it unfairly condemns people. When we judge this way, we treat people unjustly and inconsistently.

 

4-Because the same measure will be used against you. Jesus gives a warning to fault-finding, morally superior people. One day we all will stand before God to be judged justly and fairly. However, God says that the same standard by which we judged others, will be used against us. This is to give us pause and maybe even a sense of fear and trembling. For the Scripture says, “Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God…” (Romans 14:10)

 

So how are we to engage with people in both the small and big things? God calls every one of us to treat others with love, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and gentleness, while exercising self-control.  

 

A prayer for you – Lord God, we praise you that Jesus came to die and rise again to give us a new heart. Because He lives, we no longer have to treat people with a fault-finding morally superior attitude anymore. Through Christ, we can be free. In Jesus’ name. Amen.