The cross. It is symbolic and it is ubiquitous. We wear it as jewelry, it adorns church walls, and we shape it into logos on t-shirts. I am not condemning that practice, by the way; I think it’s great that we find ways to communicate to the world that we are followers of Christ. During the time period while Jesus was on Earth, however, a cross was a symbol of capital punishment and death. Today, if we see an electric chair or a guillotine, we know the meaning behind them in the way Roman citizens and inhabitants of the Holy Land of that time period would have known the meaning behind a cross.
That terrible day of Jesus’ crucifixion, there were 3 crosses by each other. Nothing was special about these crosses as they were the same type of tool that had been used to kill countless others and would continue to be used as such. Two other men hung on those crosses dying that day as well. No, what was special that day was the God-man who hung on that cross in the middle. The Messiah, for whom multitudes of people had been waiting to save them, was doing so that very moment on that cross, even though many did not even realize it. That perfect, sinless, innocent Sacrifice went through more than the biological torture it was to have been flogged, beaten about the head with a rod, and hung from a cross for hours and hours that day. He also took upon Himself all the sins that would ever be committed; the weight of which we will never fully understand.
Even in the midst of all that, He looked out on the crowd jeering at Him and said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34 ESV). All the sins of even those of us living today were taken on by Him in that moment, because He knew us then and already loved us like only He can love. He knew He didn’t deserve to go through that, but He did it for us anyway. True sacrificial love was poured out that day. So, even though there were 3 crosses on Golgotha, there was only one Jesus Christ and that made all the difference.