Crucifixion: Affixed to Christ

There is a reason the Crucifixion is the central point of the Gospel. Our very salvation is affixed to that moment when Jesus Christ died on the cross between two criminals though he Himself was without sin (2 Corinthians 5:21). The cross and the scene of crucifixion is fixed in our minds as the fate we should have suffered. It is the sign of God's great love, "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8). The Crucifixion was God's fix (cruci-fix-ion) for our sinful state of separation and Christ in His desire to fix us was fixated, obsessed with setting us free once for all from sin, death, and hell. The Crucifixion of Christ is the moment when God himself hung for us, took our place, and allowed our sin to be washed away by His blood.

The cross is the scene of the mercy seat of God, where those who were at loss to save themselves, and counted a dross to be thrown away found God paid the cost. It is an exciting moment when we realized all we have done, the evil and wicked things are not held against us, but instead are borne in Christ's body on the cross. Catholics mediate on this important moment, they call it the Passion, a fitting word to describe the obsession God had with saving your soul, and ending the separation between you and Him. The writer of Hebrews puts this moment in words beautifully, "We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God's throne." (Hebrews 12:2). Jesus disregarded the shame of the cross, a symbol of death and scorned by Jews and Romans alike (Cicero said, "may not the word cross be on your lips, for it is too horrid a thing for a Roman to utter."). And yet Jesus embraced the cross, "And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death--even death on a cross." (Phillippians 2:8). Jesus learned obedience unto death, even willfully going to cross, when night before in Gethsemane He could have passed the cup of suffering. Scripture says Jesus achieve glory through his death on cross, "But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because He suffered death, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone." (Hebrews 2:9). Here we see glory and honor come to Him through death on cross, and the comfort that "He might taste death for everyone." Then the writer of Hebrews gives us a description of the life we ought to live using Christ as our example, "And that is why Jesus suffered outside the city gate, to sanctify the people by His own blood. Therefore let us go to Him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace He bore.  For here we do not have a permanent city, but we are looking for the city that is to come." (Hebrews 13:12-14). Here the writer of Hebrews is showing us that we too must "take up our cross, and follow" Jesus Christ.

There are these words in Hebrews that haunt, "Consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, or lose heart when He rebukes you. For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastises everyone He receives as a son. Endure suffering as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you do not experience discipline like everyone else, then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. Furthermore, we have all had earthly fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them. Should we not much more submit to the Father of our spirits and live?" (Hebrews 12:4-9). These words are not what is preached at pulpit, we are taught in many churches to associate being sons of God with prosperity, not suffering. And yet we see here written in hand of Hebrews the connection to the Crucifixion and cross once more, that we have yet to "resist (sin) to the point of shedding our own blood."
I have written many posts on Crucifixion and picking up your cross. What I find interesting in Hebrews specifically is the exhortation to suffer for Christ, to let ourselves be disciplined (disciple is in word) by undergoing suffering, and learning to resist sin as Jesus did. We trust Jesus Christ alone to save us from sin, but we learn through Him how to resist the impulses of the flesh because He carried them all in His flesh on cross and crucified them once for all time, "so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him." (Hebrews 9:28).

The Apostle Paul wrote often about Christ Crucified, "For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified," (1 Corinthians 2:2), "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me," (Galatians 2:20), "May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world," (Galatians 6:14), "We know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body of sin might be rendered powerless, that we should no longer be slaves to sin," (Romans 6:6), "Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires," (Galatians 5:25), "but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God." (1 Corinthians 1:23-24), "Dear brothers and sisters, if I were still preaching that you must be circumcised--as some say I do--why am I still being persecuted? If I were no longer preaching salvation through the cross of Christ, no one would be offended," (Galatians 5:11), "Those who want to make a good impression outwardly are trying to compel you to be circumcised. They only do this to avoid persecution for the cross of Christ," (Galatians 6:12), "For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God," (1 Corinthians 1:18), "Oh, foolish Galatians! Who has cast an evil spell on you? For the meaning of Jesus Christ's death was made as clear to you as if you had seen a picture of his death on the cross/You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified.  would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard?/Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? How foolish can you be? After starting your Christian lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort?" (Galatians 3:1-3).

The Gospels declare that Jesus was crucified, "There they crucified Him, and with Him two other men, one on either side, and Jesus in between," (John 19:18), "They took Jesus, therefore, and He went out, bearing His own cross, to the place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha," (John 19:17), "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," (Luke 23:33), "And above His head they put up the charge against Him which read, "THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS," (Matthew 27:37), "Now the centurion, and those who were with him keeping guard over Jesus, when they saw the earthquake and the things that were happening, became very frightened and said, "Truly this was the Son of God!," (Matthew 27:54), "It was the third hour when they crucified Him," (Mark 15:25), "Now when the centurion saw what had happened, he began praising God, saying, "Certainly this man was innocent," (Luke 23:47), "So the soldiers came, and broke the legs of the first man and of the other who was crucified with Him; but coming to Jesus, when they saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs," (John 19:32-33), "Now there was also an inscription above Him, "THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS," (Luke 23:38), "Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It was written, "JESUS THE NAZARENE, THE KING OF THE JEWS," (John 19:19), "And they crucified Him, and divided up His garments among themselves, casting lots for them to decide what each man should take," (Mark 15:24), "Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His outer garments and made four parts, a part to every soldier and also the tunic; now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece," (John 19:23), "And when they had crucified Him, they divided up His garments among themselves by casting lots," (Matthew 27:35), and "So the other disciples were saying to him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe." (John 20:25). Of course Jesus did not remain Crucified, He rose from dead, "See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; touch Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have," (Luke 24:39), "I am  Alpha and the Omega, and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades." (Revelation 1:18).

The Crucifixion is the central point, the two pieces of Christ's Salvation process which culminates in His Resurrection. We do well to learn the lessons from Christ's Crucifixion and bearing the cross, as recorded in Hebrews and by the Apostle Paul. Christ Crucified is not to say our God and Savior is still fixed to cross unable to move from it (Hebrews 9:28), but rather we preach Christ was Crucified and died, and buried, and rose from dead and ascended, and will return (descend). It is a Calvary that Christ purchased our freedom from sin. The Gospel when preached must contain Christ Crucified and why, lest the Gospel not be whole and a false gospel be preached (Galatians 1:8, 2 Corinthians 11:4). Christ Crucified is our model as Christians, that we must shoulder our cross, "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me," (Matthew 16:24), "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me," (Luke 9:23), "If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me," (Mark 8:34), "And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple," (Luke 14:27), and "Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha)." (John 19:17).