Revisited: Eli, Eli, Lema Sabachthani

My God, my God why have you forsaken me?

Today is “Spy Wednesday.” This label comes from Judas’s betrayal of Jesus. He was a a spy for the authorities. He’s what you may know as an informant, or in the fbi, a CHS (Confidential Human Source). In the most recent post, Judas’s cowardice was discussed. This post gets into his CHS status a bit deeper, amongst other things. If you’ve been here for a while, you may recall that I first posted this 2 years ago during Holy Week. It is my personal favorite post that I’ve yet written. Similarly to last week, there will be something new this week that ties in as well so this will also help set the stage for that. Below is the brief intro I wrote last year when I re-posted it and then the original and audio.

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Yesterday was Palm Sunday. The beginning of what is commonly known in the broader Christian faith as Holy Week. The end of the week is marked by Good Friday, the day on which Jesus was brutally murdered by crucifixion. Last year, I posted this Substack post on Good Friday. To me, it is my favorite post that I have yet done so I thought it prudent to revisit this year. I have a different post planned for Good Friday this year, which ties into this one as well. So I also thought it may be good to revisit for that reason should I be able to finish on time! I have added audio to this post, but as you may know, I am sometimes prone to deviating a little bit from what I have previously written if a related thought strikes when I do the rare read over of one of my posts.

Although this intro is the only difference from last year’s post, here is the original:

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Have you ever been forsaken by someone? Maybe a spouse or significant other cheated on you, maybe a parent renounced you for some past way of living, perhaps there was a complete falling out with a sibling. Maybe you were on the other side doing the forsaking. You passed blame on a friend for some error of theirs and abandoned them and the friendship, or perhaps you disavowed parents for transgressions of theirs in your youth that couldn’t be overcome in adulthood. Perhaps you relinquished a thing, like drugs or alcohol, and therefore have forsook something in a more positive way.

No matter the individual circumstances, most of us are likely familiar with a complete abandonment of, or from, something or someone, but none of us can fathom what it must be like to be God’s only Son and to be entirely disregarded and torn from the Father for taking on all sin. Part of John MacArthur’s commentary on this passage puts it like this:

“Jesus did not die as a martyr to a righteous cause or simply as an innocent man wrongly accused and condemned. Nor, as some suggest, did He die as a heroic gesture against man’s inhumanity to man. The Father could have looked favorably on such selfless deaths as those. But because Jesus died as a substitute sacrifice for the sins of the world, the righteous heavenly Father had to judge Him fully according to that sin.

“The Father forsook the Son because the Son took upon Himself “our transgressions, … our iniquities” (Isa. 53:5). Jesus “was delivered up because of our transgression” (Rom. 4:25) and “died for our sins according to the Scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:3). He “who knew no sin [became] sin on our behalf” (2 Cor. 5:21) and became “a curse for us” (Gal. 3:13). “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross” (1 Pet. 2:24), “died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust” (1 Pet. 3:18), and became “the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10).”

This is the epitome of Good Friday, which we celebrate today. This is a brief summation of what Christ accomplished on the cross through his death, burial and resurrection for all who believe. The forgiveness of sin, of which we are all guilty, and the escape of our rightfully deserved, divine and eternal punishment for that sin. The gift of eternal life with Christ in heaven because of what he accomplished on the cross for us.

“Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” -Romans 10:9

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A “CHS” is a Confidential Human Source. You may have heard the term “CI,” or Cofidential Informant before. The terms are synonymous. The FBI fancies itself to be special though so uses its own terminology. I briefly mentioned the CHS program in On This Day in 1936...

The Plot to Kill the King

I’m going to deviate a bit from what you might be used to regarding Good Friday or Easter in general and take, hopefully, a pragmatic look at just how Jesus was crucified. Christ’s last words, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani,” were our starting point, but much transpired because of the wickedness of man before those words were uttered from the cross. What I mean is how he ended up on that cross and the evildoers who participated in how he got there. Aside from Old Testament prophesy, Christ’s own divinity, as well as that of God the Father ensuring Scripture would be fulfilled, what some of the crucial events near the end of Christ’s time on earth that resulted in his crucifixion were; and who played a role in them.

There is no doubt that Judas Iscariot was one of the factors which led to Christ’s crucifixion. He was the mole, the inside man, the CHS or CI, the one the corrupt authorities got to and turned for monetary payment. It’s a very common tactic in law enforcement work; to recruit, or willingly accept information from those who initiate contact with the government. The latter being the case of Judas. If you want to think of Jesus and his apostles as the governing authorities did, Judas was, what we call today, the bagman. His lust for worldly gain ultimately led to his betrayal.

Judas was angered after Mary, sister of Martha and Lazarus (whom Jesus had raised from the dead) poured expensive ointment, or nard, on Jesus. At this act Judas said, ““Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it.” (John 12:5-6) Mark’s accounting annotates that the cost of the oil was more than 300 denarii, whereas Matthew’s simply notes that it was “very expensive.” 300 denarii would be nearly a year’s salary, and as Mark further documents, the alabaster flask which contained the nard was also broken, which would have raised the earthly value even more.

Matthew’s accounting notes that other disciples were also indignant at what they deemed wasteful, yet Jesus reprimanded them, saying Mary had prepared him for burial. Nonetheless, this was too much to take for Judas and continued him down the path he was never going to escape from. Judas, angered at the “waste” of roughly a year’s wages, goes to the chief priests “and said, “What will you give me if I deliver him over to you?” And they paid him thirty pieces of silver. And from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray him.” (Matthew 26:15-16) Let this part sink in, about his CHS payment, as it were. Thirty pieces of silver. That’s it. That’s the price of a slave. Judas betrayed Jesus for the price of a slave. (Exodus 21:32, see also Zechariah 11:12-13)

Of Judas, Jesus said, “The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.” (Matthew 26:24) John’s accounting includes this exchange between Jesus and Judas, after “Satan entered into him, Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.” Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him. Some thought that, because Judas had the moneybag, Jesus was telling him, “Buy what we need for the feast,” or that he should give something to the poor. So, after receiving the morsel of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night.” (John 13: 27b-30)

Da Vinci’s Last Supper - credit Britannica

Where did Judas go? To his CHS handlers; the ones who gave him the slave’s price to deliver Jesus. After the Last Supper, which would’ve been Thursday night, Jesus went with his disciples to Gethsemane to pray. While they were still at Gethsemane, a place Jesus and his disciples frequented, Judas arrived “having procured a band of soldiers and some officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, went there with lanterns and torches and weapons.” (John 18:3) Jesus poses a question saying, “Judas, would you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?” (Luke 22:48)

A brief, yet violent, scuffle between Peter and those nearest Jesus from Judas’s group ensued. Peter cuts off Malchus’s ear, Jesus then heals the lopped off ear and tells Peter, “Put your sword back into its place. For all who take the sword will perish by the sword.” Malchus was Caiaphas’s (the high priest) personal slave who was probably sent to observe the veracity of Judas’s “source reporting” and report the events to Caiaphas directly. “Then Jesus said to the chief priests and officers of the temple and elders, who had come out against him, “Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs? When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness.”” (Luke 22:52-53)

Christ aptly calls out Judas and those with him for treating him and the remaining 11 disciples as common criminals and as if they posed such a threat that so many were needed to take Jesus into custody. Jesus was already forsaken by Judas, one of his chosen disciples. Now, amidst Jesus’s own arrest, he is forsaken by the rest of the disciples. As Matthew and Mark note, all the disciples “left him and fled.” That is what happens in tyrannical systems though.

The pressures exerted, even when we know the right thing to do, are often too overwhelming to bare. Make no mistake, that is an intentional part of these institutions that get corrupted by man. Peter briefly stood his ground but eventually the sheer numbers and full political force with Judas, who all participated in the plot to kill the King, were too much for the disciples to bear.

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Caiaphas, Chief Priests, Officers of the Temple and Rome

One difference from Roman controlled Judea (Israel) back then and modern legal theory today is that there was no “separation of church and state.” In fact, Rome allowed the Sanhedrin (Judas’s CHS handlers) to maintain some semblance of control since it made it easier on the Roman occupiers. The great Sanhedrin, or “the whole council” (Matthew 26:59), was essentially the Supreme Court of Israel at that time.

It consisted of 71 scribes, priests and elders and was presided over by the high priest; Caiaphas. The council met daily in the temple for court, except for on the Sabbath and other reserved, holy days. Prior to Judas going to the chief priests and volunteering to be their CHS, they had already been plotting against him. “Then the chief priests and the elders of the people gathered in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, and plotted together in order to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him.” (Matthew 26:3-4)

After his arrest, Jesus was brought before the Sanhedrin who “were seeking false testimony against Jesus that they might put him to death.” (Matthew 26:59) The numerous false witnesses that were paraded out had testimony that conflicted with one another and therefore the Sanhedrin could not make a ruling on that perjured testimony alone. Nonetheless, they had made up in their minds that they were going to kill Jesus. Caiaphas then put Jesus under oath, since thus far he had remained silent, and asked him if he was the Son of God.

Jesus answered in the affirmative, thus giving the council reason to have charges against him. Caiaphas tore his robes in an expression of deep grief, one that the high priest was forbidden from doing (Leviticus 21:10) unless they witnessed a blasphemy. His feigned grief, however, was more likely a way of gloating in front of Jesus than it was a true sign of grief. A sham high priest conducting a sham trial with sham charges and a sham outcome.

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Pontius Pilatus washing his hands - Matthias Stom

Luke’s rendering of events notes that the council waited until “day came.” That is because, by law, criminal trials were not deemed legal if they were held at night, therefore they waited until day to render the sham verdict they had decided on even before Jesus was turned over by their CHS and even before they held the sham trial.

It was around this time that Judas, the CHS who helped deliver Jesus, had a change of heart. Judas recognized he had “sinned by betraying innocent blood.” But, his handlers got what they wanted out of him and said to him, “what is that to us? See to it yourself.” (Matthew 27:4-5) Judas even returned the thirty pieces of silver before committing suicide. Clearly the Sanhedrin’s CHS program had some problems.

Brief aside: In late November 2022, a Congressional letter was sent to FBI Director Wray which in part states, “The FBI has had a poor track record in recent years of relying on CHS's in high-profile, sensitive investigative matters whose information later proves to be misleading, made-up, or otherwise unreliable.” The more things change the more they stay the same. I can’t say I’ve ever heard of a CHS returning their payment though, especially considering between fiscal 2012 and 2018 the FBI spent approximately $294 million on source payments.

Now that the Sanhedrin had a charge they believed would stick, Jesus was brought before Pontius Pilate; since the Roman occupiers had jurisdiction concerning matters of capital punishment. Once before Pilate, the corrupt Jewish leaders told him, “We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ, a king.” (Luke 23:2)

Even now, before the Roman governor, the Jewish governmental leaders lie. Jesus had previously told the priests and others, in front of witnesses to “render under Caesar what is Caesar’s.” Pilate though, saw through their attempts to simply coerce him into executing Christ and found no guilt in him; initially at least.

To Pilate’s relief, he learned that Jesus was a Galilean and that Herod, who had jurisdiction in Galilee, was himself in Jerusalem. Therefore, he sent Jesus over to Herod, hopefully ridding himself of the current political problem. Jesus doesn’t answer whatsoever to Herod. Of interest, Jesus spoke to Caiaphas and to Pilate, but not to Herod. Perhaps this is because Jesus knew that Herod had already completely rejected the truth having heard years earlier from John the Baptist.

Nonetheless, Herod too found no guilt in Jesus, although he and his soldiers treated him with contempt and mocked him before sending him back to Pilate. Pilate then tried to appease the Jews by offering to punish him after again saying he found no guilt worthy of death in Jesus. But just as we see today, the mob often gets what it wants. Mob rule overcame Pilate and his decision. The “democratic” cries of, “release to us Barabbas,” clearly showed Pilate’s cowardice. He caved to the mob rather than do what he knew was right.

“What is truth,” (John 18:38) he asked Jesus before ceding to the mob, further showing his cowardice. Before releasing Barabbas, at the mob’s behest, Pilate, again showing his cowardice, saw that a riot was beginning, “took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man's blood; see to it yourselves.” (Matthew 27:24)

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A modern image of Golgotha, “place of the skull,” which is widely believed to be the actual hill of Calvary where Christ was crucified.

The Science of the Crucifixion

Read the whole article by Dr. Cahleen Shrier here. Her medical analysis and explanation stands for itself and is better than anything I can provide. I offer a few excerpts below.

“Crucifixion was invented by the Persians between 300-400 B.C. It is quite possibly the most painful death ever invented by humankind. The English language derives the word “excruciating” from crucifixion, acknowledging it as a form of slow, painful suffering. Its punishment was reserved for slaves, foreigners, revolutionaries, and the vilest of criminals.”

“During His anxious prayer about the events to come, Jesus sweats drops of blood. There is a rare medical condition called hematohidrosis, during which the capillary blood vessels that feed the sweat glands break down. Blood released from the vessels mixes with the sweat; therefore, the body sweats drops of blood. This condition results from mental anguish or high anxiety."

“Pilate orders Jesus to be flogged as required by Roman law before crucifixion Traditionally, the accused stood naked, and the flogging covered the area from the shoulders down to the upper legs. The whip consisted of several strips of leather. In the middle of the strips were metal balls that hit the skin, causing deep bruising. In addition, sheep bone was attached to the tips of each strip. When the bone makes contact with Jesus’ skin, it digs into His muscles, tearing out chunks of flesh and exposing the bone beneath. The flogging leaves the skin on Jesus’ back in long ribbons.”

“Roman soldiers place a crown of thorns on Jesus’ head and a robe on His back (Matthew 27:28-29). The robe helps the blood clot (similar to putting a piece of tissue on a cut from shaving) to prevent Jesus from sustaining more blood loss. As they hit Jesus in the head (Matthew 27:30), the thorns from the crown push into the skin and He begins bleeding profusely. The thorns also cause damage to the nerve that supplies the face, causing intense pain down His face and neck. As they mock Him, the soldiers also belittle Jesus by spitting on Him (Matthew 27:30). They rip the robe off Jesus’ back and the bleeding starts afresh.”

“Therefore, the upper body would not be held to the cross. If placed in the wrist, the bones in the lower portion of the hand support the weight of the arms and the body remains nailed to the cross. The huge nail (seven to nine inches long)²damages or severs the major nerve to the hand (the median nerve) upon impact. This causes continuous agonizing pain up both of Jesus’ arms.”

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The Centurion and the King

"And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!” -Mark 15:39

The last character in this look at Good Friday is the centurion who starkly realized the truth as Jesus died. The truth of the cross. The truth that Jesus was the Son of God. Matthew’s accounting of events include that “those who were with him [the centurion], keeping watch over Jesus” also came to the realization that, “truly this was the Son of God.” (Matthew 27:54) “Those who were with him” clearly means the other soldiers, or the soldiers under this centurion’s charge, who were proceeding over the crucifixion.

The centurion has special meaning for me personally. Soldier and law enforcement officer were the purview of Roman centurions and the legionnaires under them as well. As the name implies, a centurion was in charge of 100 men, although that could’ve been somewhere between 80 and 100. In today’s terms, a centurion is roughly the equivalent of a company commander in the Army. In an infantry company there are typically three platoons of roughly 35 men. It is likely that this centurion and the legionnaires with him were present for, and presided over, Christ’s execution at Pilate’s command.

These men were prepared by Rome for war. Once Rome conquered other nations though, they would leave a military force there to be the law enforcement agency of that area. The Praetorium was their “police station” so to speak, and would be located in the conquered jurisdiction. In this case, Jerusalem. Legionnaires, who may well have been fighting in wars with other nations, were also the occupying law enforcement.

The centurion’s role would be leadership and authority of those 100 or so men. Training, discipline, mentorship and strict adherence to Roman law would be the centurion’s charter. Ideally, as is true today in the military and law enforcement, the centurion would be a role model for the legionnaires to follow. Although perhaps that aspect was as lacking in “leaders” back then as it is today. That can’t be said of this specific centurion however. Roman law was very strict for these soldiers, the centurion included. Rome treated Caesar as a god and thought of the Jews and any other religious sect as atheists since they did not see Caesar as god.

“Kaiser kurios” means “Caeser is lord.” This was required of the centurion and his men. It was required of all Romans. So for the centurion, and his men, to blatantly and openly proclaim, “Christos Kurios,” and recognize Christ as the Son of God was a violation of Roman law. But they did it anyways. These men who proceeded over the crucifixion, the unjust execution of Jesus, men who were extremely disciplined with a godship oath to Caesar, men who understood more than most the consequences of such a proclamation yet made it anyways. They were brought to the truth of the cross because of their role in sealing Jesus’s earthly fate on it. It truly is a stark example of Christ’s redemptive work accomplished on the cross.

If you’re interested in more about the centurion:

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Earlier in Christ’s ministry, back in Matthew 10: 17-22 he instructs the disciples saying in part, “Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, and you will be hated by all for my name's sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.”

This section has been in my thoughts a lot lately. Even thinking about Christ’s appearances before Caiaphas, the rest of the Sanhedrin, Pilate, Herod, as well as in front of all who witnessed him on the cross, I wonder if Jesus himself was thinking of the charge he had given his disciples here. He was turned over to courts, flogged and dragged before governors his Father’s sake and claiming his name as that of Son of God. Yet he persisted, and was given the words to speak along the way, and even given peace not to speak while before Herod.

Prior to Christ’s utterance of “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani,” he was forsaken many times. By Judas. By the rest of the disciples when they fled. By Peter three more times. By the quasi religious-political system of the Jews. By the Roman governors Pilate and Herod. By all the “lesser magistrates,” including the centurion, along the way who beat, mocked or otherwise participated in any aspect of Christ’s unjust murder; they were just following orders though right… Lastly, by God the Father.

Yet through it all Christ accomplished what he was sent here to do, “that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.” (1 Corinthians 15:3b-4) Even as he was nearing the end of earthly human life, after all the events of the crucifixion had taken place, he cried out to God to “forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34)

Those words Jesus spoke near the end, the words that started this post in the very title, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani,” come from Psalm 22 in the very first verse. That is a Psalm of David that anyone familiar with Scripture at that time, including those from the Jewish system who were instrumental in orchestrating Christ’s unjust murder, would be familiar with. That Psalm begins with a pleading cry, as Christ’s life on earth ended, yet proceeds through torment into a place of the realization of answered prayer and closes with the prospect of God’s kingdom being realized.

Through the awful pain it took to utter any words while on the cross, it must have taken a tremendous amount of effort to proclaim even what Christ did. It isn’t hard to imagine, or at least wonder, if the rest of the Psalm was finished in his mind while Jesus breathed his last. This part near the end especially stands out to me: “All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you. For kingship belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations.”