Luke 23:32–38 (ESV)
Two others, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments. And the people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!” The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.”
At first, this passage feels like a list of disconnected details, but it’s actually a painting of a very disturbing scene.
Picture this. They’ve walked up to the place that is called The Skull. Scholars aren’t sure how it got that name. It may have been a rock formation shaped like a skull.
However, since they often left people on the cross until animals had picked their bones clean, The Skull could have been a reference to what people noticed most when they were there. Then again, in that case the name probably would have been The Smell.
There they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. That’s three crosses with Jesus on the middle one.
And the people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at him … The soldiers also mocked him. The crowd is large and varied. Notice that Jesus is getting all the attention.
Jesus says, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Who are “they”? Well, in the sentence before and the sentence after this, “they” refers to the soldiers.
Jesus is praying for the guys who are killing Him.
And they cast lots to divide his garments.
What you think this means, that they stripped Him down to His skivvies? Crucifixion was designed to be degrading. Art depicting His crucifixion is done tastefully, but that conceals how distasteful it really was.
Jesus died naked.
Christians have many strong feelings when we think about what Jesus did on the cross: shame, horror, guilt, thankfulness—the list is endless.
But there’s one we lack—nausea. Somewhere along the way, crucifixion got sanitized. We call it horrible, but we don’t really know how horrible it was. People who lived with crucifixion had awful sounds and smells living in their heads 24/7.
That’s exactly how Rome designed it.
