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by
Voyle A. Glover
The story of the crucifixion of the man called Jesus, who also claimed to be God incarnate, is the most widely known drama of any historical event in the entire history of the world. No piece of history has been more discussed, debated, reviewed, argued and written about than this event.
Mel Gibson’s production The Passion of the Christ grossed over $370 million in the United States alone and became the highest-grossing R-rated film ever made. It is currently somewhere in the top ten as the highest all-time domestic gross revenues. There is little doubt as to the popularity of the movie.
It was a movie that encompassed a very brief span of time in the life of Jesus, called The Christ, or Messiah—just a matter of days; and focusing on the crucifixion and the hours leading up to that event, and culminating in the resurrection of Christ.
But as good a movie as it was, there was one element missing. Frankly, I’m not sure any movie could capture–truly capture–that element, for it is a split-second of time, an event that is now indelibly imprinted across the universe and into time itself.
In order to understand that element, that event, one must move to the scene in the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus went to pray just prior to his arrest. The scene is described as follows:
“Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder. (37) And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. (38) Then saith he unto them, Mysoul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me. (39) And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.” Matthew 26:36-39.
The movie depicted much of the physical agony of Jesus, showing the brutal beating he received. It showed him very distressed. But it did not capture the single element, the one event that was the true cause of the distress of Jesus. It was unable to convey to the audience what event would cause Jesus, whose claim was to be equal to God, which meant his claim was to be God incarnate, to cry out those words: “Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me....”
Some have always assumed that it was dread of the physical beating and subsequent suffering that was to come.
But that’s not true.
There’s no doubt that he did not look forward to being beaten and tortured. But worse things have happened to humans across the span of time both prior to Jesus and afterwards. He understood the physical suffering he would have to endure. But that is not what caused him to cry out and ask if there was another way.
We must ask ourselves: Another way to do what?
What was Jesus trying to accomplish? What was his goal, his purpose? It wasn’t to “suffer” on the cross, though that was necessary. Indeed, it wasn’t just to die on the cross, though that also was necessary.
The answer to the question lies further in the scene of the cross. That scene is where Jesus is moments from death and reads as follows:
“Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. (46) And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Matthew 27:45-46.
Question: Did Jesus ever sin?
Answer: Of course not. He had to be perfection, sinless.
Question: Did God forsake Jesus?
Answer: Yes!
Jesus did not lie, nor was he mistaken when he uttered those words.
The word in the Greek used in this translation of the Bible, (King James Version), “forsaken,” means “to leave behind.” Paul spoke of Demas who has “forsaken me,” or quite literally, left me behind or deserted me. (See, 2 Timothy 4:10).
God left Jesus behind.
God did exactly what Jesus said. He forsook Jesus.
Jesus did not lie when he raised the question as a fact. Realize that Jesus, who never told a lie, made a statement of fact, posed as a question. There was no question raised of whether or not God deserted Jesus. That was a fact stated in Jesus’ question. Jesus stated as fact, that God has forsaken him. The question was why, not if.
But God had no choice if His purpose was to be completed. The purpose of God was the salvation of mankind through the redemptive act of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
In that moment of time described in Matt. 26:46, God accepted Jesus Christ as the sacrificial lamb, a sin offering, and instantly, “he who knew no sin, was made to be sin.” And the moment, the instant, that Jesus became sin, He could no longer function as God, and thus, the one who knew beforehand why he had to die, no longer understood why God had to desert him. There was a breech in the relationship between himself and God the Father. There was a rupture that was universally cataclysmic, and which is, to us, uncomprehensible. It does not fit into our theology very nicely. It does not comport with logic. How can Jesus, the Creator of all things, suddenly not be God, but instead, be a sinner? Indeed, Jesus was not just an ordinary sinner, but the worst sinner on the planet, or who ever lived.
Jesus took upon himself the sin of the entire world.
It was this role that God predicted in the following:
“Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. (5) But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. (6) All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Isaiah 53:4-6.
These were indisputable words, recorded in an indisputable historical record, and predicting the sacrificial lamb of God. John the Baptist understood Jesus’ role, and inspired of God, upon seeing Jesus approaching him, declared: “The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29).
The Apostle Paul wrote of it this way: “Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us; we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. 21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” (2 Corinthians 5:20-21).
When Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane and wondered if there was another way, his great dread was in becoming sin. His dread that caused, “as it were, great drops of blood” (Luke 22:44) was becoming guilty, in the eyes of God the Father, of being guilty of the sin of adultery, of murder, of theft and all the wickedness one can imagine that mankind has done upon the face of the earth. All of this, Jesus bore. He became a sinner, the sinless God-man.
Can you see the implications here? Can you see the real agony now?
It was a spiritual agony. It was a spiritual war.
Jesus was about to become a sinner in the eyes of God.
God was about to punish Himself.
God was going to pay the price for sin for mankind.
Stunning. Incredible. Marvelous. Amazing.
There are simply not sufficient words in any language to convey the magnificence and enormity of this act of God. It was this element that lacked in The Passion movie. Perhaps it was not possible to convey.
But when you read the story or think of the story, or if you view the movie again, never again should you focus on the physical sufferings of Christ. Instead, realize the true agony of Christ was the knowledge that he would become sin, would actually become guilty of sin in the eyes of God, and that for a moment in time, God had to look away from Christ, His only begotten son, because God cannot look with favor upon sin. God had to turn away from Jesus, and in that instant, the moment God looked away, Jesus knew God had turned away from him, and it was this that caused Jesus to cry out, with passionate lament: “My God! My God! Why has thou forsaken me?”
God had indeed done exactly what Jesus said.
God had forsaken Jesus the sinner, in order to embrace, Jesus the Savior, and all of those Jesus brings, by His sacrifice, through the gates of heaven.
Do you understand now, why it was that Jesus cried out in agony in the Garden, and wondered if there was another way?
Do you thank God that Jesus added the nine words to the end of his prayer? Read them, for they are instructive for us all. “...nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt” Matthew 26:39(b).
The End
To Read the Biblical Story of the Crucifixion, click here
To read a unique perspective from the eyes of a man stunned by the event, see his story here.
Copyright © 2005
Voyle A. Glover
