The Easter Legacy: The Gifts of Calvary’s Road

Some call it Calvary’s road.  And no doubt, we’ll sing songs about it on this Easter Sunday.  They’ll be triumphant songs, powerful songs.

As I read the scriptures, I cannot help but think of the reality of Calvary’s road:

A common criminal was released instead of Jesus.A weak politician, seeking to gain favor, symbolically washed his hands of the false charges, and then he scourged Jesus.  A scourging alone could kill a man.

He was lead away to the governor’s palace to an entire battalion of soldiers.

They stripped Him of his clothes—the cloth tearing at his flesh.

They replaced His tattered clothes with a robe of purple.

They made a crown of thorns and placed it on His head.

They spit upon Him.

They mocked Him.

They gave Him a reed for a scepter, and later they beat Him with that same reed.

Having completed their “fun,” they stripped Him of the purple robe, reopening His wounds, and replaced them with the remains of His own clothing.

They lead Him away to crucify him.

Some say it is 650 yards from the scene of His first humiliation, the governor’s palace, to His second humiliation, the cross.  He was too weak to carry the 80-100 pound cross, so they pressed into service another man, which the scriptures record as Simon the Cyrene.

Before He was crucified, they offered Him wine mixed with gall, a drink given to criminals to ease their suffering.  Jesus refused.  He would face the full weight of His sacrifice.

Calvary’s road.  Each of these acts against Jesus would be enough to break any person, let alone one undeserving of any punishment.  Yet, Jesus bore each of these acts—indeed the full weight of them—for you and me.  These are His gifts—the gifts of Calvary’s road.