There They Crucified Him - Rev. M.D. Rogers

In Luke's Gospel, chapter 23, verse 33, I want to kind-of break some grammatical rules. You can do that when you are out of school. You've got to graduate first, though. It says this: "And when they were come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified him." It goes on to say some more things, but that is the part I want to deal with this morning.

"And when they were come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified him." I want to lift as a thought around this text: Why Calvary? It is up out of Luke's legacy that I am led to lift this word about our Lord.

Luke is, indeed, the third of the three Synoptic Gospels. Luke is the heavily editorialized biography of Jesus of Nazareth. Luke is the one that was written and addressed to that Roman dignitary, the most excelled Theophilus. Luke's Gospel is a most distinct biography. It is loaded with luscious tid-bits and a plethora of detail on the man from Galilee, his message, and his mission. Matthew's Gospel is a great Gospel, some scholars have called it the Jewish Gospel in that it points out that Jesus was the fulfillment of the promise. Mark's Gospel, I think, is a very interesting Gospel. Scholars lay claim that it is the first one, and rather rustic in its presentation. But the main emphasis is that whatever situation Jesus entered into -- when he exited that situation, things were different. Luke's legacy is one that begins way back with the genealogy of Abraham. John's Gospel is the one that begins way back before Abraham, back where Moses started in the Pentateuch, "In the beginning . . ."

Luke's Gospel is the one that has some unique stories in it. Only Luke carries the story of the annunciation to Mary. Only Luke carries the story of Anna and Simeon in the temple. Only Luke carries the story of Jesus at the age of twelve being in the temple. Only Luke carries the story of Elizabeth and Zechariah. So I guess, as is bound to be, it would be Luke's Gospel and a luscious bit of detail that would demand our attention for this preaching moment. Follow Jesus as he falls and as he rises, and then, finally, outside of the western gate on a little eighteen foot mound that is shaped like a skull known as Golgotha. Luke says, "And when they were come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified him."

Calvary--Golgotha--the place of the skull. It symbolizes the seat of death, the rule and reign of the grim reaper--Calvary. It was the citadel for that cold, unconscionable reality that has no eyes, no ears, and no heart. Death ruled and reigned on Calvary. Death was the real hallmark in the minds of those of that day on Calvary, and, "When they were come to the place called Calvary," listen y'all, "there they crucified him."

There's seemingly a malicious and blasphemous intent to take Jesus specifically to that place of the skull, that place where death ruled and reigned. "And when they were come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified him." But not only that, something tells me that they didn't want to take him to that hill, and then [have] God show Himself and then [see] Jesus catapulted into being all that he said that he was. The record says, "And when they were come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified him."

But not only that, death was reigning on Calvary, and death was the last word. Death was the bomb, y'all. Death was king. Death had the last word. Death had taken everybody. Death had taken Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. Death had taken all of the prophets, major and minor. Death had to wait on Methuselah for 969 years, but death won out. Hezekiah got a fifteen-year extension, but death still won out. Elijah resurrected a boy, but he only lived long enough to die again. Death was the bomb, and they wanted to make sure that they put Jesus in the hands of death so that he would be finished, so ". . . when they were come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified him." 

But is there another reason? And the Spirit said, "God didn't want any questions about who was really in charge. He let them go to Calvary because He inarguably wanted them to know that He was the victor. He wanted the victory of Jesus uncontested, indisputable, and the reason He let them go all the way to Calvary is because if they thought that Calvary belonged to Satan, then God was going to show that He was the Captain Ship God by whipping Satan on his own turf. He was going to beat him even though Satan had home-court advantage."

So what happened that fateful Friday? What happened was when the soldiers grabbed Jesus and laid him down on that old rugged cross, Jesus was talking to them all the while. He was saying, "Now, you can go on and nail my hands, but whatever you do, don't raise me. You can go on and you can rivet my feet, but whatever you do, don't raise me. You can go on and spear me in the side, and my head is already crowned with thorns and you've already whipped my back. You go on and do whatever you got to do, but I am trying to warn you now, whatever you do, don't raise me, don't raise me." I heard somebody say that what they did was they made the mistake of doing what he told them not to do. They raised him from a dead level to a perpendicular on the square. They raised him, and when they dropped him in that hole, the black preachers from Louisiana said that the whole world reeled and rocked like a drunken man. Midnight told midday, "Move over and let me sit on the throne, because the sun refused to shine, because two suns can't shine at the same time."

When they raised Jesus, he said, "I told you not to raise me. I told you it is all right to nail my hands and rivet my feet, but I told you don't raise me." When they raised him that is when he said, "And I, if I be lifted up, I draw all men unto me." So they raised him, and in their raising him, guess what? It changed all of history, because guess what? The law, the love of the law, was given on Sinai, but the law of love was given on Calvary. See, the waters receded on Ararat, but at Calvary all my sins were washed away. There was fire on Mount Carmel. Oh, but there's blood on Calvary. There was a transfiguration on Mount Tabor, but if you come to Calvary, you can be born again. Abraham almost sacrificed Isaac on Mount Zion, oh, but, "For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life."