The Final Journey

John 19:16-30

In the frustration of modern day living no doubt we can all tell a tale of an unfavourable journey by car, train or bus. Or we could ask Duncan, our Administrator, about his sea crossing experiences when he visits the mainland from Shetland!

The reading above begins with Jesus being led on the final lap of a journey that is comparable with no other. This journey out of Jerusalem, which was a relatively short one because John describes it as being near to the city (v.20), led Jesus bearing His cross to a place outside the walls of Jerusalem called "the place of a Skull", namely Golgotha (Hebrew) or Calvary (Greek). Even before this journey He had been subjected to a scourging that almost always preceded crucifixion, which meant that His body was stripped naked and flogged until the flesh hung down in blooded shreds. He had been crowned with platted thorns, struck and mocked and now He was led as a lamb to the slaughter.

Nearly two thousand years earlier a similar journey took place in that location. Even as God the Father led His only begotten Son to Calvary's hill, so did the patriarch Abraham lead his only son whom he loved to a mountain in the land of Moriah to be offered as a burnt offering. Can you imagine the sufferings of the father Abraham as he did this, but even more so, the sufferings of God the Father, because in the latter there was no substitute to be found? This was no picture or pattern. This was the real thing.

Jesus was led to a death that is described as being "the most cruel and most frightful means of persecution" (Cicero) or "the most pitiable of all forms of death" (Josephus). Even so this type of death was not unique to Jesus. In fact two malefactors were crucified on either side of Him. Over and above the excruciating physical sufferings of the cross and of the abuse and insults from the crowd, the greater agony that made Jesus' death unique was, I believe, the following:

• This man, who was described as being holy, undefiled, and separate from sinners (Hebrews 7:26) was accused of blasphemy against God the Father and deemed worthy of death by His own people (John 19:7; Leviticus 14:16).
  
  
• He was to become a curse (Galatians 3:13; Deuteronomy 21:23).
  
  
• Most degrading of all, and the reason He was brought to this place outside the holy city, was that His soul was to be made an offering for sin. He who knew no sin was made to be sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21), and in this suffered the abandonment of His Father—and the darkness of sin covered the whole land.

And yes, He did it for us .