After days of torture and torment, Jesus carries his cross up the hill to the place where he would die. He had been beaten so badly that the guards made someone in the crowd help him get all the way to the top. As his cross was raised the guards split up his clothes and mockingly put a sign above his head that said, “this is Jesus, the King of the Jews.”
In church, we usually only focus on the crucifixion of Jesus, but it is something that the Romans did a lot. Next to Jesus two robbers were also crucified one on his left and one on his right.
Luke 23:39-43, 39 One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” 40 But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 43 And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
Whether you feel like you have never known life without Christ or make a deathbed confession, heaven celebrates anyone who recognizes the saving power of Jesus. He came to live out God’s plan to save humanity. He came to fulfill the prophesies of old, “he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5)
The sky grows dark, Jesus exclaims, “It is finished.” And he dies on the cross out of the love he had for you. A week that started with people singing his praises ends with him being placed in a borrowed tomb. It’s one he would exit, but that’s a story for next week.