What was the worst thing that the Lord Jesus faced on that first Good Friday? What made him cry out in agony?
Was it when he went to the garden where He prayed alone to the Father in His emotional agony. When his disciples could not wait in prayer with him but were found by Him asleep three times. He must have cried out then.
No, not then.
Surely Jesus cried out when He was arrested in the garden, when, unarmed, he met the large crowd bearing clubs and swords that came to arrest him as they would a dangerous criminal. As one of his inner circle of 12 disciples betrayed him with a kiss and the rest fled in fear, he must have cried out then.
No, not then.
Then wasn’t it during his illegal trial, when men said lies about him, when he was accused of blasphemy and then his own spiritual leaders spit upon, slapped him, struck him with their fists, and mocked him.
No, not then, either.
Maybe it was when he saw Peter disowning him in front of the people outside the high priests house that night. When Peter swore and cursed and insisted he didn’t know him.
No, it wasn’t then.
Was it when he was before Pilate and the crowd, although asked several times by Pilate whether he should release Jesus, asked for Barabbas, and demanded Christ be crucified.
No, not then, either.
Surely he cried out when he was flogged. When he was whipped numerous times by a whip made of several strips of leather which were embedded near the ends with bits of bone and lead, the bits tearing at His skin and causing great physical trauma, trauma so great that often victims did not survive. He must have cried out then.
No, it wasn’t then.
Then he must have cried out after the flogging, when Roman soldiers wrapped his body in a robe and jammed a crown of thorns on his head. When they mocked him and spit on him and struck him with the staff they had given him. He cried out then, didn’t He?
No, not then.
So he must have cried out as He trudged to Golgotha, shouldering the heavy cross piece for part of the way, until he could bear the weight no longer, finally collapsing and helped by Simon the Cyrene. Facing the jeers of most of the crowd as he walked along the Via Dolorosa.
No, not then.
Well, then, at the cross, when he was nailed through the wrists without anesthesia, splitting the tissue, driving all the way through to the wood below. And then likewise the feet, fastening him firmly to the cross. Surely he cried out then.
No, not then.
Then when the cross was erected, the great weight falling into the hole, jerking the weak body, dislocating his joints, initiating further physical agony on his respiratory system due to hyperextension of his lungs. His bleeding back further traumatized by the rough wood against it .
No, not then.
Was it when the crowd before hurled insults at his helpless and likely nude body, joined even by one who was crucified with him, all inciting him to take things into his own hands, to come down off the cross ahead of the Father’s plan, to take premature revenge on those who cried, “Blasphemer,” “Liar,” “Fool.” It must have been then he cried out.
No, not then.
About the sixth hour, noon time in our current system of keeping time, darkness fell on the earth and lasted for three hours. At the end of that time Jesus finally cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” At that time, when the sin of the whole world, past, present, and future, fell upon him and the Father, who can have nothing to do with evil, turned his back and the fellowship between Father and Son was broken for the one and only time during their existence.
That was when the Lord Jesus finally cried out in unbearable agony. And died.
