Behold the Life-Giving Cross

In the center of the group of silent watching men, the almost naked Jew was struggling violently, but it wouldn’t make a difference. One burly Roman soldier knelt on each arm, pinning it to the rough wooden beam – the patibulum – and another was holding his legs firmly.

The soldier holding the Jew’s left arm eased the pressure slightly, just enough to allow another man to bind the victim’s wrist with thick cloth. The Romans were experts at this method of execution – they’d had considerable practice – and knew that the fabric would help staunch the flow of blood from the wounds. Crucifixion was intended to be slow, painful and public, and the last thing the wanted was for the condemned man to bleed to death in a matter of hours.

Normally, victims of crucifixion were flogged first. The soldiers knew the Jews lasted longer on the cross if they weren’t flogged.

The binding complete, they forced the Jew’s arm back onto the patibulum, the wood rough and stained with old blood. A centurion approached with a hammer and nails. The nails were about eight inches long, thick, with large flat heads, and specially made for the purpose. Like the crosses, they had been reused many times.

“Hold him still,” he barked, and bent to the task.

The Jew went rigid when he felt the point of the nail touch his wrist, then screamed as the centurion smashed the hammer down. The blow was strong and sure, and the nail ripped straight through his arm and embedded itself deep in the wood. Compounding the agony of the injury, the nail severed the median nerve, causing continuous and intense pain along the man’s entire limb.

Blood spurted from the wound, splashing onto the ground around the patibulum. Some four inches of the nail still protruded above the now blood-sodden cloth wrapped around the Jew’s wrist, but two more blows from the hammer drove it home. Once the flat head of the nail was hard up against the cloth and compressing the limb against the wood, the blood flow diminished noticeably.

The Jew screamed his agony as each blow landed.

The soldier released the victim’s arm and stood back as the centurion walked around and knelt beside the man’s right arm.

Following the centurion’s orders, four Roman soldiers picked up the patibulum between them and carried the heavy wooden beam, dragging the condemned Jew, his screams louder still, over the rocky ground and across to the upright. Wide steps had already been placed at either side of the stipes and, with barely a pause in their stride, the four soldiers climbed up and hoisted the patibulum onto the top of the post, slotting it onto the prepared peg.

The moment the Jew’s feet left the ground and his nailed arms took the full weight of his body, both of his shoulder joints dislocated. His feet sought for a perch – something, anything – to relive the incredible agony coursing through his arms. In seconds, his right heel landed on a block of wood attached to the stipes about five feet below the top, and he rested both feet on it and pushed upward to relive the strain on his arms. Which was, of course, exactly why the Romans had placed it there. The moment he straigtened his legs, the Jew felt rough hands adjusting the position of his feet, turning them sideways and holding his calves together. Seconds later another nail was driven through both heels with a single blow, pinning his legs to the cross.

The centurion looked at the dying man, struggling pointlessly like a trapped insect, his cries already weakening. He turned away, shading his eyes against the [noonday] sun. The Jew would be dead in two days, three at the most. (from James Becker, “The First Apostle”)

This is what Jesus went through for humanity. For me. For you. The pain. The torture. The hell. The death of God. Knowing that Jesus went through this for us should change us, should control us, should compel us.

2 Corinthians 5:14 For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died. (ESV translation)

2 Corinthians 5:14 For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. (NIV translation)


Paul wrote, “For the love of Christ controls us.”

But it doesn’t, does it?

Instead, our emotions control us; our anger and temper control us; our sinful lusts control us; our apathy and lethargy control us; our fears and anxieties control us; our filthy mouths and attempt at popularity control us; our love of self controls us. And as a result we do what we ought not do, and we do not do what we ought do. We are sinners through and through. Not just in what we do, but in who we are. And therefore we deserve to die.

That is why we are here this night. To see our death. But to see it on another! On our substitute: Jesus, the Christ; the Promised Seed of the woman; the Lamb of God; Son of Man and Son of God. Tonight we see what we deserve but are not given – the death, the agony, the hell. All that is placed upon the cross so that we might be reconciled to God; that we be a new creation; that the love of Christ control us.

For what kind of love is this? The King dies for His subjects. The Shepherd lays down His life for sheep who love to wander. The Creator allows His creatures to crucify Him. The Savior that is shunned, ridiculed, mocked, spat upon by Jews, by Romans, by you, by me. The Son of God is treated not even as good as a common criminal, but as the worst and vilest of criminals, receiving the punishment reserved for only the lowest of the low.

What kind of God does this? The true God.

The God who loves with a love not of this world, but which surpasses all understanding. The God who in love, in the beginning, created all things; and who now, in wondrous love, dies, that His creation be made new again. For not by destroying the old and starting over again does He make His creation new - His love would not let Him do that. Instead, He comes to take our sin and death and destruction into Himself, that dying our death, we then rise with Him to a new life. Not the same old life in new clothes - but a new life. So new that it is as if the old never happened! For that is what forgiveness is - a taking away of your sin so that it is as if it never happened at all, removing it as far as the east is from the west, drowning it in the depths of the sea.

And if your sin is gone, you are reconciled to God. If your sin is gone, you are a new creation. If your sin is gone, you are no longer controlled by your sin, but now the love of Christ controls us. It compels us not to live for ourselves any longer, but for Him who died so we might live. So that you are a new creation!

That is why we are here this night. To experience the darkness of Friday so we may enjoy the light of Easter morn. To witness our death. To see our life.

For while it is true that our old, sinful flesh still clings to us, and therefore we still do what we ought not do, and we still do not do what we ought do, that is no longer who you are.

For you are here tonight not just to think about what Jesus endured for you, and to ponder and meditate upon it - but to receive it.

For you are a new creation not because you willed it, or so desired it, or accomplished it - but because Jesus willed it, desired it, and accomplished it, for you.

When Abraham Lincoln's body was brought from Washington to Illinois, it passed through Albany and it was carried through the street. They say a black woman stood upon the curb and lifted her little son as far as she could reach above the heads of the crowd and was heard to say to him, “Take a long look, honey. He died for you.” Take a long look at Calvary – children, men, women – take a long look, He died for you.

He died for you – He did not wait for you to die for Him. He came for you – He did not wait for you to come. He took your sins – He did not wait for you to give them. And then He suffered for you, was forsaken for you, hung for you, and died for you. So when, therefore, He said: It is finished - it truly was.

And since our sin and death and destruction were finished, after a Sabbath rest in the grave, He could do nothing else but rise on the third day. For life has the final word, not death. And life has the final word for you and me.

That life is given you in Holy Baptism, where you are buried into Jesus’ death and resurrection and given a new life. That life is given you in Holy Communion, where Jesus’ crucified and resurrected body is tasted by you and you are given a new life. That life is given you in Holy Absolution, where our old sins and grudges, lusts and fears, that still cling to us are lanced in confession, and you are given a new life.A new life of love; Christ’s love.

That is why we are here this night. To see this love. This love so graciously given to us, that the love of Christ control us. That it compel us.

Control us, not as robots, but as sons and daughters of God. To live not as debtors, but as free men and women. To live not in fear, but in confidence. To live not under the Law, but in thanksgiving.

That is why you are here this night. Look at the cross on Calvary. God has died there. This is your death. This is your life. Upon that cross is hanging your salvation. See how much He loves you! Amen.


CWS: #718 "Rest, O Christ, From All Your Labor"
1 Rest, O Christ, from all your labor; Sleep within your borrowed tomb.
Foes have crucified and bound you Fast within death’s narrow room.
Pilate’s guards stand watching, waiting Where they rolled the sealing stone.
All unseen another watches: God will not forsake his own.

2 Peace at last from all your anguish, Wounds in hand and feet and side.
Enemies no longer mock you, Scourged, abandoned, crucified.
Faithful women gather spices, Weep for you whom sin has slain.
Though they mourn, the God who guards you Will not let your death be vain.

3 Help us keep this solemn Sabbath As we wait for Easter dawn.
Earth’s dark night of sin is passing; Death’s long reign will soon be gone.
Christ, in whom the new creation Rises brighter than the sun:
May we, as we watch for morning, Trust the vict’ry you have won.

4 As through parting Red Sea waters Israel marched to liberty,
So we pass through baptism’s water, Washed by grace, from sin set free.
Jesus, risen, living, reigning Now and through eternity:
Grant that, through your life undying, We may live victoriously.

This is one of the new Good Friday hymns in Christian Worship Supplement. With his victory accomplished on the cross and credited to us in Holy Baptism, Christians bid peaceful rest to their Savior as they anticipate their celebration of his glorious resurrection on Easter dawn.