The Crucifixion

Where to begin? SOOOO much happened in today's segment of Scripture. This is a lengthy post, so if you need to condense your reading time, skim down to the 4th paragraph for the best stuff! We began today's reading with Jesus heading out to Golgotha, carrying his own cross, as John records. After reaching the city gate however, a man named Simon from Cyrene was conscripted to carry it for Him. A sign was posted on the cross pronouncing Jesus' crime against Rome (sedition). Each gospel records the wording slightly differently though all agree on the phrase "King of the Jews". Pilate wrote the words on the sign himself and wrote it in three languages; Aramaic (the language of the Jews), Latin (the language of the common Roman), and Greek (the official language of the empire). Pilate would have been fluent in Greek and Latin but not at all in Aramaic. This may account for his translating the charge against Jesus a little differently in each. They are all so similar that I was surprised this even showed up in my various "discrepancies" manuals.

While on the cross, Jesus made a few statements that have been belabored by scholars as well as critics. When speaking with the thief on the cross beside Him, Jesus tells him that "today you will be with me in paradise". This can be problematic given the popular assumption that Jesus did not go to Heaven immediately after dying. Some assume that He remained in the tomb until the resurrection. However, the Bible teaches that our spirits leave our bodies at the time of death and go to Heaven. A bodily reesurrection does not occur immediately, but a spiritual one does. With that understanding, Jesus, in spirit, would have gone directly to the Father as would the thief on the cross. Some assert that this is contrary to the belief that Jesus descended into Hell prior to the resurrection. The Apostles Creed makes that claim, although the earliest manuscripts of the Creed do not include that doctrine. The Biblical backing for this particular belief is pretty scant when examined, though I have recited the Apostles Creed many times without giving that sentence a second thought. There is a lengthy discussion on the soniclight.com site, but suffice it to say that even if the few verses used to support this doctrine are translated correctly in this regard, there is nothing at all to indicate that Jesus spent the duration of His time between death and resurrection in Hell. Even if He made an appearance there, He could still have been in paradise with the thief on the cross that day.

Another challenging statement made by Jesus is borrowed from David's Psalm 22, "my God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?" This is difficult because it hints that Jesus was disappointed that God was not coming to His rescue. And if He and the Father were one, how could God forsake Him? This hard saying has been best explained by the fact that Jesus was allowed to take on the sins of humanity, which separated Him from God in that moment, for the first time in history. Jesus was expressing the anguish of what that separation felt like.

Now, I hope you are still reading because this is the best part. There are a number of supernatural things that happened at the time of Jesus death that may seem to be fantastic (and by that I mean figment of imagination, not awesome!). Darkness covered the land for a period of three hours, the temple veil was torn in two, and there was an earthquake followed by a resurrection of some of the righteous dead. There is an unbelievable amount of extra-Biblical evidence for some of these extraordinary events!!!

Darkness: Early opposers of the faith claimed this to have been merely a solar eclipse (evidently the fact that the darkness occurred was not disputed). Though his writings are lost, the historian Thallus, who compiled an account of world history from the fall of Troy to the mid first century, made such a claim. One of the surviving fragments of the 5 volume historical writings of Julius Africanus in 221 AD, contains this statement, "In the third book of his history, Thallus calls this darkness an eclipse of the sun- wrongly in my opinion". Africanus referenced the now lost writings of Thallus and takes to task his interpretation of the eclipse. The historicity of the event was not contested; merely it's origin. Phlegon, a Greek historian writing in 137 AD even noted the exact time of the eclipse being noon until 3:00, and added the date as being the fourth year of the 202nd Olympiad (which corresponds to 32AD). Lastly, Tertullian, a Christian apologist in the second century challenged the nay-sayers with these words, " At the moment of Christ's death, the light departed from the sun and the land was darkened at noonday, which wonder is related in your own annals, and is preserved in your archives to this day." This again speaks to the historicity of the darknesses described by the gospels.

Temple veil torn: The tearing of the temple veil could not have happened by human effort. Each curtain was 60 feet high, 30 feet wide, and 4 inches thick! It reportedly took 300 priests to manipulate them. The curtain was torn from the top down, further solidifying the supernatural origin. Three non-Biblical sources corroborate this event; the historical accounts of Tacitus, Josephus, and the Jewish Talmud, none of which are Christian sources. The Jewish Talmud records, "Forty years before the Temple was destroyed the gates of the Holy Place opened by themselves...We know that thou art destined to be destroyed". The veil that separated the Holy of Holies was torn in two, which symbolized the opening of the God's presence to the people. The Most Holy Place had previously been accessible only to the High Priest and only once a year for atonement. In noting that the "gates were opened by themselves", the Jewish author read it as a sign that the Temple itself would be destroyed (which it was in 70 AD). Forty years prior to the destruction would have been 30 AD, which is when Jesus was crucified! Actually, no one knows exactly when He was executed, but 30 AD is within the supposed window.

Earthquake: This natural phenomenon is not uncommon in the Jordan valley. In fact, I read that there is a fault line running through the area that is similar to that of San Francisco. Phlegon, just after noting the "eclipse" at the 6th hour, added "an earthquake occurred in Bythinia and overthrew a great part of the city of Nicaea". Bythinia was a province of the Roman empire, though some distance away from Jerusalem. Circumstantial evidence exists for the earthquake, in that it is recorded in the Talmud and by Josephus that the Sanhedrin was "banished" from the court chambers (the Chamber of Hewn Stones where Jesus would have been tried) 40 years before the destruction of the Temple. Josephus adds that they relocated to a more secure place and goes into some detail as to the structural integrity of the new location. It is somewhat presumptive but not unreasonable to assume that the Chamber was rendered unsafe due to damage caused by an earthquake. Surely tremors significant enough to move rocks from the entrances to tombs could cause structural damage to a building. It is interesting to think that the trial and judgement of Jesus may have been the last time the Sanhedrin convened in that room.

Resurrection of the Dead: There is no extra-Biblical evidence for this occurrence except to note that the book of Matthew was written during the lifetime of many who were alive at the crucifixion. A story such as this could have been easily refuted by people who were there. During His ministry, Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead as a testimony to the glory of God, and this would have served the same purpose. The Bible does not tell us what these people did or said or what became of them after they appeared in Jerusalem. Their purpose was to bear witness to the supernatural qualities of Jesus and His resurrection. After serving that purpose, it is presumed that they went to heaven with Him. We do know from Scripture that they were not ghosts, but physical bodies. Though they were raised to life at the time of Jesus' death, they remained in their tombs until He had been resurrected. No one would have disturbed the tombs in the interim because proximity to a corpse would have rendered a Jew unclean and thereby unable to partake in the Sabbath or Passover festivities.

It may take me another two days to crank out the resurrection! Stay tuned and be encouraged by the Truth that surrounds the account of Jesus' death and resurrection.

Tomorrow's reading: Mark 15:42-16:11; Matt. 27:57-28:15; Luke 23:50-24:12; John 19:38-20:18