He Chose Crucifixion
Posted by: forthright <forthright@...>
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Straight to the Cross
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COLUMN: Hands-on Faith
He Chose Crucifixion
by Barry Newton
Within those early years of the church Paul wrote,
"We preach Christ crucified" (1 Cor. 1:23). But
there is so much more to this story then just the
historical fact that Jesus was crucified.
It is one thing for whirlwind events to have
wrapped up Jesus in such a manner that he found
Himself being nailed to a cross. It is quite
another to grasp that our Messiah lived each day
under the constant awareness of His impending
grisly death and that He chose to continue to
follow the path which would bring Him to the sound
of a hammer ringing on a nail to pierce His flesh.
Yet, this is the unmistakable message of the New
Testament.
Living in an era when Jesus' travels would
probably have taken Him past victims of
crucifixion, Jesus clearly understood what it
meant to be crucified. He also was fully aware
that He would be lifted up. In John 3, which was
presumably toward the start of His ministry, Jesus
announced to Nicodemus that, "Just as Moses lifted
up the serpent in the desert, even so must the Son
of Man be lifted up" (John 3:14). Toward the end
of His ministry Jesus said, "if I am lifted up
from the earth, I will draw all people to Myself"
(John 12:32). John wrote that Jesus said this in
order to indicate how He was going to die (John
12:33). Similarly, when Jesus throughout His
ministry called people to pick up their crosses
and follow Him, He demonstrated that He knew how
He would die (Luke 9:23; 14:27).
Perhaps we could gain a new appreciation for
Jesus' life and discover a greater commitment to
our Lord if we were to contemplate what it would
have been like to have awaken each day realizing
crucifixion would envelope us. Remember when Satan
came to Jesus in the wilderness offering him the
allegiance of all the kingdoms of the world (Luke
4:5-7)? There within His grasp was part of His
goal without the pain of the cross. All nations
would recognize Him. But the price involved
worshiping Satan. Jesus chose faithfulness to God
and the nails rather than the easy, unfaithful
short-cut. Do the words, "no man can serve two
masters" take on added significance when we hear
that phrase echoing from one who lived in the
shadow of the cross? Remember the legions of
angels which He knew were at His disposal to
rescue Him (Matt. 26:53). And yet, He resolutely
walked toward that suffering announcing, "No one
takes My life from Me. Rather, I lay it down of
Myself" (John 10:18).
The path of faithfulness which would take Him to
the cross reduced Him to tears and deep anguish
(Heb. 5:7; Luke 22:42,44). Yet, it was out of His
love for our best interest that He chose the
piercing of His hands and feet (Eph. 5:2; 1 John
3:16 Mark 10:45). His life was wrapped up in
serving us through the cross (Mark 10:45).
Jesus did not choose the nails so that Christians
today could glibly retain sinful habits, nurse
grudges or harbor bitterness toward their enemies.
He did not willingly choose that gruesome
suffering so that the depth of Christian
commitment might be a shallow afterthought
reserved for one day a week. The cross was at the
center of His life and it is to be at the center
of ours. "He died for all, that those who live
should no longer live for themselves, but for Him
who died and was raised again on their behalf" (2
Cor. 5:15). May we as Gods people continue to
grow into His image.
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