This blog is late. I was hoping to write it Friday night, but after a meeting, I sprained my ankle badly. When it happened there was a loud "pop!" followed by blinding pain. Dear friends carried me to their car and drove to the ER where x-rays showed, thankfully, that nothing was broken (an MRI this week will reveal if there was soft tissue damage).
In the bed next to me, shrouded in a curtain, was an elderly gentleman who was delirious and incontinent. He kept moaning loudly and calling for the doctor. A little further away was an elderly woman who often shrieked in pain. A nurse would rush in to help and comfort her.
The whole experience made me think more vividly about Jesus' suffering on the cross, surrounded on each side by the moaning, cursing thieves and in intense agony Himself--not that my discomfort was anything close to his!
Matthew tells us "From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land" (Mt. 27:45). As Jesus entered His final suffering, a supernatural darkness spread across the land. This was a symbol of divine judgment. God's judgment was falling on His Son, but it would also come eventually on those who rejected Him. Also the Father was shielding His Son's last sufferings.
Amid the darkness, Jesus' perfect character shines out. He sees his mother Mary grieving next to John and provides for her by asking John to take her in. Himself dying, He ministers to the dying thief who asks for forgiveness and acceptance and is assured of eternal life.
Many ancient prophecies were fulfilled in those last hours of Jesus' death to strengthen Jesus' faith and the faith of His followers. His clothes were divided by the soldiers who also cast lots for His undergarment, fulfilling Psalm 22:18. The exact words of His mockers were accurately predicted in Psalm 22:8. Verse 15 of the same chapter foretold he would become extremely thirsty and Psalm 69:21 that vinegar would be given him as a drink.
His suffering by crucifixion was clearly described: "I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted away within me. My strength is dried up like a potsherd (a piece of broken pottery), and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death. Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me; they have pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones; people stare and gloat over me" (Ps. 22:14-17).
The prophets even predicted that not a bone of His body would be broken, but instead His side would be pierced (Ex. 12:46; Ps. 34:20; Zech. 12:10).
We too are comforted as we see how accurately Jesus’ suffering was predicted. If there can be meaning in our suffering, it reassures and soothes us. And Jesus’ suffering was providing salvation for lost humanity. As we will see, Jesus was anchored by the Scriptures Himself.
Michael Brownfield
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