The Cross: Jesus in the Center

John 19:17-18 - And He, bearing His cross, went out to a place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha, where they crucified Him, and two others with Him, one on either side, and Jesus in the center.

And two others with Him, one on either side, and Jesus in the center: There were three scheduled for crucifixion on that day, the two others and Barabbas. Jesus took the place of Barabbas. This was another way that Jesus was identified with sinners in His death.

Jesus was literally in the middle of the three crosses. Yet as a concept, there are many ways in which it was Jesus in the center.

· Jesus was centered among humanity. Jesus never distanced Himself from common men, and He freely interacted with those thought to be great men. From His incarnation and throughout His whole life, He lived as one of us. Jesus died among men and women, Jews and Gentiles, rich and poor, high class and no class, the educated and the uneducated, the religious and the secular, the guilty and the innocent, the weepers and the mockers, those deeply moved and those indifferent, those who hated Him and those who loved Him.

· Jesus was centered among sinful men. His enemies thought this would make His sufferings worse. They thought it would bother Him more to see the low company He died with. In His death the righteously religious mocked Him and His disciples forsook Him; yet Jesus was centered among sinners to the end.

· Jesus was centered among confusion. Matthew 27:46-49 tells us that when Jesus cried out in agony to His Father, the people around Him didn’t understand and some even thought it kind of amusing.

· Jesus was centered between believing and rejecting. Matthew 27:44 tells us that both robbers mocked Him, but Luke 23:39-41 tells us of a change in one of the criminals. The last human voice testifying to Jesus was a criminal converted right before his death. The disciples were gone and all the people who Jesus had healed and taught were nowhere to be found. The religious leaders mocked Him and spit upon Him, and even the faithful women were silenced by their grief. Yet there was one lone human voice that told the truth about Jesus when all others were silent.

· Jesus was centered between saved and perishing. The thief on the cross was the last companion of Jesus on this earth before His death – and Jesus brought Him to salvation. This was perhaps the only comfort to Jesus on the cross. Still, one thief was saved, but one was lost, and Jesus was in the center between them. To pass from one side to the other, you must go through Jesus.

· Jesus was centered between God and man. On the cross, Jesus took all the punishment our sin deserved. At the cross, Jesus was both the priest and the offering.

· Jesus was centered in all God’s history and work. We do not look at Jesus in the center with pity, as if we should all feel sorry for poor Jesus. He was the winner at the cross. This was the greatest victory of all time.

Based on The Enduring Word Bible Commentary by David Guzik.