Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - The Importance of the Cross | Torah | Deuteronomy 21

Episode Date: October 24, 2022

What is the point of the crucifixion? Why do Christians wear crosses? Is it important to know how Jesus died? In today’s episode, Keith uses Deuteronomy 21 to discuss the importance of Jesus dying on a cross and what it means for Christians. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: Deuteronomy 21

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Keith Simon. In 1995, an article in The New York Times described an evergreen conflict over whether a city would display holiday decorations associated with a particular faith. In this instance, the city was Columbus, Ohio, and the city government had decided against allowing a cross on public grounds. Because, and here's the quote, the cross is the quintessential symbol. of the Christian faith. The authorities permitted a Christmas tree and a menorah, but according to the article, when someone in Columbus tried to erect a cross on public property, the agency refused

on grounds that, and here yet another quote, unlike the other symbols, the cross was an exclusively religious symbol. I'd like to say that Columbus, Ohio, got it right. The city recognized the unique status of the cross. And yet, I wonder if describing the cross as a religious symbol is the right way to think about it. Most Christians probably wouldn't question that designation. They might even say, well, of course the cross is a religious symbol. Yet at the most fundamental level, the cross isn't religious at all. In fact, the cross marks out the essential distinction between Christianity and religion. Fleming Rutledge, a theologian, said, the cross is irreligious because no human being individually or human beings collectively would have projected their hopes, wishes, longings, and

needs onto a crucified man. In a PBS television series all the way back in 1981, the narrator said, Christianity is the only major religion to have as its central focus, the suffering and degradation of its God. The crucifixion is so familiar to us and so moving that it is hard to realize how unusual it is as an image of God. The Bible doesn't put the focus on the fact that Jesus died. I mean, it's not unique to it.

die, everyone dies. And the Bible doesn't spotlight that Jesus' death was tragic. Many of our heroes died tragically. You don't have to think long or hard to come up with examples from President Lincoln to Dr. King. The focus of the New Testament isn't on the fact that Jesus died. It's on how he died. The way Jesus died is more important than that he died. Jesus was crucified by Roman authorities at the request of some of the religious leaders. In the crucifixion, the Jewish and Roman worlds come together to kill the Son of God. Here is Deuteronomy 2123. If a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death and you hang him on a tree,

his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day. For a hanged man is cursed by God. Did you catch that? A man who has put to death on a tree is rejected by his people and cursed by God. The Romans didn't invent crucifixion, but they may have perfected it. The honor, or maybe it's best to say dishonor, of inventing crucifixion belongs to the Assyrians all the way back in the 6th century BC. At the time, it was a new way to kill people that didn't just end a person's life, but it also

commanded respect and fear and obedience from the populace, which is exactly what the Assyrians wanted. It's what they found valuable. And so they were doing more than just punishing a criminal. They were sending a message. If you'd lived in the ancient world, it's very likely that you'd seen scores of people crucified. You would have heard them die. You would have watched their agony. You would have seen their bodies decomposing while you walked by them on your way to the market. victims of crucifixion often wore signs around their necks displaying the reasons for their death, making it clear to all not only what activities ought to be avoided, but also who was in charge. On a crucifix, the executed often hung for days until their organs failed and their body succumbed to shock.

With arms extended, victims were forced to sit on a small peg attached to the cross, which extended their life and kept them from dying too quickly. In order to maximize its gory effect, victims would be severely beaten and flogged before being tied or nailed to the cross. After a victim died, the corpse was left to bake in the sun and decompose. And after a few weeks, the mangled body would simply rot and fall off the cross. Citizens of Rome couldn't be crucified. That form of execution was reserved for slaves, the powerless. When Jesus went to the cross, he identified with, the powerless, the vulnerable, the outsider. Crucifixion was painful, immensely painful,

horribly painful, but the worst part of crucifixion was that it was humiliating and degrading. It was the ultimate insult to personal dignity. That was a feature, not a bug. In other words, the shame wasn't an unintended byproduct. Shame was the whole point. That's why crucifixions were done in very public places and bodies were left naked to be eaten by the birds. When we say that Jesus Christ took upon himself the sin of the world, it means quite specifically that he suffered the shame and the degradation that human beings have inflicted on one another, which of course he didn't deserve. In a culture where the cross has become a religious symbol, where the cross has been turned

into jewelry or displayed as artwork, it's difficult to understand how offensive the cross was in the first century, because we have domesticated it. idealized it. Well-intentioned people searching for something to compare the cross to have often reached for the electric chair. They've asked, would you wear a necklace with an electric chair on it? Can you imagine putting an electric chair in your sanctuary? Well, of course, there are similarities between the cross and the chair. For example, most people killed in the electric chair are poor and without political connections. The Romans didn't crucify the rich or the powerful. But there are also very important differences between the electric chair and the cross.

Electrocutions were designed to be quick and as humane as putting someone to death can be. Crucifixion was designed to intensify and prolong agony. The person killed in the electric chair had a hood placed over their head, whereas the crucifixion was public so that it would intimidate others. Many were crucified along roadways forcing travelers to observe them. they sent a message that the person being crucified was human scum not fit to live here's fleming rutledge again crucifixion as a means of execution in the roman empire had as its express purpose the elimination of victims from consideration as members of the human race it cannot be said too strongly that was its function it was meant to indicate to all who might be toying with subversive ideas that crucified persons were not of the same species as either the executioners or the spectators and were therefore not only expendable but also deserving of extermination therefore the mocking and jeering that accompanied crucifixion were not only allowed

they were part of the spectacle they were programmed into it in a sense crucifixion was a form of entertainment everyone understood that the specific role of the passerby was to exacerbate the dehumanization the degradation of the person who had been designated to be crucified. Crucifixion was cleverly designed, you might even say diabolically designed, to be an almost theatrical reenactment of the sadistic and inhumane impulses that lie within human beings. According to the Christian gospel, the Son of God voluntarily and purposefully absorbed all that, drawing it into himself. Jesus bore our guilt and shame and indignity and judgment on the cross. That's why the Apostle Paul quotes Deuteronomy 21 when he writes,

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written. Cursed is everyone who has hung on a tree. Jesus bore our judgment. Jesus bore our shame. Jesus bore our guilt. bore our guilt. Praise be to God. Thank you, Jesus, for what you have done for me. Amen. Hey, thanks for listening. If you want to go deeper, sign up for the 10-minute Bible Talk

newsletter. You'll get a short email once a week. It'll challenge you to grow in your faith, give you interesting background on today's passage, and a lot, lot more. Just click the link in the show notes to sign up. It'll help you deepen your journey with Jesus.