“Golgotha”
Text: Matthew 27:32-61
4-15-2022
In the name of Him who has destroyed death by His death, dear friends in Christ. The focus of the Christian Church on this holy Friday is rightfully on Golgotha. It’s the location where our Savior, Jesus Christ, was crucified and died for the sins of the world. That fact is not disputed by believers. However, as is true with several other Biblical sites, there is debate over the correct location of such places. There are 2 sites that claim to be the authentic spot where Christ hung on the cross and there’s convincing evidence for both sides of the argument. However, all of that is an unintentional diversion from the significance of what Jesus accomplished there for our salvation. And so, tonight we’ll direct our attention to what Scripture says and pray that the Holy Spirit opens our minds to the deeper truth about Christ’s death and through it, He might strengthen our faith and trust in what God accomplished for us.
I’ve learned over the years to not take for granted that everyone knows the complete story of Christ’s passion so it’s good to do a brief overview. On Thursday evening, Jesus was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane when Judas led a band of soldiers there to arrest Him. Christ was then dragged before Annas the former High Priest. Next, He was sent to the Caiaphas the current one. Then He stood on trial before the Sanhedrin, which was the religious Supreme Court. They condemned Jesus to death for blaspheming God because He clearly stated that He was indeed the Son of God.
Early on Friday morning, He was taken to Pontius Pilate. The Jews shifted from religious charges to a political crime. They pressured the Roman Governor to put Jesus to death for treason. The evidence they presented was that He claimed to be a “king” and they falsely accused Him of telling people to not pay their taxes to Rome. Pilate, however, found Him not guilty. But then he sent Jesus to Herod, the Jewish King, hoping to get this volatile situation off his hands. After a series of unanswered questions, Herod refused to condemn Him either. So Herod and his soldiers mocked Jesus and sent Him back to Pilate with no verdict. Pilate questioned Christ again but still found Him innocent and planned to let Him go. However, the Jews wouldn’t hear of it. Hoping to elicit sympathy from His accusers, Pilate had Jesus beaten and scourged, which was a brutal whipping that tore away at His flesh. Once again, he tried to release Christ. The hatred of the Jews was so strong that they refused to show any sympathy. Instead, they threatened to report Pilate to the Emperor if he didn’t punish Jesus, and execution was what they demanded. Finally, Pilate had enough and gave in. He ordered that Christ be taken out and crucified.
That processional from the Governor’s palace is where our Gospel reading picks up the story. Wearied by all His beatings, Jesus wasn’t able to carry His own cross the whole the way. So a man in the crowd, named Simon of Cyrene, was forced to carry it for Him. I should interject here that no devout Jew would ever willingly touch a cross because it was an instrument of death and it would defile them. More than that, death by the cross was for cursed souls and therefore no Jew wanted anything to do with one.
Eventually, they ended up at the execution spot: Golgotha. It’s a Hebrew word that means “skull.” By the way, Calvary is just the Latin word for the same thing. Why was it called the place of the “skull”? Most likely it was because the name carried a dual meaning. First, if you’ll look at page 11 of your bulletin, you’ll see a picture of one of the possible sites for Golgotha. From a distance, the two sunken holes in the face of the rock can look like eye sockets. There used to be a stony protrusion under the eye sockets that resembled a nose, but it broke off a few years ago during an earthquake. The whole point being that this hill from a distance looked like a skull.
The second possible reason for the name was this is the place where the Romans would regularly do their crucifixions. Gruesome, painful deaths occurred here. Dead bodies of criminals hung on those crosses for days while carnivorous birds pecked away at their flesh. Nearby was a cemetery where Joseph of Arimathea’s tomb was carved out of the rock. Ironically, at the site you see in that picture, Muslims control the top of the hill above it and have made it into a cemetery. Not because they believe that Jesus was crucified there, but they did it to mock and insult Christians. What I would have you see, though, is that everything associated with this hill has to do with death. Then, as now, a skull was the symbol for death. So it was fitting that this location was commonly known as, Golgotha, “the Place of a Skull.” That is to say, “the place of death.”
That is where the Son of God was taken to be killed. He died there like any other man would have. But His death was far worse. His extreme agony was brought on by several factors. First, He was sinless and therefore totally innocent of any wrongdoing. However, He took upon Himself the sins of the whole world. It made Him into the most despicable sinner of all. And He suffered pure hell on the cross because of that. I’m not talking about flames and burning torment. Rather, I’m referring to the worst pain of hell, which is the total separation from God’s gracious presence. That’s why Jesus cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Then, having paid the penalty for all our sins, the Creator of all life gave up His life. In complete trust, He commended His precious spirit to God the Father.
Now if this were an ordinary death then it wouldn’t be a big deal. It would be just another death at a place that was utilized for causing death. But in a strange reversal, the death of Jesus Christ brought about the death of our deaths. Let me repeat that. The death of Jesus Christ brought about the death of our deaths. Think back to the Garden of Eden. When Adam and Eve sinned, death came into the world and reigned over mankind. But as St. Paul tells us, Jesus is the new Adam who has brought life to overcome the death we inherited from our first parents. Remember Genesis 3:15? When the Lord cursed the tempter, He promised that Satan and all his power would be destroyed by a Savior whom He would send. He said, “ I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall crush your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” And that’s precisely what Christ did on Golgotha. By His death, at the place known as “the skull,” Jesus crushed Satan’s skull. That is to say, He crushed and destroyed the devil’s power by wiping out our sins. As St. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 15, the sting of death is sin. With sin destroyed, death has no claim on us. It can no longer threaten us. By His death Christ has put to death our eternal death.
Christian friends, that’s why we can truly call this Good Friday. In Baptism we were united with Jesus and His saving death. Through faith in Jesus our old sinful nature was hung on the cross with Him and put to death. His death was a good thing because it brought to us new life. And so, we commemorate this holy day by receiving the very body and blood, which hung upon the tree for our salvation. In the Lord’s Supper, we are united again with our precious Savior who overcame death for us. Yes, we look at Golgotha and see the immense price that Christ paid for our sins. We repent and mourn over our sins that put Him there. But we also rejoice in knowing that death could not hold our Lord and Savior. He is our living head and in Him we have everlasting life. To Him be the glory now and forever. Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria!