Tag: crucifixion

Posted in holy week

Thoughts on Good Friday: not much to say

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Photo by Thays Orrico on Unsplash

None of the gospel accounts have much to say about Jesus’s crucifixion. All simply state, “They crucified him.” (Matt. 27:35; Mark 15:24; Luke 23:33; John 19:18)

The evangelists recorded conversations that took places at Jesus’s arrest, trials, and conviction. They recount seven things Jesus said while on the cross. But the description of the crucifixion is minimal: “They crucified him.”

Artists, writers, and film directors spend a lot more time depicting the driving nails through flesh, screams of agony, and the struggle to breathe.

Maybe it was too horrible to write about. They had seen too many crucifixions and just couldn’t stomach saying anything more than those few words. Or it could be that the word “crucified” said it all. There was nothing more that needed to be said.

Posted in Lent devotions

Jesus in the middle of my mess

Posted on by William Douthwaite

“Scenes from the passion” Lent devotion for Friday, March 26, 2021. Photo by Ricardo Viana on Unsplash.

And with [Jesus] they crucified two robbers, one on his right and one on his left. (Mark 15:27)

On most days, I don’t believe Jesus minded hanging out with robbers. He didn’t mind the company of sinners and tax collectors. He was OK with lepers, blue-collar fishermen, Samaritans, Canaanites and Gentile hog-farmers. He was just one of the guys, or as the Old Testament put it, “numbered with the transgressors.” When the Word became flesh to dwell among us, “us” included these two criminals who were crucified that day with Jesus.

These two men might never have met Jesus were it not for their shared sentence. Jesus didn’t spend time with those on death row. Not until today, the day of their execution, their last day alive.

Continue reading “Jesus in the middle of my mess” →