“Live from Jerusalem: The Place of the Skull”
John 19:17-18

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Pastor Kevin Vogts
Trinity Lutheran Church
Paola, Kansas
Good Friday—April 1, 2021

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

The site of Jesus’ crucifixion was a hill outside the city walls of Jerusalem.  In Aramaic it was called “Golgotha,” which means, “The Place of the Skull.”  It got this name because of the gruesome executions which took place there.  It has also come to be known to us as “Calvary,” based upon the Latin word for “skull.”

“The Place of the Skull” was located along a major road right next to the main entrance to the city.  Precisely where we would put a cheery chamber of commerce sign saying “Welcome to Jerusalem” is where the Romans carried out their grisly executions.  This seems bizarre to our modern mindset. 

But, of all the peoples that the Romans conquered, the Jews were the most unruly and rebellious.  In modern times we debate whether capital punishment has a deterrent effect, but the Romans had no doubt that seeing a place of execution right at the entrance to their capital city would discourage the Jews from rebelling against the Empire.  Dr. Paul Maier, a professor of ancient history and Missouri Synod pastor, writes: “The condemned victim was on display . . . as a public example and a warning to others to avoid his crime.”

So, the cross was originally not an inspiring religious symbol, but a gruesome method of torture and execution, and a grim warning sign.  An ancient Roman transported over the centuries to a modern American city would be mystified by the large number of impressive buildings that have crosses prominently perched on their steeples.  Why would people put crosses, of all things, on top of these buildings?

There’s a tradition that nothing else in a community should be taller than the cross atop the church steeple.  The cross atop our bell tower is indeed the highest object for miles around, and we have this massive cross at the front of our sanctuary, and we recently added a beautiful brick cross on the tower of our new north wing.  Why would we commemorate such a horrific event?  Why would we so prominently display this symbol?

The Romans meant Calvary and the cross as a warning not to transgress their imperial laws.  All of us must confess that we have transgressed a higher, divine law.  An old confession of sins puts it this way: “We have erred and strayed from your ways . . . we have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts, we have offended against your holy laws, we have left undone those things which we ought to have done, and we have done those things which we ought not to have done.”

Violating the law of the Roman Empire meant horrible torture and death upon a cross.  We all deserve that, and much more, because of our transgressions against God’s law; we all deserve the punishment of death and eternal damnation in hell.

But, for us Calvary and the cross have been transformed into symbols of hope, forgiveness, and God’s love.  Peter puts it this way, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross.”  On the cross Jesus bore and paid for your sins and the sins of the whole world. 

John writes, “Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha).  Here they crucified him, and with him two others--one on each side and Jesus in the middle.”

“Jesus in the middle” describes how he was crucified between two criminals, which is why we often depict three crosses on Mount Calvary.  But, “Jesus in the middle” is also a way to help you understand the significance for you of his death on the cross.  Paul puts it this way in 1st Timothy: “For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men.”

Jesus is your mediator, your go-between with God.  Just as he hung on the cross between two others, his death on the cross stands between you and God, “Jesus in the middle,” his suffering and death shielding you from God’s wrath, and earning you forgiveness and God’s favor and eternal life. 

Paul puts it this way in Colossians: “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.  Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior.  But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation.”

That is why Calvary and cross are transformed for us into symbols of hope, forgiveness, and God’s love, so great that he gave up for us his own Son.  As Paul says in Romans: “He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification. Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”