“So he delivered him over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus, and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them. Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, "Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews." Many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek. So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, "Do not write, 'The King of the Jews,' but rather, 'This man said, I am King of the Jews.'" Pilate answered, "What I have written I have written." When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier; also his tunic. But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom, so they said to one another, "Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be." This was to fulfill the Scripture which says, "They divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots." So the soldiers did these things, but standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, "Woman, behold, your son!" Then he said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother!" And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home. After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), "I thirst." A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, "It is finished," and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.” John 19:16-30 ESV
I work at a landfill. That's what I do to earn a living for myself and my family and I take great pride in it. But at the end of the day, I can take all the pride and attempt to pretty it up with colorful descriptions and it is still a landfill. It serves a purpose.
So did Golgotha.
And at the risk of over explaining, there is something that most miss when they read the crucifixion story. Historians and archaeologists have told us that the place on the hill outside of Jerusalem where Jesus breathed His last human breath was in fact a landfill.
I can imagine that most of you have never seen a landfill up close but allow me a moment to describe it. Imagine flies buzzing all over the place. The smell of rot and decay hanging heavy in the air. Every where you walk, everywhere you look is rotting, smelly garbage. That's a landfill but imagine a landfill in Jesus day, it was even worse.
In the time of the Romans, when they made crucifixion an art, often times no one would claim the bodies that they had hung on their crosses so when the individual passed on, the Romans would simply toss them into the trash heap. Then the wild dogs, vultures, and other carrion would have their way with the poor soul whose mortal shell was tossed away like an old Dixie cup. And that is where Jesus was crucified but He wasn't alone.
“Two others, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him.
One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, "Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!" But the other rebuked him, saying, "Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong." And he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." And he said to him, "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise."”
Luke 23:32, 39-43 ESV
I find it pretty awesome that Jesus told one of the men that hung with him he would join Jesus in paradise. Mainly because that day paradise came to a landfill. Jesus was the common connection to make this unlikely event happen.
In my own life, I can be living in the worst of conditions and my soul be worse off but Jesus will still come to me. He came to a landfill and made it paradise. My life may be a complete mess and the vultures and flies are buzzing ever closer with every passing moment but Jesus will come to me still. All because Jesus came to a landfill. It doesn't matter how tough the spot I am in is or how far I run to escape, Jesus will always come because He came to a landfill. There is always hope.
All I have to do is call out to Him with the faith of a heart that believes and He will come jump right in the middle of the trash, mud, and the smell of whatever I find myself in. Three simple words are all that's needed: Jesus rescue me. Words that can be uttered in one single breath. I mean look at the man hanging next to Jesus. I believe God placed him there to show us that we don't have to do anything extra special to gain audience with Him. I don't know exactly what crime he committed but it must have been something pretty bad to end up there that day. But this man saw through the pain of his current state and saw Jesus for who He really was, the Son of God and Savior of the world.
You and I are no different than that man. We aren't better than anyone else. We get audience with Jesus and get to join Him someday because of a prayer of faith. A prayer where we acknowledge that we have absolutely nothing to offer God. We come helpless as the thief on the cross, unable to do anything in our own power to save ourselves. It is a prayer that tells God that He is Lord of our life. That He was innocent but chose to take our punishment and we couldn't be more grateful that He didn't just climb down off the cross and forget about us. But He chose to stay right where He was and finish the work God sent Him to do. God heard my prayer and He will hear yours too. It doesn't have to be elaborate but it must be sincere. You don't have be afraid of being rejected becaause of where you are because Jesus isn't scared of rotting bones or the smell of death. All this happened because a long time ago God came to a landfill.
I work at a landfill. That's what I do to earn a living for myself and my family and I take great pride in it. But at the end of the day, I can take all the pride and attempt to pretty it up with colorful descriptions and it is still a landfill. It serves a purpose.
So did Golgotha.
And at the risk of over explaining, there is something that most miss when they read the crucifixion story. Historians and archaeologists have told us that the place on the hill outside of Jerusalem where Jesus breathed His last human breath was in fact a landfill.
I can imagine that most of you have never seen a landfill up close but allow me a moment to describe it. Imagine flies buzzing all over the place. The smell of rot and decay hanging heavy in the air. Every where you walk, everywhere you look is rotting, smelly garbage. That's a landfill but imagine a landfill in Jesus day, it was even worse.
In the time of the Romans, when they made crucifixion an art, often times no one would claim the bodies that they had hung on their crosses so when the individual passed on, the Romans would simply toss them into the trash heap. Then the wild dogs, vultures, and other carrion would have their way with the poor soul whose mortal shell was tossed away like an old Dixie cup. And that is where Jesus was crucified but He wasn't alone.
“Two others, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him.
One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, "Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!" But the other rebuked him, saying, "Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong." And he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." And he said to him, "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise."”
Luke 23:32, 39-43 ESV
I find it pretty awesome that Jesus told one of the men that hung with him he would join Jesus in paradise. Mainly because that day paradise came to a landfill. Jesus was the common connection to make this unlikely event happen.
In my own life, I can be living in the worst of conditions and my soul be worse off but Jesus will still come to me. He came to a landfill and made it paradise. My life may be a complete mess and the vultures and flies are buzzing ever closer with every passing moment but Jesus will come to me still. All because Jesus came to a landfill. It doesn't matter how tough the spot I am in is or how far I run to escape, Jesus will always come because He came to a landfill. There is always hope.
All I have to do is call out to Him with the faith of a heart that believes and He will come jump right in the middle of the trash, mud, and the smell of whatever I find myself in. Three simple words are all that's needed: Jesus rescue me. Words that can be uttered in one single breath. I mean look at the man hanging next to Jesus. I believe God placed him there to show us that we don't have to do anything extra special to gain audience with Him. I don't know exactly what crime he committed but it must have been something pretty bad to end up there that day. But this man saw through the pain of his current state and saw Jesus for who He really was, the Son of God and Savior of the world.
You and I are no different than that man. We aren't better than anyone else. We get audience with Jesus and get to join Him someday because of a prayer of faith. A prayer where we acknowledge that we have absolutely nothing to offer God. We come helpless as the thief on the cross, unable to do anything in our own power to save ourselves. It is a prayer that tells God that He is Lord of our life. That He was innocent but chose to take our punishment and we couldn't be more grateful that He didn't just climb down off the cross and forget about us. But He chose to stay right where He was and finish the work God sent Him to do. God heard my prayer and He will hear yours too. It doesn't have to be elaborate but it must be sincere. You don't have be afraid of being rejected becaause of where you are because Jesus isn't scared of rotting bones or the smell of death. All this happened because a long time ago God came to a landfill.
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