34

The King Crucified: The Comedy at Calvary
(Luke 23:33–49)

When they came to the place called The Skull, there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left. But Jesus was saying, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” And they cast lots, dividing up His garments among themselves. And the people stood by, looking on. And even the rulers were sneering at Him, saying, “He saved others; let Him save Himself if this is the Christ of God, His Chosen One.” The soldiers also mocked Him, coming up to Him, offering Him sour wine, and saying, “If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself!” Now there was also an inscription above Him, “This is the king of the Jews.” One of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at Him, saying, “Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!” But the other answered, and rebuking him said, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!” And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.” It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour, because the sun was obscured; and the veil of the temple was torn in two. And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.” Having said this, He breathed His last. Now when the centurion saw what had happened, he began praising God, saying, “Certainly this man was innocent.” And all the crowds who came together for this spectacle, when they observed what had happened, began to return, beating their breasts. And all His acquaintances and the women who accompanied Him from Galilee were standing at a distance, seeing these things. (23:33–49)

The cross, with its injustice, cruelty, and suffering, was anything but a comedy. But the people who participated in the events of that day at Calvary turned it into one. To them it was a ludicrous, farcical event, a joke, the butt of which was Jesus. They found the idea that He was the king of the Jews to be laughable; and were sneering at Him, mocked Him, and were hurling abuse at Him. Jesus had already been stripped of His freedom when He was arrested, stripped of His rights when He was unjustly condemned, stripped of His friends when they all forsook Him, stripped of His ministry, and even stripped of His clothing, down to a loin cloth. All of that, however, was not enough to satisfy His enemies; they were about to strip Him of His life. In doing so, they wanted to make sure that they stripped Him of His honor, His dignity, and any respect that He might still command.

To that end they designed and staged the execution of Jesus to be a comical satire. They enthroned Him on a cross like a king enthroned above the people. On His head they placed a crown—not a gold crown, but a crown of thorns, sending blood streaming down His face. In their diabolical comedy, they crucified one thief on the right of Jesus and one on the left in a parody of a king’s two most respected courtiers, the second and the third most honorable people in his court. Then they mockingly offered Him wine, as if doing their duty to serve the monarch’s needs. Earlier in Pilate’s judgment hall, they had put a rough soldier’s cloak on Him as if it were a royal robe, with a reed as a royal scepter in His hand, and mockingly hailed Him as a king. Then they took the reed and beat Him in the head with it and spat on Him to show their utter disdain for the notion that He was royalty.

To the Jewish people, the idea of a crucified Messiah was absurd, ridiculous, and incomprehensible. They expected the messiah to be a conquering king, who would defeat Israel’s enemies and establish his kingdom. They were looking for a coronation, not a crucifixion; for a messiah who killed his enemies, not one who was killed by his own people. The cross was foolishness to them (1 Cor. 1:18); a massive stumbling block that they could not get past (v. 23).

But instead of proving that Jesus was not the Messiah, the cross proved that He was. The crucifixion fulfilled Old Testament prophecy. Psalm 22 gives a vivid description of crucifixion, features unknown in David’s day. Isaiah, also writing at a time when crucifixion was unknown in Israel, wrote that Jesus “was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed” (Isa. 53:5). Christ’s crucifixion is also in view in Zechariah 12:10, where the prophet wrote,

From God’s viewpoint, however, what Christ’s enemies thought was comical was deadly serious. In verses 28 and 29 of this chapter, Jesus said to the professional mourners following Him on the road to Calvary, “Daughters of Jerusalem, stop weeping for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed’” (see the exposition of those verses in the previous chapter of this volume). This was not a time for laughing, but for weeping.

Execution by crucifixion dates back to the sixth century B.C. when it was apparently invented by the Persians. The earliest reference to the practice is the crucifixion of three thousand Babylonians by the Persian king Darius. Alexander the Great crucified two thousand citizens of Tyre in revenge for their treatment of him. The first-century B.C. Hasmonean king of Judea, Alexander Jannaeus, crucified eight hundred rebels. The Romans used crucifixion extensively, and perfected it as a brutal means of torture. After the capture of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, for instance, the Romans crucified so many Jews that they ran short of lumber.

The biblical account of the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus is remarkably restrained; it is not the physical sufferings of Jesus that are unique, but rather what they accomplished. Each of the gospel accounts use merely three Greek words (four words in English) to describe the actual crucifixion. For example, there are no details given about the hammering of the nails, the raising of the cross, or the elements that produce death. No such explanation was necessary for the Gospels’ initial readers, since crucifixion was all too familiar to them. The Romans always crucified their victims in public places along highways so that everyone could see the horrible results of rebellion against Rome’s authority.

In keeping with the Gospels’ understated description of the crucifixion, the location of the place called The Skull (Aramaic “Golgotha”; Latin “Calvaria”) is unknown. As noted in the previous chapter of this volume, it may have been the traditional site, now obscured by a Roman Catholic church, the more recently proposed site known as Gordon’s Calvary, or a different site altogether. The New Testament does not describe the site as a hill, but it was customary for the Romans to crucify people in an elevated place to give the passersby a clear view. The place was perhaps called The Skull because it resembled a skull. Others believe that it was so named because the skulls of the people who were crucified were left lying around, though it is unlikely that the Jews would have permitted that. In either case, the name is associated with the gruesome reality of death.

Through the years there has been a lot of study done on the physical aspects of crucifixion. Perhaps the most concise and helpful treatment appeared in the March 21, 1986, issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (vol. 255, no. 11) in an article entitled, “On the Physical Death of Jesus Christ” (William D. Edwards, MD; Wesley J. Gabel, MDiv; Floyd E. Hosmer, MS, AMI). According to that study everyone who was crucified was first beaten. The victim’s arms were lifted up and tied to a pole, leaving him in a slumped position. Braided leather thongs with bits of metal and bone embedded in them were used to lash the victim from the bottom of the neck down to the back of the knees. Two lictors (attendants of Roman magistrates) hit him with alternating blows. There are no indications as to how many lashes the victims customarily received; that was at the discretion of the lictors. The bone and the metal would rip into the flesh, causing deep contusions and lacerations into the subcutaneous tissues, and then into the fabric of the muscles. The resulting pain and blood loss would lead to circulatory shock.

All three men crucified that day were scourged. But the soldiers, in their mockery of Jesus, put a robe on Him made of wool that would have irritated His open wounds. They also placed a crown of thorns on His head, beat Him in the head with a stick, and spat on Him. At some point, they tore the robe off Him, which would have ripped open the wounds. Further, the hematidrosis (bloody sweat) He experienced (Luke 22:44) made His skin hypersensitive. The Lord also suffered from lack of sleep, lack of food, and lack of water.

Crucifixion was a slow death, intended to inflict maximum agony and suffering. The victims carried their crosses, or at least the crosspiece, across the back of their necks and shoulders with their arms tied to it. Jesus received help from Simon of Cyrene in carrying His cross, either because in His weakened condition He could no longer carry it, or perhaps because He was not moving fast enough to suit the soldiers.

Arriving at the place of crucifixion, the prisoners would be offered sedation (which Jesus refused; Matt. 27:34) and then be thrown to the ground on their backs. The crosspiece would then be pulled under their shoulders and their arms nailed to it using tapered iron spikes five to seven inches long, and about a half inch square. They were driven through the wrists rather than the palms of the hands so they could carry the full weight of the slumping body.

The impaled victim was then lifted up, and the crosspiece was attached to the upright post, often called the stipes. The feet were then nailed with one nail, the knees bent up so that the victims could push up on the wounds in their feet as well as pull up on the wounds in their wrists in order to breathe. The sagging position of the body with the knees bent made it impossible to breathe steadily; the soldiers could cause death in minutes by breaking the victims’ legs (cf. John 19:31–32). Needless to say, no one survived crucifixion.

The agonizing pain those crucified endured is almost incomprehensible. The most extreme word in English language to describe pain is the word “excruciating,” which comes from the Latin word excruciatus, meaning “out of the cross.” In order to breathe, a person had to pull and push himself up, causing the wounds on his back from the scourging to rub painfully on the rough wood of the cross. The nails in the wrists would crush or sever the long sensory radial motor median nerve, causing relentless bolts of pain. The nails in the feet would likely pierce the deep perineal and plantar nerves, causing the same results.

The weight of the body on the nail wounds as the victim struggled to push and pull himself upright to catch a breath caused pain so intense that he could not survive long. “It is likely that this form of respiration would not suffice and that hypercarbia [the presence of an abnormally high level of carbon dioxide in the blood] would soon result. The onset of muscle cramps or tetanic contractions, due to fatigue and hypercarbia, would hinder respiration even further” (“On the Physical Death of Jesus Christ,” 1461).

When death finally, mercifully came hours or days later, the Roman soldiers confirmed it by piercing the victim’s chest with a spear. The resulting flow of blood and water (serous pleural and pericardial fluid; John 19:34) would indicate death.

The mockery of the Lord Jesus Christ at the crucifixion was the ultimate act of sin and blasphemy. Here was sin at its apex; blasphemy at its pinnacle, as sinners mocked the Divine Son, sneered at the incarnate God, and with glib satisfaction piled sarcastic scorn on the Creator and Redeemer, the true King and Savior. Should not the true and holy God incarnate, who had revealed Himself as such by giving convincing proofs of His deity, react to such blasphemy in holy anger and swift judgment? To do so would have been consistent with the teaching of the Old Testament, where God declares, “The one who blasphemes the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death” (Lev. 24:16). Ironically the Jewish leaders, not content merely to blaspheme the Lord Jesus Christ, perversely accused Him of being a blasphemer (Matt. 9:3; 26:65; John 10:33).

Crucifying the Son of God deserved heaven’s most immediate and severe judgment. Yet God mercifully delayed His punishment of the nation until A.D. 70. Such a delay in judgment is consistent with God’s merciful nature. For example, despite Israel’s sin (Isa. 1:1–16), God repeatedly promised salvation, instead of immediate judgment, to those who repented and believed (Isa. 40:1–2; 41:14; 42:6–7; 43:1–7; 52:7–10; 53; 55:1–9). God was patient in the days of Noah, waiting 120 years before history’s most extensive judgment. But God’s patience has an end; His judgment will fall on the nation that abused and mocked His Son, and the comedy at Calvary would lead to sorrow of eternal proportions. But that was still future when the comedy plays out in this passage in four acts: the contrast, the conversion, the consummation, and the responses.

THE CONTRAST

But Jesus was saying, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” And they cast lots, dividing up His garments among themselves. And the people stood by, looking on. And even the rulers were sneering at Him, saying, “He saved others; let Him save Himself if this is the Christ of God, His Chosen One.” The soldiers also mocked Him, coming up to Him, offering Him sour wine, and saying, “If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself!” Now there was also an inscription above Him, “This is the king of the Jews.” One of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at Him, saying, “Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!” (23:34–39)

The contrast in this passage between the merciless insults of the crowd and the merciful intercession of Christ on their behalf is striking.

THE MERCILESS INSULTS OF THE CROWD

And they cast lots, dividing up His garments among themselves. And the people stood by, looking on. And even the rulers were sneering at Him, saying, “He saved others; let Him save Himself if this is the Christ of God, His Chosen One.” The soldiers also mocked Him, coming up to Him, offering Him sour wine, and saying, “If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself!” Now there was also an inscription above Him, “This is the king of the Jews.” One of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at Him, saying, “Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!” (23:34b–39)

The crowd at Calvary consisted of four distinct groups. First were the common people, who stood by looking on as the comedy staged by their leaders and the Romans played out. They might have been expected to be more sympathetic to Christ than the religious leaders, soldiers, and two thieves crucified with Him. After all, just a few days earlier they had hailed Jesus as the Messiah at the triumphal entry. They had also enthusiastically received His teaching in earlier days (Luke 19:47–48).

But during Christ’s trial before Pilate, the leaders had managed to turn the people against Him and persuade them to call for His crucifixion (Matt. 27:20–23). Now they had joined in the farcical game and were mercilessly hurling abuse and venomous sarcasm at Him (Matt. 27:39–40).

The rulers were insulting, taunting, and sneering at Christ to mock His claim to be the Messiah. The Greek verb translated sneering literally means to turn up one’s nose in derision. Disdaining even to speak to Him, they said to the crowd, “He saved others; let Him save Himself if this is the Christ of God, His Chosen One.” This sarcastic disdain was predicted in Psalm 22:7–8: “All who see me sneer at me; they separate with the lip, they wag the head, saying, ‘Commit yourself to the Lord; let Him deliver him; let Him rescue him, because He delights in him.’” As Paul would later write, a crucified Messiah was a stumbling block to the Jews (1 Cor. 1:23).

The rulers viewed anyone hanging on a tree or a cross as cursed by God (Deut. 21:23), which was true of Jesus (Isa. 53:4, 10; Gal. 3:10–13). But what they did not recognize was that He became a curse for sinners to redeem them from the curse of the law (Gal. 3:13).

The third group in the crowd was the soldiers, who also mocked Him, coming up to Him, offering Him sour wine, and saying, “If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself!” They, of course, knew nothing about Jewish religion or theology; they were merely continuing the game they had begun at His trial (Matt. 27:27–30). Unlike the other two times they offered Jesus something to drink (Matt. 27:34, 48), this was a mock act of obeisance and service to Him; they pretended that the sour wine was actually royal wine and offered it to Him as if He were a king.

Verse 38 notes that as was customary for crucified criminals, there was also an inscription nailed to the cross above Jesus. But instead of listing the crime for which He was being executed, this inscription read, “This is the king of the Jews.” Combining all the gospel accounts reveals that the full text of the inscription was “This is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” The inscription was the work of Pilate (John 19:19); it was his revenge on the Jewish leaders, who had forced him to execute a man he had declared innocent. They vociferously objected to the wording and insisted that he reword it to read that Jesus merely claimed to be Israel’s king. However Pilate resolutely refused to change it, declaring, “What I have written I have written” (v. 22).

In keeping with the usual practice the soldiers had cast lots, dividing up Christ’s garments among themselves, leaving Him naked except for a loin cloth. John 19:23 adds that they divided His clothing into four parts. Unwilling to ruin the seamless tunic, however, they cast lots for it (Psalm 22:18).

When Adam and Eve fell into sin, they immediately became conscious that they were naked. Nakedness has been associated ever since with moral guilt, symbolic of shame before God. After they unsuccessfully tried to make coverings for themselves, God killed an animal to make coverings for them to hide their shame and nakedness (Gen. 3:21).

At Calvary, Jesus was made naked in the place of believers, manifesting the symbol of moral guilt and moral shame before God. He was not covered by God as were Adam and Eve; He was judged by God, who poured out the full fury of His wrath on Him. And in a divine irony Jesus, the One made naked for believers, became the One who covers them with His righteousness (Rom. 13:14; Gal. 3:27; cf. Isa. 61:10).

The final component of the crowd was the two thieves crucified with Jesus. Luke records that one of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at Him, saying, “Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!”; Matthew (27:44) and Mark (15:32) note that both thieves were initially hurling abuse at Jesus.

THE MERCIFUL INTERCESSION OF CHRIST

But Jesus was saying, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” (23:34a)

This is the first of the Lord’s seven sayings from the cross. One might expect that He would have pronounced judgment on those mocking Him, who were committing the ultimate act of blasphemy. Instead, in an act of mercy, He asked the Father to forgive those most wretched of sinners for their ignorant blasphemy, because, He said, they do not know what they are doing; that is, they were not aware of the full scope of their wickedness. “If they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” (1 Cor. 2:8).

Instead of seeking vengeance on His enemies, “while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously” (1 Peter 2:23). Justice would eventually be served; judgment would fall on the rejecting, unbelieving nation. But in God’s grace and mercy, it would be delayed for forty years. Christ’s intercession on behalf of His tormenters is yet another fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy (Isa. 53:12).

Christ’s petition was in one sense a general prayer, revealing that there is no sin against the Son of God so severe that it cannot be forgiven those who repent (cf. Matt. 12:31–32). If forgiveness is available for those who crucified Him, it is available for anyone. But it is also a specific prayer that God would forgive those among the crowd whom He had chosen for salvation before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4). On the Day of Pentecost, three thousand Jews in Jerusalem were converted to Christ and baptized and the church was born. Within a few weeks, another five thousand or more people in Jerusalem embraced the faith of Jesus Christ. Surely many of those who came to Christ in those weeks after the resurrection were there in the crowd that day at Calvary. The church was in large measure born out of those who stood there and mocked the Son of God in answer to this prayer. The centurion and the soldiers under his command also came to faith in Christ (Matt. 27:54), as did many of the priests (Acts 6:7), possibly even some of the rulers. Even one of the hardened criminals crucified alongside Jesus was saved, and it is to the story of that conversion that Luke now turns.

THE CONVERSION

But the other answered, and rebuking him said, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!” And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.” (23:40–43)

The story of the penitent thief, found only in Luke’s account of the crucifixion, is one of the many ironies at Calvary. Jesus was being mocked because He could not save Himself, yet He saved others, including the thief, by not saving Himself. He was accused by the rulers of Israel of claiming to be a king, and hence a threat to the power and authority of Rome. They warned Pilate that He needed to be executed before He could lead a revolt. And yet the same people who claimed to be protecting Rome from Jesus mocked, scorned, and ridiculed Him as impotent and helpless. He was treated like a king in a sarcastically cruel, comedic jest, yet He is God’s true King. He was accused of blasphemy against God by those who blasphemed Him, the true God. Jesus, the innocent, righteous one, was executed by the guilty, turning justice on its head. He was cursed by His enemies, who hated Him, but cursed in an infinitely greater way by His Father, who loves Him. The One who gives life and is life, died that those who are dead might receive life.

One such spiritually dead sinner was hanging on a cross next to Him. He had initially joined the others in reviling and blaspheming Christ (see the discussion of v. 39 above). But then God opened his heart to the truth and miraculously, powerfully, sovereignly, instantly granted him faith and eternal life. The people, the rulers, the Romans, even his fellow thief did not understand what was truly happening at Calvary, but this man suddenly perceived the truth clearly. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, he was rescued from spiritual darkness and death and given light and life. Like Paul on the road to Damascus, he perceived the truth through a divine miracle in his soul.

Luke’s account of the conversion of this Jewish criminal presents three evidences that his heart was savingly transformed. They are true of all those in whom God does His work of salvation.

First, he came to fear God and His judgment. In an instant this most wretched of men went from blaspheming and reviling Jesus, like the rest of those gathered around the cross, to rebuking his fellow thief for doing so. As noted above, both of the criminals crucified alongside Jesus initially reviled and blasphemed Him. But this man suddenly grew silent. While his body was enduring the trauma, agony, and unparalleled suffering of crucifixion, his mind became crystal clear. His perception of how Jesus should be treated was completely changed. He was appalled and horrified at how the Lord was being abused, as his words indicate.

Sharply rebuking the other thief he said to him, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?” His sudden outburst must have startled and surprised the other criminal. But what the two of them had been saying about Jesus he now found repulsive and frightening. He confronted the tragic condition that only moments before had been his own. In a moment, he went from being part of it to being unable to comprehend it. He was convicted by the Holy Spirit that he was a violator of God’s law. By his own admission, his sentence from a human judge was fair and just, and he realized that the torment he was enduring for breaking the law was insignificant compared to what he could expect for his sin from the divine Judge. He was afraid, not of those who were destroying his body, but of God, who would destroy both his body and his soul in hell (Luke 12:4–5).

It is characteristic for the unregenerate to have no fear of God (Rom. 3:18). But the conviction wrought by the power of the Spirit of God produces a holy fear of divine judgment. Convicted sinners cry out like the repentant tax collector in Luke 18:13, “God, be merciful to me, the sinner!” True salvation is not from material poverty or poor self-esteem, but from God’s wrath, justice, and judgment.

Closely connected to fear of God’s judgment is the second evidence of a changed heart, a sense of sinfulness. The repentant thief’s further rebuke of the other malefactor reflects his acknowledgment of his own sinfulness. We indeed are suffering justly, he reminded him, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds. Like the prodigal son in Christ’s parable (Luke 15:17–19), this man came to his senses and admitted that he was a sinner. He understood that justice operates in the world of men, but perfectly in God’s realm.

Here is an example of the true convert who confesses his guilt and absolute spiritual bankruptcy. He recognizes that he has nothing to offer God, nothing to commend himself to Him. He knows that he needs mercy and grace to escape judgment and be forgiven, because he is an unworthy sinner, a crouching, cringing, cowering beggar mourning over his transgressions (Matt. 5:3–4). Martin Luther understood that truth. After his death, his friends found a scrap of paper in his pocket on which the great reformer had written in Latin and German, “Hoc est verum. Wir sind alle Bettler.” (“This is true. We are all beggars.”)

The final evidence of the repentant thief’s divinely transformed heart was his belief in Jesus Christ. The story of his transformation moves from an assessment of his sinful condition to an assessment of the Savior’s character. When he said of Him, “This man has done nothing wrong,” he was confessing not merely the Lord’s innocence of any crime, but also His sinlessness.

He then addressed Jesus directly as the Savior and humbly asked Him, “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!” This was nothing less than a plea for the forgiveness apart from which no one will enter God’s kingdom. He based his request on Christ’s prayer that God would forgive those who crucified Him, which gave him hope that he too might receive forgiveness. He expressed belief that Jesus is the Savior, since he would not have asked for entrance to the kingdom unless he believed Jesus was willing and able to provide it. His was the plea of a broken, penitent, unworthy sinner for grace, mercy, and forgiveness.

Finally, he believed that Jesus was Israel’s Messiah. He acknowledged that the Lord would one day establish His kingdom, which was promised in the covenants God made with Abraham and David, and reiterated repeatedly to the prophets. Since no one survived crucifixion, he understood that Jesus would have to rise from the dead to do that. He probably knew that Jesus had power over death, since the news of His raising of Lazarus had spread throughout Jerusalem. He no doubt was aware that Daniel 12:2 promised that the saints would be raised and given a place of glory in the kingdom. His request was that Jesus would raise him and grant him entrance to that kingdom.

The Lord’s reply was astonishing. He prefaced it with the word truly, because what He was about to say was hard to believe. That a cursed criminal, whom the Jews would view as unredeemable, would be promised entrance to God’s kingdom was an outrageous affront to their sensibilities.

The promise that this redeemed sinner would be with Jesus in heaven that very day invalidates the Roman Catholic teaching regarding purgatory. It also eliminates any system of works-righteousness, since the penitent thief had neither the time nor the opportunity to perform enough good deeds to merit salvation.

The wonderful promise that he would be with Jesus in Paradise (heaven; 2 Cor. 12:2; cf. Rev. 2:7 with 22:2, 14) speaks of his full reconciliation to God. He would not merely see Jesus from afar, he would be with Him. His restoration would be full and complete.

THE CONSUMMATION

It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour, because the sun was obscured; and the veil of the temple was torn in two. And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.” Having said this, He breathed His last. (23:44–46)

The comedy staged by sinful men ended abruptly and dramatically at about the sixth hour. It turned instead into a tragedy, as God took center stage for Christ’s final three hours on the cross. His presence at Calvary is often overlooked, but it is only when God arrived that Calvary became the saving event that it was. God’s wrath, poured out on His Son as He bore sin, is in fact the major reality of Calvary. That happened in the hours of darkness.

Five dramatic events mark those final three hours. First was the darkness itself that began at the sixth hour (noon) and fell over the whole land until the ninth hour (3:00 P.M.). Suddenly, at noon when the sun was at its apex, complete darkness enveloped the scene. The geographical extent of the darkness is not known. It was not caused by an eclipse, as some argue, since there is always a full moon at Passover, and there cannot be a solar eclipse when there is a full moon. Three hours is also far longer than a solar eclipse could have lasted.

Others suggest that the darkness was the result of Satan bringing the power of darkness to bear on Jesus. But Satan has no such power over the natural world. Besides, this was God’s hour, not his.

The truth is that God brought the darkness, which is what would have immediately come into the minds of the Jewish people there. They knew that in the Old Testament God frequently associated Himself with darkness. When He appeared to Abraham, “terror and great darkness fell upon him” (Gen. 15:12). One of the plagues God brought on Egypt was a darkness so thick that it could be felt (Ex. 10:21–22), and He appeared to Israel on Mount Sinai in a thick cloud (Ex. 19:16). The Jewish people understood that supernatural darkness was associated with divine judgment (cf. Joel 2:1–2, 10, 30–31; Amos 5:20; 8:9; Zeph. 1:14–15), which is why after the darkness lifted, “when they observed what had happened, [they] began to return, beating their breasts” (Luke 23:48).

God arrived in the blackness at Calvary that day to unleash judgment, not in an eschatological sense against the ungodly, but in a soteriological sense against His Son. God brought the outer darkness of hell to Jerusalem that day (cf. Matt. 8:12; 22:13; 25:30) as He unleashed on Jesus Christ the full extent of His wrath against the sins of all who would ever be saved.

The darkness was not caused by the absence of God, but rather by His presence in full judgment, vengeance, and fury. Infinite wrath moved by infinite righteousness released infinite punishment on the Son. Because He is infinite, in just three hours He was able to absorb all the punishment of eternal hell for all who will ever believe. He bore in His own body our sins (1 Peter 2:24), though He who knew no sin was made sin for us (2 Cor. 5:21), was wounded for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities (Isa. 53:5), and was made a curse for us (Gal. 3:13). This was the cup that He pleaded with the Father in Gethsemane to remove, if possible.

The Lord’s cry at the ninth hour, “‘Eloi, eloi, lama sabachthani?’ which is translated, ‘My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?’” (Mark 15:34), reveals that the Father did not immediately comfort Him when the darkness lifted. This is the only time in the New Testament that Jesus referred to God as anything but “Father.” The doubled phrase “My God, My God” is an expression of affection mingled with disappointment (cf. Luke 10:41; 13:34; 22:31). God was there in the fury of judgment; why was He absent in comfort?

While hell involves the full fury of God’s personal presence to punish, He will never be there to comfort, show sympathy, or bring relief. If Jesus was to endure the full suffering of hell, it had to involve both the punishment of God and the absence of His comfort.

The second event in those final three hours took place when the veil of the temple was torn in two. This happened immediately after the lifting of the darkness. Just as the priests resumed the slaughter of the Passover lambs, they were startled to hear a loud tearing noise coming from inside the Holy Place. God was ripping the curtain separating it from the Holy of Holies from top to bottom (Matt. 27:51). The atonement was complete; access to God was opened, and the New Covenant was ratified, rendering everything connected with the temple worship obsolete (Heb. 9:11–14; 10:19). Jesus had predicted the temple’s physical destruction (Luke 21:5–6); God’s tearing of the veil symbolized its spiritual destruction.

The third event was a powerful earthquake (Matt. 27:51). Like darkness, earthquakes are frequently associated with God’s presence in the Old Testament (cf. Ex. 19:18; Pss. 18:7; 68:8; Nah. 1:5).

One result of the earthquake was the fourth event during those final three hours: “The tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they entered the holy city and appeared to many” (Matt. 27:52–53). They did not appear until after Christ’s resurrection, since He is “the first fruits of those who are asleep” (1 Cor. 15:20). Their resurrection demonstrates that life after death is the result of Christ’s death (cf. 1 Cor. 15:26; 2 Tim. 1:10; Heb. 2:14).

The final feature was Christ’s words from the cross. “After this, Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished, to fulfill the Scripture, said, ‘I am thirsty’” (John 19:28). He wouldn’t drink anything all the way through His ordeal on the cross, so that He would fully experience God’s wrath, but now in the calm aftermath, after His work of sinbearing was over, He said simply “I am thirsty.” His loud cry—too loud for one dying a natural death from crucifixion, indicating Jesus voluntarily gave up His life (cf. John 10:17–18)—“Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit,” signifies that communion with the Father had been restored. Since the work of redemption was now finished (John 19:30), having said this, Jesus breathed His last.

THE RESPONSES

Now when the centurion saw what had happened, he began praising God, saying, “Certainly this man was innocent.” And all the crowds who came together for this spectacle, when they observed what had happened, began to return, beating their breasts. And all His acquaintances and the women who accompanied Him from Galilee were standing at a distance, seeing these things. (23:47–49)

Taken together, the three responses to Christ’s death picture the full response that is required of all believers.

The centurion (and the soldiers; Matt. 27:54) represent the convinced. What they had observed during Christ’s trial and crucifixion had left them utterly amazed. No prisoner they had crucified had conducted himself in such a resolute, dignified manner.

They heard Jesus pray for the forgiveness of His killers. They saw the noble way He suffered. They heard Him cry out to His Father. They heard Him promise paradise to a repentant thief who had been cursing Him. Then they experienced the three hours of pitch blackness and an earthquake that split rocks. They heard Jesus just before He died cry with a loud voice, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit” (23:46). This was not behavior they had ever seen from a crucifixion victim. People who died in this torturous fashion suffered from oxygen deprivation to their brains and were incoherent long before they actually succumbed. They could barely breathe, let alone shout at the top of their voice. But this man took death by His own will and made it His servant.

They could not ignore reality. When the centurion saw what had happened, he began praising God, saying, “Certainly this man was innocent.” This was more than merely the seventh affirmation of Jesus’ innocence; it was an affirmation of His divine righteousness as the Son of God. These Roman soldiers became the first converts to Christ at His crucifixion, just moments after He died.

The fickle crowds who came together for this spectacle represent the convicted. They had run the gamut of emotions that fateful week, ranging from delirious joy on Monday during the triumphal entry at the prospect that Jesus was the Messiah they so eagerly longed for, to the opposite extreme of anger, hatred, and animosity at His trial before Pilate. There they asked for the murdering insurrectionist Barabbas to be released instead of Jesus, shouted loudly for Jesus to be crucified, and even willingly assumed responsibility for His death, crying out, “His blood shall be on us and on our children!” (Matt. 27:25).

After the dramatic events of the crucifixion, especially the darkness and the earthquake, the crowds had one last manifestation of emotion. When they observed what had happened, they began to return to Jerusalem, beating their breasts in a sign of grief, guilt, and fear (cf. 18:13). The event was not so funny anymore as they became terrified at the signs of God’s wrath and judgment they had experienced.

Fear of God’s person and judgment because of guilt and rejection of Jesus Christ is a necessary response. The crowd’s reaction no doubt prepared the hearts of many who were later converted on the Day of Pentecost and in the events of the early chapters of Acts.

One final response was exhibited by those confounded by Jesus’ death—all His acquaintances, including John (John 19:26) and the women who accompanied Him from Galilee. Unable to bear what was happening to the One whom they loved so profoundly, they had moved from a position near the cross (John 19:25–27) and now were standing at a distance, seeing these things. They were shocked, overcome with grief, unable to comprehend what had happened to Jesus. This was not the way His story was supposed to end. They were devastated—until Sunday morning, when the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ would forever change their lives.