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Hundreds of years before Christ was born, Jewish prophets foretold the manner of His death. What happened at the crucifixion of Jesus Christ?
A 1,000 years before the crucifixion of Christ, King David wrote Psalm 22. Follow the link for the full chapter, but for now I want to concentrate on a few key verses.
15 my strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaves to my jaws; thou dost lay me in the dust of death.16 Yea, dogs are round about me; a company of evildoers encircle me; they have pierced my hands and feet—17 I can count all my bones—they stare and gloat over me; 18 they divide my garments among them, and for my raiment they cast lots.
They pierced my hands and my feet. I count all my bones.
Crucifixion is the nailing to and then the hanging on a cross of a sentenced criminal. Struggling to breathe the death process is brutal and agonizing. The earliest dates for crucifixion are from the 5th century BC in Persia. This prophecy of King David was 500 years before that.
King David prophesied about the Messiah being crucified and surrounded by evil men who divided his clothes and cast lots for them. In the gospel record, we see that the Roman soldiers did exactly that.[1] Usually to hasten the death of the criminal, the soldiers would break the legs of the hanged making it impossible to breathe. The soldiers broke the legs of the other criminals crucified with Jesus, but when they got to Him, He had already died.[2] None of His bones were broken, which means that He was a perfect sacrificial victim.
The prophet Isaiah goes into a little more detail regarding the reason the innocent was sacrificed in his prophecy 750 years before Christ was born.
4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth.
It is important to remember that Jesus Christ was innocent. Though sentenced by the world to death, God raised Him from the dead because He was innocent. The Lord Jesus was spotless, tempted in every way and yet without sin.[3]
Why then was He crucified? Why did God allow this?
Jesus is God and He willingly went to cross, why?
He was wounded for our transgressions.
He was bruised for our iniquities.
He carried our sorrows. He borne our griefs. He was chastised for our peace. By His stripes we are healed.
The Lord laid on Him the sin of us all.
The Lord Jesus Christ willingly surrendered Himself to the cross for our sakes. He took our sin to the cross. He was the willingly lamb. He is the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.[4]
Remember, the whole human race is accountable to God.[5] All of us have sinned and failed to give God His due.[6] We have all failed in loving God and our neighbor. We have all rejected His authority and like sheep have gone our own way.[7] The wages of sin is death.[8] Our sin has caused deep wounds.
God created us for fellowship, and yet our sins caused a divide. We need reconciliation with God. The Cross is God’s response to reconciliation.
13 And you, who were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 having canceled the bond which stood against us with its legal demands; this he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the principalities and powers and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in him.
On the cross, Christ canceled the bond against us. He nailed to the cross all that was written against us. He borne our griefs. He carried our sorrows. Truly, as Isaiah prophesied, the Lord laid the sin of us all upon Him. He died for our sins.
He died for your sins.
This is the great exchange. Our sins for His righteousness. The cross is where God’s justice and His mercy, kiss.
Maybe right now the Holy Spirit is drawing you. Maybe you are starting to realize that you do have sin. Sin that you have not dealt with before. The Spirit of God is convicting you. God does not reveal what He does not want to heal. Confession leads to mercy.[9]
We are on a journey with this salvation series and there is more, much more to get into, but if the Spirit of God is tugging on you, I can’t leave you there. Here are two prayers that you can pray right now to get you on the right path. Pray these prayers from your heart.
The Act of Contrition
O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended You
And I detest all of my sins because I dread the loss of heaven and the pains of hell.
But most of all, because they offend You, my God,
Who are all good and deserving of all my love.
I firmly resolve, with the help of Your grace, to confess my sins, to do penance and to amend my life. Amen.
Spiritual Communion
By St. Alphonsus Liguori
My Jesus I believe that You are present in the Most Blessed Sacrament.
I love You above all things, and I desire to receive You into my soul.
Since I cannot receive You sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart.
I embrace You as if You were already come, and I unite myself wholly to You.
Never permit me to be separated from You.
These prayers are not enough. Ultimately, you need to get plugged into the Church. The Church was given to us to receive the healing balm for our lives. If you are not a part of a parish, find one. The Catholic Church is all over the world. Go and tell them that you want to join the Church. They will guide you from there.
The Lord Jesus willingly went to the cross for you for us. He suffered as a condemned criminal although completely innocent, so that we who are guilty could become righteous. The Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all and by His stripes we are healed.
Live repentance. Be zealous. In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen
May 14, 2025, Wednesday Fourth Week of Easter
[1] Mark 15:24
[2] John 19:31-33
[3] Hebrews 4:15
[4] John 1:36
[5] Romans 3:19
[6] Romans 3:23
[7] Isaiah 53:6
[8] Romans 6:23
[9] Proverbs 28:13
Be Zealous 
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