There They Crucified Him

“There they crucified Him”. Four simple words that changed everything. Jesus had taught his disciples their last lesson and he had gone to Gethsemane to spend some quiet time with His Father. He prays for His followers, including you and me, for our safety, faithfulness, unity and an uncommon love to be shared among us. As death approached, He was struggling with what was to come, but in the midst of His struggles, He was thinking of us and praying for us.

He is betrayed by his own disciple and is taken captive by the Jews, who in turn place Him in the custody of the Roman Government. They accuse Him of crimes and demand His death. Pilate wants nothing to do with Jesus’ death, but finally gives in to the crowd's demands and hands Him over to his soldiers to be crucified. “Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand and knelt in front of him and mocked him. “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said. They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again.” (Matthew 27:27-30) Then they led Him out to a hill called Golgotha and “there they crucified Him” (Luke 22:33).

Having spent my entire life in the church, these words had lost some of their meaning, their impact. How many times have I heard or read about Jesus’ death? How many times have we sung the words to a song that talked about His crucifixion? How many times have you seen a cross around someone’s neck or on a church building? How many times have we looked through the windows in our building without seeing the crosses?

If we are not careful, our hearts can become dulled to the amazing meaning of those four words. We look at a cross and don’t even think about what it means to us. To non-Christians, the cross is a joke, even something to be ridiculed, but to us... it is the symbol of our victory. It was on a cross that Jesus paid the price for our failures and because He dealt with our sins, we have the gift of forgiveness. “There they crucified Him” because of me! We need to make it personal. “There my sin crucified Him”. “He was pierced for my transgressions, he was crushed for my iniquities; the punishment that brought me peace was upon him, and by his wounds I am healed.”  (Isaiah 53:5, emphasis mine)

The next time I sing a song about His death, the next time you see a cross or the next time we read a scripture that deals with Jesus’ crucifixion, let us remember that He did it all for us! Jesus paid it all that I might live. Take a moment to read the words to "Jesus Paid It All" (922)" or "He Paid a Debt" (376) and slowly let the words settle into your heart. May we never allow the cross to be just jewelry or architectural decoration; may it always be the symbol of our hope, our savior. It was on that tree that my sins were forever forgiven by a living savior that willingly chose to die for me. Praise God!