What Jesus Did! 'My Salvation, Not His Own' — Matthew 27:38-40

It is truly hard for us to imagine the shame and indignity that crucifixion was for Jesus. The very word "crucify" was considered too crude for people with any dignity to use in conversation. It was a punishment reserved for only the worst of criminals or the scum-of-the-earth lower class criminals. Roman citizens could not be crucified. It was a curse to be crucified, or "hung on a tree," in the Jewish idiom. The Romans used it to cast fear into the hearts of their subjects, including the Jewish people, so they would not become too independent minded. It was to humiliate them with a brutal statement made in public about what would happen to anyone who dared to challenge Roman authority.

At Jesus' crucifixion, there were two criminals on other crosses. But to bring salvation, the lone innocent on a cross had to withhold his power as Son of God. If he chose to save himself, we would have lost our chance to be saved. He became our sin offering, our atoning sacrifice, the bearer of our sins.

He bore indignity, humiliation, rejection, torture, ridicule, mockery, cruelty, and our sin so we could stand before God clean, pure, holy, and without blemish. He withheld salvation for himself so he could offer it to you and me!