Jesus in the Center
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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. (John 19:17-18)
On that day at Calvary, Jesus wasn’t the only one to die on cross. There were two others with Him, one on either side, and Jesus in the center.
Yes, Jesus was in the center. This was literally true; of the three crosses, Jesus was in the middle. Yet as a concept, there are many ways that it could be said that it was Jesus in the center.
Jesus was centered among humanity. From His incarnation, through His whole life, Jesus 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 the Savior 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 was kind of amusing.
Jesus was centered between believing and rejecting. Matthew 27:44 told us that both robbers mocked Him, but Luke 23:39-41 tells us of a change in one of the criminals. Before His death, the last human voice to tell the truth about Jesus was a criminal converted at the last moment.
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. Not with a sermon, but with every sermon He had already preached, every righteous deed He had done before. 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 lost to saved, you must go through Jesus.
Jesus was centered between God and man. Jesus on the cross 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.
On that most special of days, Jesus Christ was in the center. Is He in the center of your life?
Click here for David’s commentary on John 19