And He was numbered with the transgressors

 

 And they brought Him to the place Golgotha, which is translated, Place of a Skull.  Then they gave Him wine mingled with myrrh to drink, but He did not take it.  And when they crucified Him, they divided His garments, casting lots for them to determine what every man should take.  Now it was the third hour, and they crucified Him.  And the inscription of His accusation was written above:

THE KING OF THE JEWS.

With Him they also crucified two robbers, one of His right and the other on His left.  So the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "And He was numbered with the transgressors."  And those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads and saying, "Aha!  You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save Yourself, and come down from the cross!"  Likewise the chief priests also, mocking among themselves with the scribes, said, "He saved others; Himself He cannot save.  Let the Christ, the King of Israel, descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe."  Even those who were crucified with Him reviled Him. 

 

- Mark 15:22–32 

 

 Yesterday we read that, as the crowd demanded the prisoner Barabbas be released to them, Pilate answered and said to them again, "What then do you want me to do with Him whom you call the King of the Jews?"  So they cried out again, "Crucify Him!"  Then Pilate said to them, "Why, what evil has He done?"  But they cried out all the more, "Crucify Him!"  So Pilate, wanting to gratify the crowd, released Barabbas to them; and he delivered Jesus, after he had scourged Him, to be crucified. Then the soldiers led Him away into the hall called Praetorium, and they called together the whole garrison.  And they clothed Him with purple; and they twisted a crown of thorns, put it on His head, and began to salute Him, "Hail, King of the Jews!"  Then they struck Him on the head with a reed and spat on Him; and bowing the knee, they worshiped Him.  And when they had mocked Him, they took the purple off Him, put His own clothes on Him, and led Him out to crucify Him.  Then they compelled a certain man, Simon a Cyrenian, the father of Alexander and Rufus, as he was coming out of the country and passing by, to bear His cross.

 

And they brought Him to the place Golgotha, which is translated, Place of a Skull.  Then they gave Him wine mingled with myrrh to drink, but He did not take it.  And when they crucified Him, they divided His garments, casting lots for them to determine what every man should take.  Now it was the third hour, and they crucified Him.  And the inscription of His accusation was written above:  THE KING OF THE JEWS.  My study Bible comments here on the inscription of His accusation that what was intended as an accusation and a mockery became instead a triumphant symbol.  Pilate's act is, in fact, prophetic, showing that those who rejected Him had risen against their own King, and the cross was the means by which Christ established His Kingdom.  The third hour is about 9:00 in the morning.

 

 With Him they also crucified two robbers, one of His right and the other on His left.  So the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "And He was numbered with the transgressors."  And those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads and saying, "Aha!  You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save Yourself, and come down from the cross!"  Likewise the chief priests also, mocking among themselves with the scribes, said, "He saved others; Himself He cannot save.  Let the Christ, the King of Israel, descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe."  Even those who were crucified with Him reviled Him.  My study Bible notes that Christ being crucified between two robbers is not only a fulfillment of the Scripture (verse 28; Isaiah 53:12), but it shows also that He is completely identifying with sinful humanity.

We look at this scene of Christ crucified, and we cannot bear to see Him suffer.  We want to turn away from the mocking and the derision, from the taunts of those who pass by and blaspheme, and from even the chief priests and scribes.  They continue to demand proofs, even as Christ is on the Cross:  "He saved others; Himself He cannot save.  Let the Christ, the King of Israel, descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe."  So low has Christ been made, the text tells us, that even those who were crucified with Him reviled Him.  Christ is now taunted even by the others who are crucified with Him.  This is in a certain sense the great scandal.  For how can God be brought this low in human terms?  How can God be so humiliated, driven in pain and torture on the Cross, and reviled by all, even challenged by those who yet taunt Him by demanding proofs about Him?  At the same time, this scandal is the uniqueness of the Christian faith, for by observing His suffering, on all these levels of pain and humiliation, we also observe what my study Bible notes, that He has completely identified with sinful humanity.  Whatever we go through, He experiences here.  He has done nothing worthy of such treatment, but He experiences all of it, and with us.  For that is, ultimately, our God.  If we suffer in this world from effects of evil, so God also suffers with us, and has chosen to do so voluntarily.  So, we're left with the question, how can God suffer like us?  Or perhaps, why would God suffer like us, and with us?  Aside from these questions, we are given a conundrum:  why would God tolerate evil and suffering to exist at all?  In John's Gospel, we are given one clear answer written in Scripture for us, given as the word of Jesus Himself:  "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,  that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved" (John 3:14-17).  If we neither know nor understand anything else, we are to understand God's love, that through Christ's suffering God calls us into communion with God, for an "everlasting" life with God.  This everlasting description is meant to describe a quality of life, not a quantity or a time-period.  It teaches us about the life that remains after all else has passed, of a substance that outweighs all else, like Christ's words that will remain even though heaven and earth may pass away.  God calls us to a communion of life that is unsurpassed by anything else, because in suffering with us, so He also calls us to live fully in Him, to participate in Christ's life, even as He is also risen.  In His suffering, death, and eternal life, Christ is truly the Alpha and the Omega of all things, and there He calls us to be with Him as well.  In Revelation 22:13, Christ says, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last."  For as He suffers with us, He also calls us to live with Him.  If the story of our first ancestors tell us that, without proper preparation, they eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and so suffer -- then the story of Christ is the call toward the fullness of this knowledge in Him and shared with us in that sense of the eternal, that which surpasses all things, a kind of final proper destiny which Christ, our Door, opens to us.  For He is the King of all who would be saved, the One who shares life with us even to the Cross, and offers us everything in return.  For He is, above all, the God who is love.