The long, square, wrought-iron nails pierced his wrists as a Roman centurion hammered them between the radius and ulna bones of his tired forearms and through the metatarsal bones of his aching feet.  The spikes were driven deep into the abrasive wood of the massive crucifix that held his eviscerated body.  It was a miracle he even made it to the execution site, after enduring multiple lashes from a flagrum of leather thongs with lead appendages that cut into subcutaneous tissues and arteries, ripping his muscles and sinews into quivering ribbons of bleeding flesh. As he pulled his body up in searing pain, agonizing to breathe, he bore every act of evil and every transaction of selfishness committed by humanity while God seemed to ignore his lonely pleas.

The most important aspect to this cruel execution is that the one being executed—the Lord Jesus Christ—could’ve thwarted the entire ordeal and be justified in doing so.  He was innocent after all. 

Like a popular worship song reminds us, “he paid a debt he did not owe,” it’s important to consider that he chose to endure that horrific ordeal on our behalf. 

To most of us—especially in the ‘rights-obsessed’ West—the idea of suffering for the crimes or misdeeds of others is unfair and unconscionable.In our self-loving culture, punishment by proxy would look at best, self-abasing and at worst, masochistic.