This man (Joseph) went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then he took it down and wrapped it in a linen shroud and laid him in a tomb cut in stone, where no one had ever yet been laid.Luke 23:52-53
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Can you imagine being the person to take Jesus's body off of the cross?
Stop and think for a second about how Jesus died.
Jesus wasn't a man who went peacefully in the night. People didn't wake up one morning to find him motionless in his bed, appearing as though he were still asleep. He wasn't admitted to a hospital months in advance, so that his loved ones could anticipate his passing. He didn't have a heart attack or a stroke or cancer. Jesus did not die of natural causes.
No, Jesus was murdered.
A Violent Death
One of his disciples - one of his friends - betrayed him and turned him into the authorities. He was led away by men who mocked and beat him, blindfolding him and demanding that he prophecy and declare which one of them had struck him. They clothed him in a purple robe and forced a crown of thorns on his head as they mockingly saluted him, "Hail King of the Jews!"
After being whipped and beaten to a bloody pulp, they made him carry a cross - the very instrument that in a few hours would kill him. When they made it to Golgotha, the place where he would die, they took a hammer and drove seven-inch-long nails into his hands and feet. He hung on that cross, blood dripping from his head, his hands, his feet, every inch of his body where they had whipped and beat him, for six long hours before he finally suffocated to death.
After being whipped and beaten to a bloody pulp, they made him carry a cross - the very instrument that in a few hours would kill him. When they made it to Golgotha, the place where he would die, they took a hammer and drove seven-inch-long nails into his hands and feet. He hung on that cross, blood dripping from his head, his hands, his feet, every inch of his body where they had whipped and beat him, for six long hours before he finally suffocated to death.
And now, this man, Joseph, a good and righteous person who did not consent to this murder, stumbles upon this scene and chooses to deal with the aftermath of it all.
He didn't walk up and find a peaceful, sleeping Jesus. He didn't walk up to a hospital bed or into a home to find a clean, untouched body. No, he walked up to a broken and mangled corpse hanging on a tree. Every gash on his body, each nail that pierced him, every thorn sticking
out of his skull, every drop of blood that trickled onto
the ground, screamed of a violent death. Joseph walked up and found a lifeless, bloody mess, nearly irrecognizable as the Messiah, the Savior, God's Anointed.
Can You Imagine?
Can you imagine being this man? Can you imagine stepping through puddles of Jesus' blood just to get to his broken body? Can you imagine pulling the rusty nails out of the flesh of his hands and feet? Can you imagine prying the thorns out of his head while looking at his face still set in pain? Can you imagine holding a red stained cloth as you washed the blood off of his body? Can you imagine looking down at your hands stained red with the blood of an innocent man? And not just any innocent man's blood: Joseph had God's blood on his hands.
I can't fathom being this man. Once upon a time, I wanted to be a doctor, but then I discovered that I feel faint just at the thought of blood, so that dream quickly died. I can't even stand the sight of my own blood when I nick a finger, so the idea of looking at Jesus's lifeless body, let alone sinking my hands in his blood while taking him off of the cross, makes me feel faint. I cringe just at the thought of it.
I put myself in Joseph's place to try to imagine what it must have been like, what thoughts must have gone through his head, what it must have felt like to clean up the aftermath of this torture. I picture myself kneeling over Jesus's body, tears falling and mixing with his blood. I see myself resisting the urge to throw up at the smell. I see myself with that cloth in my hand, hesitating because I don't even know where to begin. I imagine wiping over the deep cuts and wounds covering his body, feeling the beat of each one on my own back. I imagine stopping to look down at my hands covered in his blood, remembering that it was I who abandoned him, my King, at his darkest hour. I hear the guilty thought screaming in my head, loud and clear.
This is blood that I spilled.
This is blood that I spilled.
I imagine Joseph being alone for some time because of that thought alone, permeating through the Israelites, Jesus's own people. They had either shouted for him to be crucified, ran away from the scene, or denied even knowing him. There was guilt in their hearts.
Jesus died a gruesome death, and it happened because those whom he came to serve put him on that cross. His blood was all over their hands.
Endless Grace
After Jesus rose from the dead and was taken up into Heaven, Peter stood before the people and delivered a profound sermon, so powerful that by the end, 3,000 were saved. In it, he brutally reminds the people of the part they played in the death of Jesus.
"Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know - this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men."(Acts 2:22-23, emphasis added)
The Jews crucified and killed Jesus, even though he performed mighty works during his ministry, making it clear that he was God's Messiah. They mocked him, spat on him, and beat him. They allowed a guilty man to escape with his life while a sinless servant was hung on a tree. They were guilty of murder. His blood was on their hands.
Understanding this, they were "cut to the heart." Desperate and convicted of their sin, they asked Peter, "What shall we do?"
I'm sure Peter couldn't wait to deliver this glorious news.
"Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." (v. 38)
The people of Israel had killed God's own Son, but if they would repent, then the atoning sacrifice of Christ would wash them white as snow. Even this is forgivable in the eyes of God.
Isn't this great news?
Murder. Abandonment. Denial. Fear. Betrayal. Mocking. Spitting. Beating. If all of these things can be forgiven, even when done to God Himself, what makes you think that your sin is beyond forgiveness?
Believe me, it's not.
No matter how far you've fallen, no matter who you've hurt, no matter what you've said, no matter what has been done to you, no matter how long it's been happening, no matter how deep you're caught in it, no matter how much it hurts - nothing is beyond the forgiveness of God.
You might feel unforgivable, but God doesn't see you as such. Even though His blood drips from your hands, He is ready to wipe them clean with forgiveness. He has already showed that it's possible.
Will you turn to him, my friend? Maybe it's for the first time. Maybe it's for the thousandth time. We never escape the need for repentance. But praise Him that His mercies know no end. Praise Him that His grace is an ocean we're sinking in. Praise Him that He loves us.
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"What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died - more than that, who was raised - who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? [...] No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Romans 8:31-35, 37-39
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