The Cross and Coronavirus
By Andy Young
As we face the Coronavirus pandemic and the ensuing isolation it has enforced on our world, we need to remember that our experience of loneliness is nothing compared to that of Jesus Christ on the cross. The Gospel writers are at pains to highlight this reality for Christ – that his crucifixion and death was marked by rejection, abandonment, and solitary isolation. Take Matthew for example and note the cumulative impact in chapter 27 as he relentlessly records the increasing rejection of Jesus Christ:
The crowds reject Christ (v15-18). They bay for his blood. They would rather Barabbas was released than Jesus. They do not want him. In fact, they want him killed.
The chief priest and elders reject Christ (v20 & 41-42). More, they mock and deride him. They bait him to come off the cross if he is who he claims to be.
Pilate rejects Christ (v26). Despite knowing he is innocent, and even saying so, he hands him over to be crucified. Matthew even notes that Pilate’s wife wants nothing to do with him (v19).
The Roman soldiers reject Christ (v27-31). The whole battalion gather. They make a public spectacle of Jesus. They use mockery of the worst kind – stripping him, putting a scarlet robe and a crown of thorns on him. They spit on him and pretend to honour him. He is on his own surrounded by hostile, jeering, and bloodthirsty soldiers.
The charge (titulus) condemns Christ (v37) – “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.” The words say it all as they drip with sarcasm - what kind of king is this … bleeding, bruised and crucified?
The passers-by deride him (v40). They throw his own words back at him. They laugh at his predictions. They taunt him to come off the cross.
Even the robbers condemn him (v44). Though we know from Luke that one of them is amazingly saved, they both initially revile him. Though they are crucified with him, they distance themselves from him through their mocking jibes.
Can you see what his happening here? Everyone is rejecting and condemning Jesus. Anyone who comes into contact with him distance themselves from him. Add to this that his own disciples have already fled from him and we have a picture of someone who is totally isolated; solitary in his affliction. Jesus is alone.
As if this was not atrocious enough, Matthew highlights further rejections that would have served to make Christ’s isolation all the more stark.
The Devil rejects Christ. In the words of the passers by in v40 we have an echo of the words of the great Tempter himself from Matthew 4:3 & 6. Simply compare what they say: “If you are the Son of God …” Satan himself is taunting, mocking, insulting and tempting Christ in these words.
Golgotha signifies Christ’s rejection. Jesus is “led out” (v32) of the city of Jerusalem. Golgotha was outside the city walls. In Jewish law anything unclean, diseased or sinful was taken outside the city. Hebrews 13:11-12 sheds light on the significance of this. Christ was made a reproach. He died in the place of reproach to signify his rejection, even from the promised city of David.
The law pronounces Christ’s rejection. Deuteronomy 21:22-33 is clear – cursed is anyone who dies on a tree. Dying on a cross was for the Jews a horror. His was ultimate shame. He suffered the worst of fates as the law itself condemned him.
Creation marks Christ’s rejection. In Matthew 27:45 darkness descends over the land. It is as if creation itself was renouncing the God-man. More, recalling Exodus 10:21-22 and the ninth plague of Egypt, darkness acts as a precursor to the tenth and worst of all plagues – the death of the firstborn. The curses of God, usually reserved for the enemies of God, are now poured out on Christ.
God forsakes Christ (v46). These words of our Saviour are surely the worst to have been uttered in all of history. They are also some of the hardest to understand. Leaving the mysteries of what is happening here to one side, we can simply note that Christ experienced the realities of David in Psalm 22. He is in some way knowing and feeling the worst of all rejections – a rejection by God himself. The confusion among some of the bystanders that Christ was calling out to Elijah would have magnified this. Not too long before Jesus was with Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matthew 17). There the voice of God spoke from heaven confirming his love for his Son. Yet here, at this moment, there is just silence. Nothing. No reply. The heavens remain closed. God does not answer. Christ is alone.
Can you see the cumulative impact of this? Jesus is utterly and completely rejected. He is abandoned – by everyone and everything. He is on his own. He is totally and altogether isolated.
Far from pitying Jesus, we should glory in him. Despite his impeccable innocence, Christ willingly and voluntarily becomes the rejected one in our place and for our sakes. Not only does this put our current isolation in perspective, it teaches us two lessons that should bring us to our knees in wonder and praise this Easter time.
First, Christ on the cross reveals the true horror of sin. He is condemned as a sinner, and he experiences the rejection that sin and sinners deserve. He becomes sin. It is as if he is THE sinner. The ONLY sinner in the whole world. And he is rejected and condemned and crucified as such. This should make us balk at the sheer abhorrence of sin. It should make us hate the sin that drove the Saviour to the cross.
Second, Christ on the cross reveals to us the love of God. We have to ask the question why? Why did Jesus do this? Why did the Father send the Son to die in such a way? Why did Jesus so meekly and mildly submit himself to such rejection and isolation? The answer is almost too wonderful to comprehend. It is because he loved sinners! He loved his people so much that he became our sin, so that we might become his righteousness. He was rejected so we would be accepted. He was condemned so we would be acquitted. He was cast off so we would be brought in. He was wounded so we would be healed. His isolation on the cross for sin secured our acceptance with God as his children.
And so as many of us struggle this Easter with loneliness, isolation and social distancing, let us remember that Jesus Christ knew an isolation that we will never need to know. And that in his rejection and abandonment we have our welcome and eternal inheritance. Surely the words of Matthew Henry should become our song this Easter, despite the pandemic:
Come, and see the victories of the cross. Christ's wounds are thy healings, His agonies thy repose, His conflicts thy conquests, His groans thy songs, His pains thine ease, His shame thy glory, His death thy life, His sufferings thy salvation.
