Introduction

As we gather to remember Christ’s sacrifice on the cross we guard ourselves against minimising  it having heard it so often. The depth and width of the significance of Christ’s death on the cross should weigh heavily on our minds. We have heard it so often that we no longer think about it and ponder its profoundness and its enormity, not only in what it has done for us, but in the  sacrifice that Christ was.

For context it is vital that we remember that Christ is the second person of the Trinity and fully God. What this means in terms of who it is we are considering is that -

John 1: 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing  was made that has been made.

Hebrews 1: 3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being,  sustaining all things by his powerful word.

Colossians 1: 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and  invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created  through him and for him.

This is the one the OT promises and prophecies will come as Messiah to redeem and save his  people. But in amongst these prophesies we have other prophecies one of which we read in  Daniel 9: 26 “And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall [j]be cut off, but not for Himself;” (NKJV) or “will be put to death and will have nothing.”

Cut Off 

I want to focus a little on this “cut off”.

In the Old Testament the expression “cut off” meant an expulsion from the community and  included the loss of benefits and general community acknowledgement of the persons  existence. Numbers 15: 30 “‘But anyone who sins defiantly, whether native-born or foreigner, blasphemes the Lord and must be cut off from the people of Israel. 31 Because they have despised the Lord’s word and broken his commands, they must surely be cut off; their guilt remains on them.’”

It is a very severe sanction and in most cases was a setting aside which resulted in physical death and ceasing to have presence with the community. Often also the entire family and family  name is wiped out. It was an implied Divine judgement where all that one is, is done away with. We read in 1 Sam 24:21 where David has revealed to Saul that he could have killed him in the cave where Saul went to relieve himself and then Saul replies in 1 Sam 24: 20 I know that you will  surely be king and that the kingdom of Israel will be established in your hands. 21Now swear to  me by the LORD that you will not kill off my descendants or wipe out my name from my father’s  family.” In other translations “wipe out my name” is translated as “cut off”.

So, … This “cutting off” was prophesied to happen to the Messiah who elsewhere is prophesied  to be the one who rule forever. How could this be? How could he be cut off?

So what does it take to be cut off? To unpack this, we need to establish what there is to cut off  for a man or woman.

From the beginning there have always been three things that defines created man - We go back to the beginning, the garden of Eden -

To Adam God said - Gen 2: 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and  evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”

Gen 2: 25 Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.

Gen 3: 10He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I  hid.” They felt SHAME and hid from God.

Gen 3: 12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the  tree, and I ate it.”

Gen 3: 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side[e] of the Garden of Eden  cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

In summary, three things resulted:

  1. They were separated from God - he drove them out from the garden
  2. Their community was broken - They felt shame – they hid from God – they started  blaming others for their failures.
  3. They died physically – God told them that they would surely die – and they did

These three aspects effectively define the totality of what a person is comprised of i.e.: 

  • Our physical self - Life vs death,
  • Our community position - Respect and acceptance vs Shame and rejection
  • Our spiritual self - Communion with God vs Separation from God

In line with this we jump to the New Testament and read in – Luke 2:52 And Jesus grew in  wisdom and stature (Physical), and in favour with God (spiritual) and man (social/community). These same aspects were there in Jesus life – he was fully human and connected.

So we have this fully connected man, Jesus, the Anointed One – the Messiah and it was  prophesied by Daniel he would be CUT OFF and would have nothing.

As we consider Jesus death on the cross I want us to focus on each of these three aspects and how they are cut off from Jesus culminating in the finality at the cross –

  1. Shame Bearing – Socially/community humiliation 
  2. Cross Bearing – Physical suffering and death 
  3. Sin Bearing – Spiritual separation 

1. Shame-Bearing: The public humiliation of Jesus’ death on a cross

In Jesus’ ministry leading to the crucifixion, many derogatory statements had been made about him.

His home town was belittled, his parentage was questioned, he was accused of violating the Sabbath and being generally unclean because of who he associated with.

John 1: 46 Luke 5: 30 John 8: 19

So there is a general sense that Jesus was mocked and ridiculed in his community, for the  statements he made and the things he claimed, notwithstanding that they never found error in  them or could disprove his teachings. This was especially true from the Jewish leaders as Jesus regularly showed up their hypocrisy.

The climax of the shame bearing, however, is clearly in the manner of death that he had to endured.

In his book Crucifixion, Martin Hengel produces examples of “the negative attitude towards crucifixion universal in antiquity” (7). In short, far more than just negative, the whole spectacle of “the infamous stake” or “the tree of shame” (stauros) was so offensive, so vile, as to be obscene in polite conversation. Hengel observes “the use of crux (cross) as a vulgar taunt among  the lower classes” (9). The mannerly did not stoop to such a ghastly subject, whether with  tongue or even pen, which accounts for “the deep aversion from the cruellest of penalties in the  literary world” (14). Few ancient writers dared to provide anywhere near the crucifixion details we find in the four Gospels.

So lets go through Jesus’ experience -

1.1 Treated like a Criminal

Luke 22: 47 While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived. With him was a large crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests and the elders of the people.
55 In that hour Jesus said to the crowd, “Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me?

1.2 Degraded and devalued

Luke 22 :67 Then they spit in his face and struck him with their fists. Others slapped him 68 and said, “Prophesy to us, Messiah. Who hit you?”
Matt 27:28 They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, 29 and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand. Then they knelt in  front of him and mocked him. “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said. 30 They spit on him and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. 31 After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him.
Matt 27: 35 When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots. – he was effectively naked on the cross.

1.3 Treated as equivalent to a Murderer

Matt 27 :16 At that time they had a well-known prisoner whose name was Barabbas. 17 So when the crowd had gathered, Pilate asked them, “Which one do you want me to release to you: Barabbas, or Jesus who is called the Messiah?” 18 For he knew it was out of self-interest that they had handed Jesus over to him. – Barabas was a murderer.
Matt 27: 44 In the same way the rebels who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him.

1.4 Before his Family and Friends

Crucifixions were specifically not private executions. They were meant to shame the person totally.

Matt 27: 55 Many women were there, watching from a distance. They had followed Jesus from  Galilee to care for his needs. 56 Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph,[f] and the mother of Zebedee’s sons. – This shame took place with his family and  friends present. The intent by the Jewish leaders to shame Jesus is evident. Socially and to the community there was a clear intent by the Jewish leaders to cut Jesus off that his name and who he was would be no more. We read later on in the Scriptures how they sought to silence the disciples from using Jesus name in their preaching.

2. Cross-Bearing: The physical cutting off of Jesus’ life

The cruelty of the cross has been attested to by many historians and yet there is relatively little detail in the writings. The disciples however recorded Christ’s crucifixion explicitly.

In the century prior to Christ, Cicero (106–43 BC) called crucifixion “that most cruel and  disgusting penalty.” The historian Josephus (ca. AD 37–100) referred to it as “the  most wretched of deaths.”

It was clear that the sentence to flogging might at times be deemed sufficient punishment if the person did not die, but a sentence to be crucified was de factum a death sentence.

The gospels record for us what Jesus endured leading to Christ’s physical cutting off -

Matt 27 :26 Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.
27 Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company  of soldiers around him. 28 They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, 29 and then twisted  together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand. Then they  knelt in front of him and mocked him. “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said. 30 They spit on him,  and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. 31 After they had mocked him,  they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.

To his shame bearing, they added the flogging which ripped the back open which killed many, they jammed thorns into his scalp and beat him over the head with a staff. Then they took him to be crucified.

As one commentator noted:

“We grimace today at the thought of nails being driven through human hands and feet. We  squirm at a crown of thorns pressed into the brow, piercing the skin, sending blood streaming down the face. And once these violent acts had torn flesh and bone, the pain of crucifixion had only begun. Hours later, many bled out; others died of asphyxiation, eventually too decimated to even breathe. This was not just death, but torture unto death. It was nauseatingly gruesome.
But not only was it calculated to amplify and prolong physical pain; it was designed, almost psychotically, or diabolically, to utterly shame the victim. The horror of the cross was not only  that it was done, but that it was done to be seen. It was not only literally excruciating but humiliating in the extreme.” 

There is a certain irony in that the lifting up for the crucifixion death so others could look upon them, was in fact fulfilling Jesus’ words in:

John 3 : 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted  up,[f] 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”

AND

John 12: 32 And I, when I am lifted up[g]from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” 33He said  this to show the kind of death he was going to die.” 

This was perfecting the foreshadowed lifting up when the healing of the snake-bites victims who in obedience to God’s instruction looked up to the lifted snake image.

3. Sin-Bearing: The spiritual anguish of Jesus’ death 

He endured the Cross and he despised the Shame (Heb 12:2) but of the deepest sacrifice, the separation from the Father he suffered the anguish which we cannot comprehend -

In John 10: 30 I and the Father are one.” And again John 14: 10Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me;

This relationship was to be cut off.

The depth and intensity of the separation is reflected in Christ’s own words -

John 12:27 “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’?  But for this purpose, I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.”
Matt 27:37He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be  sorrowful and troubled. 38 Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the  point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” 39Going a little farther, he fell with his face  to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not  as I will, but as you will.”
Matt 27: 42He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup  to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.”

The cup so often in Scripture depicts Gods wrath and this is the cup that Jesus speaks of. Wrath  would need to be poured out completely to satisfy God’s holiness. If Jesus did not bear it for sin,  then man would bear it for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23.

IF YOU WILL NOT LET CHRIST DRINK THE CUP FOR YOUR SINS AND BE YOUR SAVIOUR THEN YOU WILL HAVE TO BEAR GOD’S WRATH AS WE ARE ALL DESTINED TO DIE AND BE CUT OFF AS HEB 9:27 REMINDS US.

But Jesus did bear drink it for our sakes, so great is his love for us -

Matt 27:45 From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land. 46 About  three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli,[c]lama sabachthani?” (which  means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”)

Psalms 22: 1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me,
so far from my cries of anguish?

Jesus then cried out “It is finished, and bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”

Conclusion

The cutting off of the Messiah was comprehensive and all that was man about Christ was cut off at the cross.

Celsus, a second-century opponent of early Christianity, asked rhetorically about a crucified Christ, “What drunken old woman, telling stories to lull a small child to sleep, would not  be ashamed of muttering such preposterous things?” Not only was a crucified Messiah preposterous. It was shameful.

In John 12 :34 The crowd spoke up, “We have heard from the Law that the Messiah will remain  forever, so how can you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this ‘Son of Man’?” – even the Jewish people did not believe it possible. One wonders if the disciples themselves were swayed by public opinion and struggled to come to grips with the death of Christ and hence hid away until the resurrected Christ revealed himself to them.

Paul later on captured the perspective -

1Cor 1”18 “18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us  who are being saved it is the power of God.

What Jesus said was plain, and yet the disciples would not understand it and were devastated when he was crucified. They abandoned him for a time through his death. Now I would like you  to think back to what I said about the severity of the “cut off” sanction. It helps us understand  why the Jews so struggled with the idea that the Anointed One would be cut off. How could that  be? We should not be too critical then when the disciples were in denial about this, lest we too  fail to grasp God’s plans in our own lives when things don’t appear to be going according to our plans and perceptions.

It was not imposed on him or bad luck. He did not just endure it, he despised the shame i.e.:  considered it with disregard or disdain. He loved us so much that the “cutting off” – the shame,  the pain, even the separation from the Father were not worth regarding or worrying about - for  the Glory that was his in the work he finished for us!

Imagine -

Phil 2: he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature[b] of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!

He did this all for you and me!

But simply knowing himself innocent would not be enough against the extreme suffering and  shame of the cross. Endurance to the finish demanded more. Hebrews, memorably, tells us he  endured “for the joy set before him.” But specifically, what joy could that have been? What  reward could have been powerful enough to pull him forward, to finish this race, with the very emblem of suffering and shame standing in the way?

Heb 12: 2 For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at  the right hand of the throne of God

And in

Phil 2: 9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name,”. Hallelujah!! Praise the Lord for his goodness.

So as we consider our Saviour’s work on the cross this Easter we must reflect on the balance  scale that is ours –

On the one hand we are called by Jesus to take up the cross and follow him – which may result  in some or all the “cutting off” and suffering and sacrifice he endured. But on the other hand  how shall we endure it and be able to despise the shame – only through– Heb 12: 2looking  (fixing our eyes) unto Jesus, the [a]author and [b]finisher (or perfecter) of our faith” and we must  take to heart as Paul continues - Heb 12 : 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from  sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”

Oh, the love that drew salvations plan, Oh the grace that brought it down to man, Oh the  mighty gulf that God did span – At Calvary!

In Christ we are co-heirs and children of the same promise, with the same joy set before us. God who is faithful will not disappoint us.