Crucifixion was one of the most painful capital punishments during the Roman rule. The victim carried the heavy cross to the site of execution. Nails as large as ten inches were driven on the wrists and the ankles to fix the body to the cross by soldiers who had been trained to remain stony-hearted during the process. Add to it the scourging and the beating by the rod that preceded the crucifixion. Jesus’s back resembled a plowed land filled with furrows. As a special case, Jesus also had to bear the pain of the thorny crown that was drilled into His head. Excruciating physical pain comparable to nothing a human can bear!

The mocking of the Jewish onlookers, the ridiculing of the Roman soldiers, and the scoffing of the Jewish authorities all targeted at the Son of man on the cross was too much mental torture for an innocent Man who always went about doing good for the people. Being crucified between two criminals/ thieves added to the humiliating social stigma.

The emotional pain of leaving behind His mother (who by that time was a middle-aged widow) and His loved ones and His disciples who He loved to the very end was definitely unbearable.

Above all, the thought of losing communion with God the Father, though only for a moment, was the chief cause of the agony that the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God went through for the sake of mankind. It was a whole lot more than and no way near what Mel Gibson was portraying in “The Passion of Christ”. The extreme pain was more spiritual than just the physical, the emotional, and the mental.

Jesus spoke at least seven times while on the cross.
1. Unfeigned Forgiveness – for His torturers, He said to God, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do” – Luk 23:34.
2. Undiminished Hope – to the repenting thief He promised, “Verily I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in paradise”. – Luk 23:43.
3. Unfailing care – He consoled His mother, “Woman, behold thy son!”; pointing to His disciple (John?), “Behold thy mother” – John 19:26, 27.
4. Unendurable pain: - He cried to His heavenly Father, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” – Matt 27:46.
5. Unquenchable thirst – to the crucifiers that stood around Him, “I thirst” – John 19:28.
6. Unparalleled victory - to all stakeholders and especially at the pursuing enemy, “It is finished” – John 19:30.
7. Unhesitant submission – to God with the hope of resurrection, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit” – Luke 23:46.

…Jesus …said, “It is finished”: and He bowed His head and gave up the ghost. – John 19:30. “It is finished” was definitely not a defeatist’s sob of an unsuccessful bid to escape death. Not a coward’s submission to his antagonist. Nor was it a quitter’s last words of lost hope. It was a triumphant pronouncement of an unmatched Victor over the vanquished enemy. It was the Conqueror’s brave declaration of a comprehensive conquest of the defeated adversary. It was the Hero’s clarion shout of His glorious feat over his trounced fiend.

The veil at the Jewish temple rent from top to bottom signifying that the way to the Holy place was now open for everyone who would approach God in faith – no more restricted to the priests for an annual ritual.

The death of the Creator sent His creation berserk. The earth shook, the rocks were split apart, the sun went dark and the birds of the air rushed to their nests though it was only around three in the afternoon.

The Son of God condescended as the Son of man and died on the cross bearing the sin of the world on Himself. He whole-heartedly honored His commitment of being slain as the Lamb of God which was planned even before the foundation of the world and executed in time right here on earth. He, as a Man, submitted His will completely to God and executed the plan of God perfectly.

Foolish Satan was elated at the death of his foe. He achieved the very thing he had very seriously been pursuing from the Garden of Eden. With the help of his seed that he had been spawning from that day of the curse at Eden, he had finally managed to put an end to the threat that was looming above his head – the threat to his very own existence. Satan must have had a sigh of relief – “Thank God (!), the last chapter has ended!”

Really?

It was Satan’s pride that blinded him completely to the power of the Almighty God. Old habits die hard! The dragon still believed that he would rise above the Almighty. Had he not heard the Lord speak about “the serpent bruising the heel of the Seed of the woman” and “the Seed of the woman bruising the head of the serpent”? Was he so naive to understand the difference between the head and the heel? Or was he too old to forget that he was the one referred to in the Scriptures as the Old Serpent?

This statement “It is finished” from the cross at Calvary and that from the mouth of the Son of Man started echoing everywhere, especially in the ears (ears!) of the Old Serpent. It was telling him something was seriously wrong in his celebration of the “murder of the Prince of life”. Was this just an oxymoron or has it more meaning in the “Prince” part of it? This fearful thought gave him sleepless nights at least for the next two days as he had heard Jesus talk about His resurrection – and that, even from His early days of ministry – “Destroy this Temple, and in three days I will raise It up”. – (John 2:19). So, he made the authorities roll a big stone at the entrance of His tomb and employ a strict vigil by the soldiers lest anything extraordinary happened. The simpleton thought that these would keep the Lord dead forever. Ridiculous! Because the extraordinary did happen!