• New Testament Reading: Matthew 27:1-56
• Old Testament Passage: Isaiah 53:4-12
• Points to Ponder

“The Suffering of His Soul”

Recent screen depictions of the crucifixion have gone to great lengths to impress upon us the horror
of crucifixion. And indeed, crucifixion was a extremely gory, tortuous, humiliating, dehumanizing,
drawn out means of execution. It was designed not only to “properly” punish the offender, but to
instill terror into the conquered subjects of the Roman empire -- “And so shall you die, if you dare to
challenge us.” But not one of the gospels’ authors gives us such a detailed, blow by blow, account.
There are no slow motion, up close word pictures of the pounded nails piercing his flesh, ripping his
nerves and rupturing his blood vessels.

We need to understand the horrific nature of his death to the extent that it helps us in our attempt
to grasp his greater and more significant suffering -- that of his soul. I’m sure Jesus cried out, or in
some way reacted to the physical pain he was experiencing -- he was made of innervated flesh and
muscle. Yet the gospel writers (consistent with Isaiah’s prophecy) focused on his greatest pain --
“Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?”. It was not Jesus’ torn flesh or crushed nerve endings that paid the
penalty for our sins; rather his physical pain only signified the incomparably greater pain of bearing
the sins of the world and thus being separated from God. For the first (and only time) in his eternal
existence, the Father was not there for his Son -- for Jesus had become sin for us!

• Questions to Consider: Consider the suffering of Jesus’ soul -- the price paid so that we could
experience the forgiveness of our sins. If the physical suffering of Jesus is symbolic of his
greatest pain, how great is that pain? What a price Jesus paid for our souls’ sakes!