“THE WHOLE CITY WAS STIRRED UP, SAYING, ‘WHO IS THIS?’ ”
— Matthew 21:10
Every December billions of people pause their lives to celebrate the birth of Jesus. This Jewish carpenter who never wrote a book, never owned a house, never ran for office, never made a fortune, and never traveled the world continues to capture the world.
Printed Bibles have sold 22% more this year than last in the US. Every forty days the YouVersion Bible app is opened one billion times. The most watched and most translated film in history is a 1979 film called JESUS. And right now one of the top rated TV shows in the world is The Chosen, a series based on Jesus’ life.
So who is Jesus and why does he continue to interest our generation?
After the story of his birth, the Bible unfolds that Jesus lived an ordinary life. He was an older brother in a big family. He grew up in a small town and never traveled very far. Jesus celebrated holidays, went to dinner parties, attended weddings, and interacted with children. People loved being around him. His three best friends were fishermen — not priests. He even worked a normal job as a carpenter.
Jesus had a personality and emotions. He felt joy and happiness. He got angry. At times Jesus even wept. We also read that Jesus got hungry and thirsty and tired. He felt compassion toward hurting people. Like many of us, Jesus experienced rejection from a best friend and betrayal by another. His family often misunderstood him. Jesus knew pain, grief, and sorrow. He even experienced temptation to sin like we do. The difference is he never gave in. Instead, Jesus Christ was perfectly righteous.
This matters because the Bible tells us that 2,000 years ago there was a man just like us, who was also not like us. We are sinful. He was perfect. We love money, pleasure, and ourselves. His life was holy, righteous, and good. He had no secret sins, no hidden past, and nothing to cover up. Instead, his life’s work was preaching, teaching, and healing people. He opened the ears of the deaf and the eyes of the blind. The people who saw these miracles were amazed.
Jesus’ miracles were meant to be signs, signs that would authenticate his identity. Jesus claimed to be the only Son of God. It’s a huge claim. But anyone can talk. The real test was how did he act when everything was on the line?
The religious leaders of Jesus’ day hated him. He didn’t play by their rules. He didn’t fit in their box. They envied his power and were threatened by his following. They wanted him dead. While most of Jerusalem slept, they secretly arrested him. Jesus was on trial before the whole council of chief priests, elders, and scribes. Many false accusations were made against him, but when the witnesses couldn’t agree, the high priest finally questioned Jesus himself. The religious leaders angrily spit on Jesus, mocked him, and punched him. That dark night, they condemned Jesus to the death penalty. A few hours later, at dawn, Jesus was brought to trial before the Roman governor over the province of Judea.
Jesus faced crucifixion, and under the Roman Empire, people feared the cross. Historians from the time of Jesus tell us that crucifixion was “the most wretched of deaths.” In the ancient world, the cross was a sign of the greatest punishment and humiliation. Crucifixion was often a means of “breaking the will of conquered peoples and of bringing mutinous troops under control.” Crucifixion was the death of slaves, thieves, prostitutes, and rebels. It was so gruesome that most ancient writers avoided describing it. Yet in the face of the cross, Jesus did not waver. He did not recant. He did not back away from who he claimed to be.
Pilate handed Jesus to a battalion of around 600 soldiers for a preliminary beating — Jesus’ second in the span of a few hours. Victims of crucifixion were first brutalized. The Romans were experts in torture, and before a crucifixion they would flog their victims so that they would be too weak to kick or fight back when they were being nailed to the cross. The soldiers stripped Jesus naked and tied his hands to an upright post. Then a short whip called a “flagrum” made of several leather cords, “in which small iron balls or sharp pieces of sheep bones were tied” was violently swung to smack against Jesus’ bare back, butt, and legs. The iron balls pounded into Jesus’ flesh, severely bruising his body, while the pieces of bone ripped open the skin and tissues of his back.
The Journal of the American Medical Association published an article in 1986 describing the medical impact on Jesus’ body, noting that “As the flogging continued, the lacerations would tear into the underlying skeletal muscles and produce quivering ribbons of bleeding flesh. Pain and blood loss generally set the stage for circulatory shock.” Next, the group of hostile soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns, pressed it into Jesus’ scalp, and then struck him in the head with a reed. They clothed him in a purple robe, mocked him, spit on him, and beat him again. At last they marched him out to publicly crucify him.
The soldiers placed a 75-pound crossbar on his shredded shoulders and demanded he march to The Place of the Skull. By this time, Jesus was too weak to carry the cross, so another man, Simon the Cyrene, was forced to bear it. When they arrived at the spot, five-to-seven-inch nails, like railroad spikes, were pounded through Jesus’ wrists and feet. Again, a doctor describes this process, saying, “the driven nail would crush or sever the rather large sensorimotor median nerve. The stimulated nerve would produce excruciating bolts of fiery pain in both arms.” Now immobilized, Jesus was again stripped naked, and his cross was tilted upright for all to see. The humiliation was complete.
While Jesus hung between heaven and earth, each breath was a struggle. His body weight pulled against his outstretched arms, impeding his ability to exhale. For three straight hours, the only way Jesus could breathe was to push up on the nail driven through his feet, thus allowing his lungs to collapse. His mangled back continued to scrape against the splintery wood of the cross. Breathing hurt. Everything hurt. There was no relief. The pain of crucifixion was so unequaled that a new word had to be invented to describe it — excruciating — which in Latin literally means, “out of the cross.” At this point, the crowds who once praised him now walked by and insulted Jesus with hatred.
If Jesus was simply a pious man and no more, we would expect him to cry out, “I’m innocent. This is unjust!” But that’s not what happened. Instead, dripping with blood and gasping for air, Jesus prayed for his enemies. From the cross Jesus cried out, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” He wanted grace to be shown to his murderers and mockers.
To make sure Jesus was dead, a professional executioner drove a spear up through Jesus’ side, piercing his heart. Out spilled blood and water — Jesus was dead.
This is not mystery or metaphor. Jewish, Gentile, and Christian historians all attest to the fact that Jesus died by crucifixion. History’s testimony is that Jesus suffered the punishment of a criminal, and he really died on the cross.
In the final year of Jesus’ life, he repeatedly told his disciples he would suffer, die, and rise again. And three days after Jesus’ death, a few women went to his tomb to say their final goodbyes, but what they found was that the stone had already been rolled away from the tomb’s entrance. The tomb was empty, except for an angel who appeared to them and said: “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.”
Shocked, the women ran back and told the disciples what they had seen. Their leader, Peter, ran to the tomb to verify the news. When Peter looked in, he saw an empty tomb with Jesus’ burial cloths folded up and lying there. Later that evening, while the disciples were gathered together, Jesus appeared to them, and he showed them his hands and his side. Jesus was alive, just as he said.
Over the next forty days, Jesus appeared to his followers in groups as small as two and as big as 500. They went around saying, “We have seen the Lord.” And they had.
No man would suffer that much for a lie. No man would die like that, praying for his enemies. No man could promise to overcome death and then three days later rise again. The crowds in Jesus’ day rightly asked, “Who is this?” and the most reasonable answer is that Jesus is who he said he is, the only Son of God, the Savior of the world.
Our superhero movies echo the truth. Our modern myths validate the real story. A hero has come. He was one of us and yet more than us, fully man and fully God. He came from heaven to earth, not to rule with force but to save with sacrifice. Heroes always sacrifice and none more than Jesus. His death on the cross was the sacrifice for your life and mine.
Though our sin infected us with a disease we cannot cure, by Jesus’ wounds we are healed. Though our sin condemns us to death and hell, Jesus died to give us life. He was pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities.
Everyone who receives Jesus, who calls on his name will be saved. Saved means completely forgiven. Saved means set free. It’s to be given the the gift of eternal life. And most of all, saved means to be loved and adopted by God.
Our world is lost and broken. Sin makes the news everyday. But there is a light that shines brighter than the darkness. There is good that still overcomes evil. Jesus is the one we’ve been searching for. He is the one we need most.
© 2025 John Rinehart