Mercy at the Cross? Nothing seemed to change on earth the day Jesus was crucified. Or did it? For whom?

 Mercy at the Cross? Nothing seemed to change on earth the day Jesus was crucified. Or did it? For whom?

I am referring of course to the crucifixion of Jesus from Nazareth by the occupying Romans  in Jerusalem around CE 30. I have been studying the Gospel of Mark for a couple of months and some of what follows really became apparent to me today.

For the twelve men who had spent the greater part of the previous three years with Jesus it seemed that the proverbial “bottom had fallen out of their world.” What happened that day certainly did not seem to have any redeeming qualities as far as they could see - at the time. For one of them, Judas, unfortunately, the bottom did fall out of his world. He had betrayed Jesus to the authorities who had been crowding around all week hoping to catch a moment when they could arrest Jesus. If you are familiar with the story, you know he had a change of heart when he saw what happened to his former Master and when he saw no way out, committed suicide.

It was really no different for the women who had also been traveling with Jesus and, according to the records, supporting him financially and otherwise from their means. They appear to have been braver than their male counterparts of whom we hear nothing once the process that culminated in the crucifixion began, except for John, who often seems to identify himself as “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” Perhaps that expressed his sense of deeper personal devotion to Jesus than he perhaps saw in his peers. It might also have reflected the apparent fact that he outlived his eleven friends and might have been the only one not to die a martyr’s death. In any case, he was at the cross, as witness the report that Jesus saw him and asked him to take care of his mother, Mary. 

Otherwise, there certainly did not seem to be anything of mercy in what happened that day. At least not for Jesus’ followers. However, there were two other men crucified with Jesus. Now, the normal Roman custom was to leave their victims hanging until they died of a cumulation of dehydration, fatigue, pain, lung congestion and heart failure. That could apparently involve 2-3 days of unimaginable suffering. However, this crucifixion event happened during a day on which the holiest of Jewish Sabbaths began at 6 PM, that of their most important and longest running ‘feast’, Passover. 

Now, the Romans weren’t generally inclined to make accommodations for the people they conquered. But perhaps because the Jews were such endless trouble, forever rebelling, they had granted them that no bodies would remain on crosses over the Sabbath day. So, in keeping with that, if those being crucified had not died in time to take their bodies down by the beginning of Sabbath, they had a way to hasten their death. 

One of the reasons victims could live so long was that they could push themselves up against the spikes driven through their ankles and feet, the better to inhale, to breathe. It would have been too humane for the cruel Romans, or maybe not quick enough, to simply remove the spikes from the ankles and let the bodies hang, in which case suffocation would have happened soon enough. They had a method that added more pain and suffering for as long as the victims remained alive to experience it. They broke their legs! The same goal was accomplished but far less pleasantly. 

The soldiers ere probably happy to be performing these crucifixions on this day. It meant they got to go home sooner. The record states that Jesus died around 3 PM. That was about the time when the soldiers decided to hasten their charges’ demise. They broke the legs of the other two men first and when they came to Jesus, they realized he already seemed to be dead. He was spared one more indignity. A little mercy?

When you think about it, the circumstances just described actually also meant a little mercy in a way for the other two victims. They got to die that day instead of having their dying dragged out over days. One of them, as we also know from the story, got a lot more mercy than that. In fact, he was the first to really experience the mercy that Jesus’ death actualized, but which was not realized by anyone else until he came back to life and had to teach his disciples all about the cosmic and eternal significance of what had just happened. 

At first both criminals taunted Jesus, just like most of the others watching or even passing by. However, one, knowing Jesus was innocent and evidently coming to believe that there must be something to these accusations of his being the Messiah that were being hurled at Jesus, eventually felt moved to call out to him, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Perhaps he knew more of Jesus’ good life and that it had led to many really wanting him to be their Messiah, the promised one who would set all things right for them and restore their kingdom. Jesus, knowing what was in the man’s heart, saw what he needed to see and promised the man, “Most assuredly, today you will be with me in paradise.” There is no greater mercy than that. 

Was there not also mercy for Jesus’ mother and his beloved John? Whether Jesus was the eldest or only child of Mary’s, either way he was, as a son, responsible for her future into old age. He discharged that duty on the cross by asking John to take over for him. Mercy for Mary! And perhaps John’s long life was also a mercy. Mercy at the cross indeed!