Son of Man by Charles Martin

Author:Charles Martin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Published: 2022-12-17T00:00:00+00:00

THE FATHER’S SILENCE

It’s the ninth hour. Jesus hangs from the nails. He’s struggling to breathe. Drowning in His own lung fluid. Too tired to pull or push Himself back up. The holes in His hands and feet are stretched. His shoulders and probably several of His ribs are “out of joint.”1 Dislocated. He has been punched in the face; His beard has been plucked out; He’s been beaten by rods; and three-inch acacia thorns have been shoved into His skull. The skin, muscle, and sinews of Jesus’ back, sides, and face have been ripped off by a Roman scourge. Blood drips off His toes. When Isaiah said His “visage was marred more than any man,”2 or He was unrecognizable as a man, this is that moment. He’s also naked. Completely.

Here hangs the righteous, sinless, spotless, obedient Son of the Most High God. The One who knew no sin, who became sin for us.3 Who “has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.”4 Despised, smitten, stricken, afflicted, pierced, crushed, scourged, oppressed, cut off from the land of the living, assigned a grave with wicked men, crushed by His very own Father, sent here for this very purpose. Intentionally put to grief. Knowing anguish. Pouring out His soul to death. Bearing the ages on His shoulders.

Below Him, the soldiers are not impressed.

The Roman army is the most powerful in the world. Also the largest. The logistics of supporting and maintaining an army that expansive required planning and forethought. An occupying force had to be fed. And a fed army had to go to the bathroom. Which led to sanitation concerns. Disease and bacteria would spread like wildfire if not contained. In order to help stem the flow of sickness and maintain a sanitary army, soldiers were issued two things: a jar of vinegar and a tersorium. Or, sponge on a stick. After using the bathroom, they would dip the sponge in the vinegar, clean their backside, and repeat as needed. You can see where this is going.

“Immediately one of them ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine and put it on a reed, and offered it to Him to drink.”5

Some have suggested the sponge in the mouth was an act of mercy, having been dipped in opium-laced vinegar. We don’t know that. And given the soldiers’ treatment of Jesus until now, I highly doubt it. What we do know is that Roman society used sponges on sticks as toilet paper, and there on the cross they shoved it in Jesus’ mouth. “Eat this and die!” It tells us what they thought of Him. This continued mockery would be consistent with the soldiers’ attitude toward Jesus throughout His crucifixion—save one.

Until now, He hasn’t opened His mouth. Silent as a lamb led to slaughter. But somewhere in here, Jesus cries out. Screams at the top of His lungs. Just a couple of words, but if you listen carefully, the words betray the emotion. The wound. Jesus the man is talking. “My God! My God!” Another lift.

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