Jesus Christ the Son of God Crucified at Jerusalem

About three thousand, nine hundred and seventy years after the creation of the world, in the forty-second year of the reign of Augustus, the second Roman emperor, when the whole world was at peace, Jesus Christ was born of the virgin Mary, in the little town of Bethlehem, being the only and eternal Son of God, the Word by which all things are made, indeed, God blessed forever. Matthew 16, verse 16; John 1, verse 14; Romans 9, verse 5.

But His entrance into this world, as well as His course and His end, was full of misery, distress and affliction; indeed it may be said: He was born under the cross; He was brought up under the cross; He walked under the cross, and finally died on the cross.

As to His birth, He was conceived of the Holy Ghost. His birth brought Him into great poverty; for He was not born in His mother's city, Nazareth, but on the journey to Bethlehem, which was the reason that no suitable place could be prepared for His birth; and even more, He could get no place in the inn, but had to be born in a stable; and when He was born, He was wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger.

As to His bringing up, it was attended with much sorrow; for when He was still less than two years old, Herod persecuted Him even to death, and because of this His foster father Joseph, and His mother Mary, had to flee into Egypt and remain there until Herod's death. But meanwhile there were killed in His place, so that He also might be killed, all the children of two years old and under, in and around Bethlehem, so that the voice of lamentation was heard in all the borders of that region; of which Jeremiah had prophesied: "A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rachel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not." Jeremiah 31, verse 15; fulfilled, Matthew 2, verse 18.

As for His life and conduct among men, He was considered a fanatic and a vagrant, because He had no permanent place to live; and this last was nevertheless so bitter for Him that He complains: "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head" (Luke 9, verse 58). Meanwhile He was reproached as being the friend of publicans and sinners, a glutton and a wine drinker, indeed, that He was possessed with the devil; and this went on until the hour of His departure was near at hand.

As for the end of His life, it was the most miserable; for it was, so to speak, the day when all the fountains of the great deep broke open over Him, and the floods of suffering overflowed Him, to swallow Him up altogether.

First of all, He was betrayed by His disciple Judas, who sold Him for thirty pieces of silver to the high priests and Pharisees. Matthew 26, verses 14 to 16. Then He was handed over to them, sharply examined, and even put under oath by the living God, to say whether He was the Christ, the Son of God. And as soon as the Lord had confessed this, they cried out, "He is guilty of death."

Then they spit in His face, and beat Him with their fists. Others covered His face, saying, "Prophesy to us, You Christ, who is it that struck You?" (Matthew 27, verses 67 and 68). This having continued until about morning, they delivered Him to Pontius Pilate, the judge, to pronounce the sentence of death upon Him, and to put an end to His life. Matthew 27, verses 1 and 2. [n97-1]

Pilate said, "What accusation do you bring against this man?" They answered, "If he were not a criminal, we would not have handed him over to you." Pilate said, "You take Him, and judge him according to your law;" for he perceived that they had delivered Him up out of envy. They answered, "He perverts the nation, and forbids to give tribute to Caesar, saying that He Himself is a king. In short, 'We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.'" (John 19, verse 7).

Then Pilate took Jesus into the judgment hall, and, having examined Him, said that he found no cause of death in Him. So he looked for a way to release Him; and moreover, in order to move the Jews to pity because of His innocence, he had Him (though against his conscience) terribly scourged, crowned with thorns, and mocked, and, thus disfigured, brought before the Jews, saying, "Behold the man!" so that they might now be satisfied with His suffering, and spare His life. But it was of no use; they cried out all the more, "Crucify him, crucify him; if you let this man go, you are not Caesar's friend." Verse 12.

Finally, when Pilate saw that the Jews were not to be moved, and fearing that they might accuse him before Caesar, he went and sat down (at about eight o'clock in the morning, according to our reckoning) in the judgment seat, in the place called Lithostratos, and in Hebrew Gabbatha, a paved elevation in Jerusalem; and there, though quite against his conscience, he pronounced the sentence of death upon Christ.

Then the soldiers again mocked Him most dreadfully, laid His cross upon Him, and drove Him out through the gate up to Mount Calvary, where, after they had stripped Him of His garments, they nailed Him to a cross and raised Him up between two murderers, John 19, verse 18; which was done, according to our reckoning, at about nine o'clock in the morning.

In the meantime they gave Him vinegar and gall to drink, divided His garments, and again mocked Him most shamefully and beyond measure, until a great darkness came, lasting about three hours; and then the Lord cried with a loud voice, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani!" that is, "My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?" (Matthew 27, verse 46).

Then, having fulfilled all, He commended His soul into His Father's hands, saying, "Father, into Your hands I commend my spirit" (Luke 23, verse 46).

Then He bowed His head and died, having suffered excruciatingly six hours on the cross, from nine o'clock in the morning until three in the afternoon.* [n97-2]

Then the earth began to quake, the rocks were split, the graves were opened, the veil of the temple was torn in two, and many miracles happened, as a sign that He who died there was more than an ordinary man, indeed, that He was the Son of the living God.

This, then, was the end, not of a martyr, but of the Head of all the holy martyrs, through whom they and we all must be saved.