Calvary

Calvary. It is a name that is known in Christian circles, but not so much outside of the Christian faith. Calvary is the place where Jesus Christ was crucified. Jesus was brought to Calvary, and nailed to a cross. This was the custom of the day for executing criminals. Jesus was not a criminal, but the Jewish leaders were tired of Jesus getting in their way, and tired of Him leading the people away from their teaching. Because of this they came up with a plan that led to Jesus’ arrest and trial.

At the trial Pilate ultimately finds no grounds for Jesus to be crucified, so he has Jesus flogged as punishment. But when Jesus is brought back to Pilate, the Jews persist in speaking out against Jesus, calling for Him to be crucified. Still, Pilate doesn’t want to crucify Jesus, so he makes two other attempts to bring the trial to an end without crucifixion.

First, Pilate questions Jesus, hoping that Jesus will give him the answers he needs to release Jesus. But Jesus, knowing that He needed to go to Calvary to be crucified so that He could pay the penalty for the sin of humanity, says nothing in His defense.

Second, Pilate tries to reason with the Jewish leaders. We read this in the gospel of Luke 23:14-16, “‘You brought me this man as one who was inciting the people to rebellion. I have examined him in your presence and have found no basis for your charges against him. ¹⁵ Neither has Herod, for he sent him back to us; as you can see, he has done nothing to deserve death. ¹⁶ Therefore, I will punish him and then release him.’” But this won’t get rid of Jesus, and so they persist, shouting, ‘Crucify Him. Crucify Him.’ They even choose the release of a violent prisoner, Barabbas, over Jesus.

Finally, Pilate surrenders to their will, and orders Jesus to be crucified. So Jesus is taken to CALVARY to be crucified. I wrote a song many years ago called CALVARY. The chorus says this:

“On Calvary He gave His life for me. On Calvary He gave His life for me.Opened the door, to eternity. Out of love, He died for You and me. Yes, He opened the door, to eternity.”

You may not understand fully why Jesus allowed Himself to go to Calvary (and He did allow Himself), but what’s important is to know that because He did, You and I have the blessing of being saved from our sin. By this blessing we receive the gift of being able to spend eternity in heaven with God! If you don’t know this, or haven’t received it, I pray that you will. If you do, then thank God for Calvary, and for what it means to you and me. Blessings.