What do you see when you think of the cross? My image has frequently been the beaten, bloody, miserable man drooped and hanging, almost lifeless, as portrayed in so many crucifix paintings, carvings and jewelry. The ultimate victim of hatred and jealousy.
When I represented people accused of crimes there were many times I had to go to trial with individuals who had, in fact, done what they were accused of doing. By the trial point in the process they have really given up all power to affect the outcome. It’s up to the judge, jury and lawyers. When I would prepare for those trials, my wife would pray that I would honor my profession and that justice would be done. Not that my client would be acquitted, but that justice would be done.
Many family law clients would be fighting for influence over their children’s lives. Struggling with the person that they had sworn to share their lives with over the primary leadership of their children. What does one pray before such a trial, as the parents walk into court and lose all control of the decision process? It is anguish I hope you will never know.
Both of these situations describe people in no-win, no-choice dilemmas. This is not what happened to Jesus on the cross. There is a frame in which the image of Jesus, the victim, I described above is fair; but that is a very small piece of the picture we see if we understand all the forces at work.
Unlike the criminal or family litigant, Jesus always had a choice. The Gethsemane experience describes the choice. The plan laid before the foundation of the world that required intense pain and overwhelming humiliation, OR, a revelation of Jesus’ glory that would require none of that.
Matt 27:39: The people passing by shouted abuse, shaking their heads in mockery. 40 “Look at you now!” they yelled at him. “You said you were going to destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days. Well then, if you are the Son of God, save yourself and come down from the cross!” NLT
The irony is that the mockers were convinced that Jesus was a fraud and could not do what they challenged Him to do. And yet, of all the victims, ever, He was the one who could. He could, with a thought, have revealed a fraction of His glory and all would have known… (and perhaps perished from the knowledge of) who He was. Look at the guards in the garden who were literally blown away by the mere mention of Jesus’ identity. Jesus could have done exactly what the mockers thought He could not do.
And yet He chose to be beaten, humiliated and suffer pain that we will never know, and eventually be killed. Physically, emotionally, and spiritually, He accepted a humiliating and painful defeat that was unnecessary for Him to suffer. A defeat that was really for me. And you. He suffered what we deserved. And what only He didn’t deserve…. By choice.
We find ourselves in many trying circumstances, some of our own making, others against our best efforts. Most come to us as dilemmas with no outcomes that are good for us. But Jesus had an outcome that was good for Him, and available to Him, and which He had the power to accomplish. And He chose you and me.
It changes my picture of the Man on the cross. Not the Victim, but the Victor. Hanging by choice and thinking of a victory, not His own, but yours and mine. Same pain, humiliation and all the rest, but willingly endured for a time such as this and a person such as you.
Written by Pastor James Winegardner Senior Pastor at the Keene Seventh-day Adventist Church