Vicarious Witness
Category : Blogpost
You and I weren’t at the cross with Jesus that day. But because of hindsight, the witness of scripture, and the unction of the Holy Spirit, we can still recreate the scene in our minds.
On the day when it happened, many 1st-century people observed the persecution.The chief priests and scribes accused and mocked Jesus. Pontius Pilate condemned him. A raucous crowd called for his crucifixion. The criminal Barrabas was set free instead of Jesus. A cadre of Roman soldiers tortured him. Simon of Cyrene helped carry his cross. A criminal who was crucified alongside Jesus taunted him. Bystanders gawked at the spectacle. The women witnessed with woe. And a centurion looked on.
In other words, as prophesied in Isaiah 53:5, Jesus was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities.
From his perch on the Cross, Jesus asked the Father to forgive his tormenters, for they knew not what they were doing. He pardoned a criminal who hung on a cross beside him. And he looked down on the people who loved him and directed them to behold one another.
Then, Jesus cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
After this, when Jesus knew that all was now finished, he said, “I am thirsty.”His tormentors put a sponge full of sour wine on a branch of hyssop and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the wine, he said, “It is finished.”
Jesus spoke his final word from the cross just before he died: He called out with a loud voice: “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this, he bowed his head and breathed his last breath.
A centurion who stood facing Jesus when he breathed his last said, “Truly this man was God’s Son!”
Sometimes the thought of it all makes me tremble.