Christianity Today published an online article during Holy Week titled, “Was Jesus Crucified with Nails?” The author of this article attempted to challenge the longstanding and widely-held belief that Roman soldiers drove nails into the hands and feet of Jesus to fasten him to the cross. The article cited an “evangelical Bible scholar,” who claims that there is no mention in the Bible of any nails. He wasn’t disputing that Jesus was crucified, just how it happened. According to that so-called Bible scholar, it might have been ropes rather than nails that held Jesus to the cross.
This article drew a lot of attention and enticed a lot of clicks. There was just one problem with it: The Bible does say that nails were driven into our Savior when he was crucified. After the risen Jesus appeared to his disciples on Easter evening, Thomas, who, for some reason, wasn’t there, proclaimed, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were…I will not believe.” One week later, he had that opportunity, as Jesus once more appeared to his disciples, this time with Thomas present. “Put your finger here,” Jesus invited the skeptical apostle as he showed him his hands.
Besides that exchange between Thomas and Jesus, there’s also something King David wrote 1,000 years earlier in Psalm 22. This psalm contains several astonishingly detailed prophecies about the crucifixion of the Messiah, including his very words (“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”) and the soldiers casting lots for his garment. But there’s also this tidbit in verse 16: “A band of evil men has encircled me. They have pierced my hands and my feet.” In addition, St. Paul wrote in Colossians chapter 2, “God erased the record of our debt brought against us by his legal demands. This record stood against us, but he took it away by nailing it to the cross.”
There really is no doubt. The Bible is clear. Roman soldiers drove nails into the hands and feet of Jesus when they crucified him on that Friday we call “good.” It is certainly possible, however, that in addition to the nails, ropes were also used to make sure that Jesus and the criminals who were crucified with him remained on their instruments of torture and execution.
Yet it was neither ropes nor nails that held Jesus to the cross. How could mere pieces of iron or twisted hemp fibers keep the almighty Son of God from coming down from his cross? Remember, this was the same Jesus who walked on water, stilled storms, restored sight to the blind, and even raised the dead. Jesus is God. There’s nothing he can’t do, including breaking free of the nails or ropes which pinned him to the wood.
As Jesus was dying, some mocked him, saying, “Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!” So, why didn’t he? What is it that held the all-powerful and eternal Son of God to the cross? It was something far stronger than nails or rope. In a word, it was love. Jesus’ love for us caused him to remain on the cross, bearing our sins and the unspeakable consequence of their guilt. He did it to pay for them. All of them. For all of us.
It was love, not ropes or nails, that held Jesus to the cross until at least he cried out, “It is finished.” And that love remains unchanged.
• Brent Merten is pastor of Christ Lutheran Church, Juneau, a member of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. “Living and Growing” is a weekly column written by different authors and submitted by local clergy and spiritual leaders. It appears every Saturday on the Juneau Empire’s Faith page.
