Brian Davis' Blog!: 04/01/2009

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Book Review: What You do Best in the Body of Christ by Bruce Bugbee

Dennis Flaugher gave this book to me to give to my wife about a year ago, but I failed to take it out of my truck, so I decided to read it instead.

Bugbee's premise in this book is that God has given each person spiritual gifts, styles, and passions to use in the church. These gifts, styles, and passions are given to use because God has a special and unique plan for each one of us. When we discover what those things are, we can "increase our ability to follow God's will for our lives." (Page 15) Bugbee walks his readers through the process of finding our spiritual gifts and when placed within our styles, and passions, should lead us to what we should be doing in the church.

On one hand, I found myself getting "sucked in" when I was taking the spiritual gift quiz. My gifts were (1) Teaching (2) Encouraging and (3) Shepherding. My personal style was "being with people" and being in the middle of the organizational scale. On further reflection, I think his questions missed the boat because I like to try to organize my schedule, but when it comes to actually getting things done, I tend to be "organized chaos." Finally my ministry passion was "Equipping Ministries", although I found his questions unhelpful in getting me there.

While these things were interesting, I still fail to see how it "actually" helps us go from knowing these things to serving in that one specific way that God designs us for. I see how it can point us toward an area of ministry, which is a very good thing, but falls short of the lofty promise he made in the opening pages.

I also took some exceptions to his theology in several places. For instance, on page 52 he suggests that only Christians have "spiritual gifts" after conversion through God's special grace while non-Christians have talents through God's common grace. He goes on to say that talents and gifts are not the same and can actually be opposites. As a Wesleyan Christian, I see our talents and spiritual gifts being more fluid. I believe God uses our talents to teach us about spiritual gifts. While I agree that our talents are not spiritual gifts until they are used to glorify Christ, I do not see these as being opposite.

The biggest issue I had with Bugbee was that he claims that God has an exact plan for our lives before the foundation of world. Our job is to discover what this is through knowing our gifts etc. This view seems very fatalistic. I would suggest that God's plan and desire for each person is that we glorify God with our lives. I believe there are a variety of ways we can do that. Knowing our spiritual gifts, ministry styles, and passions can lead us in a direction that will bring us greater satisfaction as we serve God. I also believe these things can change over time as we grow in our faith and understanding of God.

Overall, I found this book to be helpful and I would recommend it to persons struggling with how they should serve God. I don't agree with some of Bugbee's theology, but I would not want to throw the baby out with the bath water.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Book Review: Just Choose Happiness: A Guide to Joyous Living by Nell W. Mohney

I must admit upfront that this is not a book that I would have read if I were just looking at books at the local Christian bookstore. I chose to read the book for the obvious reason that I have the honor to be one of Nell's pastors at First-Centenary and I know she is an amazing person of faith.

The premise of the book is that while we may not get to choose our circumstances, happiness is a choice. Nell believes this choice involves "choosing and developing positive and practical traits that will enhance our happiness." (Page 9) Nell believes that this begins first when we place Jesus at the center of our lives instead of placing ourselves in the center. She then goes on to give some practical advice on how to choose happiness. She suggests that we (1) Choose gratitude as a means of coping with worry. (2) Choose to live in the present instead of dwelling on our past failures. (3) Choosing to experience the joy of the future by experiencing the unconditional love of God. (4) Choosing laughter (5) Choosing to care for our whole being, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. (6) Choosing prayer as a means of experiencing the joy of God. Nell ends her book by grounding happiness in living by the Holy Spirit.

There are a couple of strengths to Just Choose Happiness. First, unlike some of the other books that I would call "Christian Self Help", Nell roots her premise first in placing Jesus at the center of our lives and then like a book end, concludes the book by asking her readers to be lead by the Spirit. I find this to be very good theology in that God is the ultimate source of happiness and joy and Nell establishes that without God happiness will only be an illusion at best. I find that the practical traits mentioned in the book are grounded in her faith in Jesus and by her daily living by the Holy Spirit.

What makes this book more meaningful to me is that I have seen Nell live out the pages in this book. She wrote a lot of this while her husband Ralf was passing away. Every time I saw Nell, she chose to be happy. Not only did she choose to be happy, but her faith in God, through Jesus, as she walked by the Spirit, enabled her to make her last days with Ralph special and meaningful. Nell is a great example of the premise of her book. She chooses to be happy despite her circumstance.

I believe her book is important because many people choose to focus on the negatives in life and choose to be unhappy. For those persons, I recommend this book and I hope that God will richly bless your life as you read these pages from one of the best women I know. I know he did me.

Book Review: Just Choose Happiness: A Guide to Joyous Living by Nell W. Mohney

The premise of the book is that while we may not get to choose our circumstances, happiness is a choice. Nell believes this choice involves "choosing and developing positive and practical traits that will enhance our happiness." (Page 9) Nell believes that this begins first when we place Jesus at the center of our lives instead of placing ourselves in the center. She then goes on to give some practical advice on how to choose happiness. She suggests that we (1) Choose gratitude as a means of copying with worry. (2) Choose to live in the present instead of dwelling on our past failures. (3) Choosing to experience the joy of the future by experiencing the unconditional love of God. (3) Choosing laughter (3) Choosing to care for our whole being, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. (4) Choosing prayer as a means of experiencing the joy of God. Nell ends her book by grounding happiness in living by the Holy Spirit.

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Book Review: Surprised By Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church by N.T. Wright

I will have to say up front that I am a huge NT Wright fan. His book The Challenge of Jesus was a life changing book for me. I try to read as much of Wright's stuff as I can. I can honestly say that Surprised by Hope did not disappoint. Ben Witherington noted that it was one of the most important books of our time and I cannot agree more. This was the best book I have read in the last two years for sure. Wright will definitely make you rethink your views about heaven, the resurrection, and the mission of the church.

Wright's mail thesis is that our hope is for God to bring "new creation" a new heaven and earth and that he has begun this through Jesus of Nazareth. He sets this up by contrasting two other ideas that seem to be popular today. On the one hand, he suggests that some folks believe that the world continues to get better and better as if the human spirit can bring the good the world needs. On the flip side, he says there are those who believe the world is going to "hell in a hand basket" and that God is just waiting to take us out of here to heaven. Wright points out that this is not the Christian view as expressed in the New Testament. He argues that Scripture affirms that God's creation is good, but that sin and evil are realities because human beings worshiped creation rather than the creator. The Christian hope comes from the fact that God plans on redeeming creation. The book begins by looking at Jesus' own resurrection. Wright argues that Jesus was physically resurrected. Jesus' resurrection then changed the way resurrection was viewed by the disciples. They came to believe that Jesus' resurrection was an anticipation of the great day that God would resurrect all people and restore all of creation. Wright argues that this changes the way we view our future life and the present. Our future hope lies in the belief that God will restore all things and be "All in All" through Jesus. Our present life matters because this restoration began with Jesus' resurrection and "new creation." While the final restoration of all things will happen in the future, God's future continues to break into our present.

The greatest strength of the book for me was that Wright was able to move the conversation about eschatology away from things that we cannot know for sure to things that the Bible seems to be very clear. For example, Wright gives his opinion on things like the nature of heaven and hell and what happens right when we die, but spends most of his time on the picture of hope the Bible paints. He tells his readers that the Bible is clear in its insistence that Jesus was resurrected physically and that his resurrection points to something that will happen in the future, namely the resurrection of all people and the redemption of this world. He spends a great deal of time talking about what it means for Jesus to be alive and reigning in heaven. He concludes the book talking about how these beliefs impact us today. Don't misunderstand me, I love to read about the different theories on heaven and hell and who will be there, but it was refreshing to see Wright separate the things in the bible that seem clear from the things that require some guess work.

I highly recommend this book. It may be a tough read for some people who are not familiar with NT Wright or who are not use to reading a lot of books on theology, but it is worth the work.

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Easter Sermon 4/12/09 “Dead Man Walking”

Matthew 28:1-10

¹ After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.

² There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. ³ His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. ⁴ The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.

⁵ The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. ⁶ He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. ⁷ Then go quickly and tell his disciples: 'He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.' Now I have told you."

⁸ So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. ⁹ Suddenly Jesus met them. "Greetings," he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. ¹⁰ Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me."

One of my favorite Easter hymns to sing is "He Lives." Sometimes I do not feel like it is Easter unless we have sung this hymn. The first verse and the chorus go like this:

I serve a risen Savior, He's in the world today,
I know that He is living, whatever men may say;
I see His hand of mercy, I hear His voice of cheer.
And just the time I need Him, He's always near.

He Lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today!
He walks with me and talks with me along life's narrow way
He Lives, He lives, salvation to impart!
You ask me How I know He lives?
HE LIVES WITHIN MY HEART.

Some of the lyrics are very good and describe what I think is accurate. I think we serve a risen savior who is in the world today. I see his hand of mercy. I believe he lives. The problem that I have with this hymn has to do with the very last line of the chorus. It says, 'You ask me how I know he lives, he lives within my heart." On first thought, this appears to be nice and good. Jesus certainly does live in my heart, but there is SO much more. After reading the gospel accounts and the teachings of Paul I am quite convinced that they believed something much more earth shattering had happened on Easter.

In Matthew's gospel the two Mary's go to the tomb and when they get arrive, there is an earthquake. An angel rolls the rock away, which Mark tells us was a concern for the women. His appearance according to Matthew is "like lightening." Matthew has already told his readers that when Jesus was resurrected dead folks came out of their graves and appeared to many.

Matthew, of all the gospels, portrays the resurrection stories with power and pop. This is no ordinary event. This is not something the two women imagined in their minds, this is a dramatic, life altering event. The guards witness this and become like "dead men."

The angle then explains to the women that Jesus has risen and instructs them to go and tell the disciples what they have witnessed and that Jesus would go ahead of them. Matthew tells us that they left the tomb quickly with fear and joy. On their way, Jesus meets them and they take hold of his feet and worship him. Jesus then tells the women to go and tell the disciples to go to Galilee.

Out of the Tomb and Walking Around

Recently, a number of explanations have been given to explain Jesus' resurrection. They have been:

The body was removed by someone unconnected to Jesus
The disciples stole the body
It was the wrong tomb
Jesus was not dead and walked out of the tomb
Spiritual experience

I remember the movie, "The Green Mile." It was named this because the floor that the death row inmate walked was green. When the person walked to the chair, others would yell, "Dead Man Walking." The person was walking around, but really dead. When I read the resurrection story in the gospels, I see Jesus in the opposite light. Jesus was really dead, but now he has come alive and is walking around. This is the point the gospel writers have in mind. Jesus was alive, then dead, and then he was alive. Notice how Matthew shows this truth.

First, the tomb was empty. This is very important, but it does not completely prove that Jesus was alive, then dead, then alive. There are lots of things that could have happened to Jesus' body. The women could have just gone to the wrong tomb or someone, as Matthew notes is the story the Jews agreed to tell, stole the body.

Secondly, Matthew makes sure to suggest that Jesus appeared to the women on their way to the disciples. He then appears to the disciples themselves. Again, if Jesus' followers had just seen visions of him, then this too, could easily be explained. They could have been so depressed that they had visions of Jesus. They could have had a wonderful spiritual experience and decided to talk about Jesus "being in their hearts", but they don't.

The reality is that Matthew records in this story that the women saw that the tomb was empty and they had an encounter with the risen Christ. When Matthew puts these two things together, he wants his readers to understand that what happened to Jesus was a unique experience. Jesus was alive, then dead, then alive again. He was walking around in a real, physical, resurrected body.

It is also important to note that Jesus' was resurrected, not resuscitated. Marcus Borg explains that resuscitation would be for someone to die, then come to life in the same way they were before death. Jesus was resurrected, meaning that Jesus was alive, then dead, then alive in a new way, never to die again.

Responding in Worship

In the resurrection account in Matthew, I noted two places where the response to Jesus was worship. Notice that the two Mary's fall and worship Jesus when they meet him after leaving the garden tomb. When the eleven disciples meet Jesus they also worship him.

I love the song, That's What I love about Sunday by
Craig Morgan. The last verse of the song says,

That's what I love about Sundays

Ooh, new believers gettin' baptized,
Momma's hands raised up high,
Havin' a Hallelujah good time
A smile on everybody's face.
That's what I love about Sunday,
Oh, yeah. That's what I love about Sunday,

The thing I love most about Sunday is that every Sunday we celebrate the resurrection. We get a chance to have an encounter with the risen Lord. We receive our calling and we are given hope through Jesus' presence. It is this encounter at worship that enables me to live my life for God during the week. It seems that we only celebrate the resurrection of Jesus on Easter Sunday, but the early Christians celebrated the resurrection every Sunday. I truly believe we are missing the boat. We have the opportunity to have a life changing encounter with the living Jesus every Sunday when we come together in worship.

Responding in Witness

The second think I noticed was that three times, people are told to "tell the news." The angle tells the two Mary's to go tell the disciples the news. Jesus then repeats the command to tell the news to the disciples. Jesus then tells them all to "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you."

In Matthew's gospel, the resurrection is "Good New." The earth quakes, God sent an angle to announce the news to the women who was shining like lightning and white as snow.

I was reading an article in Newsweek entitled, "The End of Christian America." Apparently in a survey called American Religious Identification, the percentage of Americans who identify themselves as Christian dropped 10 points. The author makes this quote, "The Christian God isn't dead. But he's less of a force in U.S. politics and culture than at any other time in recent memory."

The article goes on to talk about how the conservative end of the church tried to take over politics and create a Christian nation, which he believes as failed. He says that America has always believed liberty over religion, meaning that Americans believe it is more important to be tolerant than to make everyone be one religion.

As I was reading the article, I would be a Christian who does not believe Christians must take over the government and enforce Christian values. I do believe that Jesus, the one who was resurrected, is the Lord of the Universe. I believe that this is good news. It is news that should transform our world.

It makes me wonder what our culture would be live if we really did believe the resurrection was good news. If we believed we were worshiping the Lord of the universe, I bet Sundays would be different. It we went out to share the best news in the world, I bet our culture would be transformed, whether or not a Christian was in office. I believe our kids would learn to love each other even if they did not have "official school prayer." Imagine what it would be like if Christians lived as these first disciples, in worship and in witness to the greatest event of human history. I would image the world would be a different place.

Monday, April 06, 2009

Sermon 4/5/09 24 Redemption Part Six: “On the Outside”

John 19:38-42

A couple of Easters ago my wife and I picked up a book at Books A Million called, The Jesus Family Tomb. We were curious about the book because we knew that the Discovery Channel would be airing a "documentary" claiming that they had found the tomb of Jesus. I spent the weekend reading this book and I have been fascinated by the reading.

Apparently in 1980, while bulldozing for construction for an apartment building, a tomb was found in the side of a hill in Jerusalem. A group of archeologists were called in to extricate the articles in the tomb. They found 10 ossuaries (boxes containing bones) in this tomb. After they finished taking out the articles from the tomb, they only had nine ossuaries to examine. Six of these ossuaries were inscribed: (1) "Jesus, son of Joseph" (2) "Yose" or "Joseph" (3) "Maria" or Mary in Hebrew (4) "Mariamne" or Mary in Greek (5) "Matia" or Matthew (6) "Judah, son of Jesus.

At first, the book claims the original investigation did not point to the Jesus of the Bible because the name "Mariamne" could not be traced to him. However, through the course of examining, it was found that Mary Magdalene was referred to as Mariamne in some of the Gnostic texts.

The writers of the book decided to test the probability that this was Jesus' tomb by examining the statistical evidence that all of these names which relate to Jesus would show up in the same family tomb. In the tombs that have been found, the name Joseph has appeared 14% of the time and the name Jesus has appeared 9% of the time. The estimated population of males was 80,000. So, the authors calculated that there were 7,200 Jesus' and 11,200 Josephs'. 1008 men would have been Jesus son of Joseph. Then, a quarter of the population would have been named Mary. Although this sounds like a lot of Jesus', Josephs and Marys, they calculated that there was a 1 and 2.5 million chance that all of these names would be in the same tomb. However, when you take percentages away for the missing names from Jesus' family, the odds go to 1 and 600,000, which are still good odds.

The book proposes that the following story may explain what happened to Jesus' body after his death. Jesus died just before sun down of Friday, meaning he had to be buried in a hurry. He was placed in a tomb of a follower until he could be buried in his family tomb. The disciples came and took the body on the Sabbath, because nobody would have been guarding the tomb. They brought him to his family tomb where he was laid down for a period of a year. Then, after a year, his bones would have been placed in an ossuary. They propose that there were two different types of followers of Jesus, the ones in Jerusalem which they call Ebionites, who followed the Jewish law, but believed Jesus to be the Jewish messiah and there were the Gentile Christians. After Jerusalem was destroyed in 70CE the Ebionites were displaced and died out. However, they believe there were still some cell groups that existed underground. The book also theorizes that these Ebionite groups new about the tomb of Jesus and shared this information with the Nights Templar. This secrete may be what caused the church to persecute and kill the Nights Templar. Of coarse the book does say that this is all speculation, but it is a theory that could have happened.

This is just one of many theories as to what happened to Jesus after his crucifixion. Others mainline scholar such as Marcus Borg and John Crossan suggest that Jesus was never taken off the cross and his body was eaten by vultures.

All four gospels record the account where Jesus was buried. John records the story as follows,

³⁸ Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate's permission, he came and took the body away. ³⁹ He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. ^[e]
⁴⁰ Taking Jesus' body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. ⁴¹ At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. ⁴² Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

The other gospel accounts only record Joseph as asking Pilate for Jesus' body and for placing it in a tomb. Before Pilate gave him the body, he had it checked to see if Jesus was still alive, but he had been dead for awhile. Joseph then purchased a cloth and wraps Jesus in it. The other gospels also tell us that some of the women witnessed this and new where the body was placed. Matthew tells us that this was Joseph's own tomb while John says it was a new tomb in the Garden where Jesus was crucified.

As we begin to study this passage, it may be helpful to know some of the Jewish burial customs and to know what would normally happen to someone who was executed. By the first century, the burial practices happened in two parts. First, the body would be placed in a cave where it would decompose for about a year. Then the bones where collected and placed in a box called an ossuary. In between these steps, the following would take place:

Burial took place on the day of death or the following day if it was too late in the evening or at night
The body was washed and wrapped in a Lenin cloth with perfume
The family and friends would mourn for 7 days at the entrance of the tomb.
The spirit of a person was said to leave after the third day.
The bones would be collected after a year in an ossuary.

Criminals would have been treated a little differently. The Jews has special burial places for criminals because they were not first buried in family tombs because the family was not permitted to mourn. Later, their bones could be transferred to their family tombs. However, proper burial of criminals was important for Jews in the first-century. Deuteronomy 21:22-23 makes it clear that those die on a tree should be taken down and buried. It was NOT to be left overnight as not to defile the land.

The reason some scholars like Borg and Crossan believe Jesus may have been consumed by vultures and not taken off the cross is because Josephus reported that during the Roman siege of Jerusalem after the revolt by the Jews, the Romans did not take them off the cross. I do believe tough, that this was an exception to the rule for Jews, do to their rebellion. It appears by other documents that the Jews were allowed in peace time to take the bodies after crucifixion so that they would have had a proper burial.

The gospel stories seem to follow the Jewish custom well. Joseph of Arimathia , we are told, was a member of the Jewish council. He comes to Pilate and asks for his body. John tells us that Nicodemus, who was a Pharisee, was also with him. It is not clear whether or not these two men did this on their own accord or if they were asked by the Jewish council to do this in order to follow Jewish custom.

The gospels tell is that Jesus was not buried in his family tomb, which also follows Jewish custom. It seems that this may be a place where Joseph and Nicodemus decide to break with custom. Instead of moving Jesus to the designated tomb for criminals, they place him in Joseph's own tomb. Again, we don't know the reason for this. We are told that the women followed Joseph and knew where the tomb was located. It appears that Joseph and Nicodemus give Jesus a proper burial.

The gospel accounts of Jesus' burial seem to shed light on both theories posed earlier. It seems that they are constant with Jewish custom that Jesus was not buried in his family's tomb and that he was not left on the cross.

On the Outside Looking In

While the historical picture about Jesus' burial is interesting and important, I have been struck by who John tells us is involved in the burial. Notice that the disciples are not around. John tells us that two people were involved; Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus were the ones who buried Jesus. Other gospels tell us that he was a member of the Jewish council, meaning he would have probably been present during his trial. John tells us he is a secrete disciple of Jesus. John's gospel has already introduced us to Nicodemus, who came to Jesus at night to speak to Jesus. He was a Pharisee and a leading Jew. These two guys seem to have been on the outside of the gospel story, looking in.

Sometimes we forget about the people on the fringes of belief. We tend to view those who are vocal about their Christian faith and those who are vocally opposed to it. What about those who are just on the fringes trying to figure all this stuff about Jesus out. This is the part of the story for those people who are searching.

In the book God in the Dock, which is a collection of essays by CS Lewis, I found the essay "Answers to Questions About God" very insightful for this sermon. In the last question, Lewis is asked, "If it is true that one has only to want God enough in order to find Him, how can I make myself want Him enough to enable myself to find him." Lewis answers,

I think in reality the want is a real one, and I should say tat this person has in fact found God, although it may not ne fully recognized yet. We are not always aware of things at the time they happen. At any rate, what is more important is that God has found this person and that is the main thing.

It appears that both Joseph and Nicodemus became disciples and that John's listeners were somewhat familiar with their story. Notice that Jesus never tried to force them to believe, he simply allowed them to search and to believe. This morning I believe Jesus is telling those who don't have all this figured out to be part of the story and to see where it leads. He is reminding us that even at his burial, they can be found by God

Sermon 3/29/09 24 Redemption Part Five: “When It Feels like God should be Fired”

Mark 15:16-41

Bruce, in the movie Bruce Almighty, challenges God one night on a bridge after he has lost his job, had a fight with his girlfriend, Grace, and had a car accident. He yells to God,

Fine, the gloves are off pawl, let me see a little wrath. Smite me O Mighty Smiter. You're the one who should be fired. The only one around here not doing his job is YOU!!! ANSWER ME!!!

In reading the crucifixion stories, it appears that if anyone could have an issue with God, it would have been Jesus. One of the lines we read from Jesus on the cross is "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" Today we are going to talk about Jesus' crucifixion and what it means to suffer.

Oftentimes scholars have doubt about what really happened in Jesus' life. In the last 24 hours, some have questioned the trials of Jesus and claimed they are not "historically accurate. Some question the burial and resurrection stories, but one thing that scholars believe is historically accurate is the crucifixion of Jesus. Not only do all four gospels record this event, but other 1^st century non Christian's documents attest to it as well.

We also have pretty good historical evidence of what a "crucifixion" was like in the 1^st century Roman Empire.

In the reading I have done, here are some of the characteristics of a crucifixion. Some of this sounds graphic, but I think it will point to the realities of what Jesus went through.

Crucifixions were done in a public place, like a hillside or near a well traveled road as a means of bringing fear to those who were ruled by Rome
Generally, crucifixion was used as punishment for people leading revolts against Rome.
Normally those crucified were mocked
Before someone as crucified, they would be scourged with a "cat-o-nine-tails" This was a whip with nine lashes with rocks on the end.
Nails were sometimes used and driven through the wrists and ankles. Sometimes those crucified were tied to the pole.
Oftentimes those being crucified did carry the beam they were nailed to.
Crosses were both made like a "T" or a "t"
Lots of scholars believe that death happened by suffocation because those on the cross could no longer pull themselves up to breath.
Oftentimes those crucified where done so in the nude to add further insult.

Notice now, the story of Jesus' crucifixion as recorded in Mark's gospel.

¹⁶ The soldiers led Jesus away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium) and called together the whole company of soldiers. ¹⁷ They put a purple robe on him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him. ¹⁸ And they began to call out to him, "Hail, king of the Jews!" ¹⁹ Again and again they struck him on the head with a staff and spit on him. Falling on their knees, they paid homage to him. ²⁰ And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.

²¹ A certain man from Cyrene, Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing by on his way in from the country, and they forced him to carry the cross. ²² They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means "the place of the skull"). ²³ Then they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. ²⁴ And they crucified him. Dividing up his clothes, they cast lots to see what each would get.

²⁵ It was nine in the morning when they crucified him. ²⁶ The written notice of the charge against him read: THE KING OF THE JEWS. ^{27 -28} They crucified two rebels with him, one on his right and one on his left. ²⁹ Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, "So! You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, ³⁰ come down from the cross and save yourself!"

³¹ In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked him among themselves. "He saved others," they said, "but he can't save himself! ³² Let this Messiah, this king of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe." Those crucified with him also heaped insults on him.

³³ At noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. ³⁴ And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?" (which means "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"). ^[^a^]

³⁵ When some of those standing near heard this, they said, "Listen, he's calling Elijah."

³⁶ Someone ran, filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. "Now leave him alone. Let's see if Elijah comes to take him down," he said.

³⁷ With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.

³⁸ The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. ³⁹ And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, saw how he died, ^[^b^] he said, "Surely this man was the Son of God!"

⁴⁰ Some women were watching from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joseph, ^[^c^] and Salome. ⁴¹ In Galilee these women had followed him and cared for his needs. Many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem were also there.

When we compare the different gospel accounts, we get some extra details that will help put the picture together. Matthew adds one detail that when Jesus was crucified, some people who were dead came out of their tombs. Luke adds a couple details. When Jesus was on his way to the cross, he tells the woman not to mourn for him. He also has a dialogue with one of the criminals on the cross and tells him that today you will be with me in paradise. Instead of saying "My My God, why have you forsaken me, he says, "Into your hands I commend my spirit." In John's gospel, Jesus actually says two things not recorded in the other gospels. First, he says that he is thirsty and then he cries, "It is finished."

Jesus has been in Jerusalem for about a week now. When he arrived, he was riding on the back of a donkey while people put palm branches down in front of him. They sang, "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!", as he went by. What a contrast between this passage and the text we are looking at. Our text picks us with Jesus being mocked by Roman solders. His own people have just shouted, "Crucify him, crucify him. They exchanged the life of Jesus for the life of a criminal named Barabbas. Jesus has been betrayed by one of his closest friends and his other friends vanished into the night when he was arrested. Life does not getting any more unfair than that.

The two criminals who were crucified beside Jesus hurled insults at him. These two men were being crucified justly and had been rejected and sent out to die for their crimes were mocking Jesus. Not only was Jesus dying an undeserved death, but he was even rejected by criminals. Our text tells us that the chief priests and the teachers of the law were also mocking Jesus.

After these things happen, our text tells us that Jesus cries out in a loud voice, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me." This is the first line from Psalm 22. The connections between Jesus' crucifixion and Psalm 22 are quite remarkable.

Psalm 22	Mark 15
¹ My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning?	³³ At noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. ³⁴ And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?" (which means "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"). ^[^a]
⁷All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads. ⁸ "He trusts in the LORD," they say, "let the LORD rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him."	²⁹ Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, "So! You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, ³⁰ come down from the cross and save yourself!" ³¹ In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked him among themselves. "He saved others," they said, "but he can't save himself! ³² Let this Messiah, this king of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe." Those crucified with him also heaped insults on him.
My mouth ^[d] is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me ^[e] in the dust of death.	³⁶ Someone ran, filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. ( John's gospel has Jesus saying, "I am thirsty.)
¹⁸ They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.	Dividing up his clothes, they cast lots to see what each would get.