Read John 19:17-24
Was All This Necessary?
Jesus carried his cross to the place called Golgotha. Simon of Cyrene helped carry the cross a distance. A total distance was around half a mile and the cross weighed between 80 and 110 lb. At Golgotha, they placed him on a cross between two criminals. History says that people were crucified naked in humiliating display as a warning to others. Pilate put a sign on Jesus’s cross which said, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” It was written in Aramaic, Latin, and Greek. This made the chief priests very upset. The soldiers divided the clothes of Jesus by casting lots as a way of fulfilling Old Testament prophecy.
Was all this necessary? Jesus was innocent! Why did he have to be beaten and whipped, slapped and beaten some more so that he was unrecognizable and bones could be seen in his body? Was all this necessary? Why did he have to carry his own cross to the point of exhaustion that ended with someone else carrying the cross for him? They placed him, an innocent man, on a cross between two criminals! Was all this necessary?
I’ve come to a conclusion: It wasn’t necessary for an innocent man to go through such a display. It wasn’t necessary for Jesus to be punished for doing nothing wrong. It wasn’t necessary! However, Jesus did this on his own free will. He could have stopped such a display at any time but his love for us drove him to want to go through all that he did so he could take our sin and punishment upon himself. His love drove him to do this in our place so that we could go from death (hell), to eternal life (in heaven). It wasn’t necessary, but his love for us was so great that he made it necessary so we could be with him in heaven for eternity. Thank you Jesus for making something unnecessary, very necessary for our sake.
