POURED OUT

2023

8 x 10 inches

Mixed media (pencil, charcoal and watercolor) on Arches hot press watercolor paper

I drew "Poured Out" in hopes to provide at least a glimpse of the suffering that Jesus Christ endured for our salvation. Because life is in the blood, the shedding of blood is the required payment for sins (Hebrews 9:22). This is what Christ meant when He said during the Last Supper that His blood is "poured out for many for forgiveness of sins (Matthew 26:28)." The cup in this drawing serves as a reminder of this promise and also declares that He took the cup that He prayed about when He prayed "Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done (Luke 22:42)."

Though Jesus is both God and man, He suffered fully as a man, taking on the entire punishment without relief. He was betrayed, arrested, humiliated, mocked, unfairly judged, spat on, beaten, and crucified. Both Herod and Pontius Pilate commanded that a red/purple robe be placed on Him as mockery for being the "King of the Jews." A crowd that shouted "Hosanna" a few days before shouted "crucify Him" while He stood innocent before them. They placed a crown of thorns on His head as mockery and pain. He was beaten with instruments that tore chunks of flesh from His body before He was forced to carry His own cross (the beam weighed around 100 lbs) through the city and to the site of His death (at least 2,000 feet). It has been recorded that many didn't survive such a beating. He was stripped of His clothing, reopening the wounds from His beating. His arms were stretched out and nails were driven through His wrists, holding Him to the cross. It's quite possible that they nailed Him to the horizontal beam then picked it up (with Him already nailed to it) to attach it to the vertical beam. While He hung on the cross, a sign hung over His head that read "Jesus, the Nazarene, king of the Jews" in three languages so that everyone passing by would know of His "crime". While He was on the cross, the guards gambled for His clothes. As time passed, He suffocated more under the weight of His own body. He would have to pull up on the nails that were through His wrists just to get a breath. He suffered physically, emotionally (His own disciples deserted Him and fled (Matthew 26:56)) and spiritually ("He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21)." The sins of the entire world were on Him (1 John 2:2) causing Him to cry out "My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me (Matthew 27:46)?"). While He was on the cross, He was insulted by the chief priests, scribes, elders, soldiers, people passing by and one of the robbers on the cross next to Him with words such as "He saved others; let Him save Himself if He is the Christ of God, His Chosen One (Luke 23:33-39)!"

Since Jesus is God, why didn't He save Himself? In the song "Jerusalem" by CityAlight, my favorite verse is this: "See the King who made the sun and the moon and shining stars LET the soldiers hold and nail Him down so that He could save them." There has never been a moment in history when God wasn't sovereign or in complete control, even while He suffered on the cross. God has never needed a backup plan. Yes, the sin of Satan, Judas, the chief priests and the elders led Jesus to the cross. But God ultimately willed it to happen and simply used what they meant for evil. We must understand that it was actually my specific sin, your specific sin, and the sin of mankind that put Jesus on the cross. We are the reason He truly suffered. Before the cross is something done for us, we must see the cross as something done by us. The degree of His suffering directly relates to the seriousness of our sin. Yet, He willingly took our sin upon Himself and suffered in every way on our behalf because He loves us (Romans 8:35-39).

His love for each of us is more than we can comprehend. He showed grace and love to the woman at the well (Jesus knew of her multiple divorces), Judas (Jesus knew he betrayed Him for money), Barabbas (Jesus sovereignly was crucified in his place), the thief on the cross next to Him (Jesus saved him at the very end of his life), and even Paul later on (Jesus saved him even though he murdered thousands of Christians).

"Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth (Isaiah 53:4-7)." Jesus suffered on the cross for around six hours until He breathed His last. As our true Sacrificial Lamb, He died at the same time the Passover lambs were being sacrificed. At that time, darkness filled the sky, the ground shook, the rocks split and the temple veil was torn in two from top to bottom! His body was wrapped in linen cloth and placed in a new tomb cut into the rock. The entrance to the tomb was then sealed by a stone. Pilate ordered guards to secure the tomb. They did so and set a seal on the stone so that noone would steal Jesus' body. His death brings us redemption and forgiveness of our sins (Ephesians 1:7-8a). And that is only half of what He has done for us....