S5 E12 - The Passion WOD

This week Kylie and I participated in the Passion WOD at CrossFit. 100 double-unders. 800m 95/65# barbell carry. 100 burpees. It was designed to remind us of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. It was a hard workout, but moreso because of how emotional it was. 

Do we really understand just how much Jesus suffered for us? Today we explore the details of scourging, the carrying of the cross, and how excruciating crucifixion was. I hope it serves to remind us of how great God's love is, and how much Jesus was willing to endure for you and me. 

#SetYourMindAbovePodcast

Transcript

What if I told you that God could be seen in the most ordinary things every day? 

What if I told you that every day, ordinary events could teach us extraordinary eternal truths? Would you believe me? 

 Welcome back to season 5 of the Set Your Mind Above Podcast! My name is BJ Sipe, and I am a Christian, a preacher, a husband, and a father. And I’m excited to share a few moments together with you learning some important lessons from the simplest things. Let’s grow together! 

Thank you all so much for your patience with the slight delay in today’s podcast – I have been playing catchup all week after teaching a series of lessons in Somerset, KY throughout the week. I have to say, the church that meets there in Somerset is one of the most loving, hospitable churches I have ever had the pleasure of attending. I feel so edified and encouraged after spending the week with them and pray that God continues to bless the wonderful work that is being done there. But that’s not what today’s episode is about. Today, we want to spend some time talking about the most recent workout of the day (also called a WOD) that Kylie and I got to be a part of. As many of you know, both my wife and I are members of our local CrossFit gym. We love the friends and connections that we have made there, and a big part of that is due to the fact that so many of our fellow gym members are also believers themselves. We are able to connect and share not just our journeys of health, but our journeys of faith.  We are able to encourage each other not just how to grow physically through diet and exercise, but how to grow spiritually as we build up one another. 

That brings us to yesterday’s workout of the day, which was called “The Passion WOD”. Given that this weekend we celebrate Easter as a nation, every Friday prior to Easter Sunday we all participate in a workout that is designed to remind us of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. This is how the workout goes – first, you complete 100 double-unders with a jump rope. This is designed to remind us of the scourging that Jesus had to endure. As you whip your jump rope around, your mind is intended to take you back to the way the Roman soldiers would have taken their whips and laid waste to the body of the Lord. Second, you have an 800-meter carry with a 95 or 65 pound loaded barbell on your back. This is designed to remind us of how Jesus had to carry his own cross until he could not bear the weight anymore on the way up to Golgotha. With each step, the weight becomes heavier – but with each step, you appreciate that what we carried was nothing compared to what Jesus had to endure. Finally, the final part of the workout is 100 burpees. This is designed to remind us of the burial and resurrection of Jesus. By the time your workout is done, you’re beyond exhausted – but many times, you’re also very emotional. That was the case for my wife. She had come back in from carrying the barbell and I could see the tears falling down her face from across the gym. I went over to check on her to make sure she was not injured, and she replied, “I’m okay. I just kept thinking to myself, ‘I can’t wait till I can set this down’ – but Jesus didn’t get to. He had to get right back up on the cross that he carried. He did that for me.” 

As Christians, not just once a year, but every single day we ought to be mindful of and embody the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. It is of first and foremost importance in our lives. Paul would write in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, “For I passed on to you as most important what I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.” The death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus is the foundation upon which everything in our life is built upon. Our faith, our hope, our purpose and mission, our identity, everything. In principle, I think that we understand this. In principle we understand that this was the most significant event in history – that Jesus is the chief cornerstone upon which our entire lives are built upon. But to be perfectly transparent, in my life I think there have been many times that I have not fully appreciated just what Jesus was willing to endure for me. 

It’s very easy to just read through the text and summarize what Jesus did as simply saying, “he died for me.” But he didn’t just die for me, he was willing to be scourged and crucified for me. In John 19:1, the text says, “Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged.” We can very easily read right past this without appreciating what this entailed. Flogging, or scourging, often led to death by itself when it was carried out by Roman soldiers. They would whip prisoners with a device that had multiple leather strands or rope with different items attached to the end. Sometimes it was rocks, or bones, or bits of metal. They would then lay waste to the body, often scourging people so severely that even internal organs or the skeletal structure would become exposed because of bits of muscle being entirely ripped away from the body. This is what Jesus endured even prior to his crucifixion. This was the condition of his body when they placed a heavy wooden cross upon his open, bare back to carry to Golgotha. The crossbar itself weighed anywhere from 70-125 pounds. This does not even take into consideration the crown of thorns they forced down upon his head, causing a significant amount of bleeding and pain that he would have worn as he bore the cross.  Keep in mind, his trial had taken place illegally the night before. So he was sleepless, without food or water, weak, abandoned, mocked, falsely accused and then tortured all prior to the cross. He did this for me. He did this for you.

Paul again would write in Philippians 2:8, “he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death— even to death on a cross.” Paul would state that he did not simply die for us, but that the way in which he died was so significant. Crucifixion was the most gruesome form of torturous death the minds of the barbaric Romans could come up with. They did not invent it actually, but the most certainly perfected it. Jesus was literally nailed to his cross, with large spikes being driven through both hands and his feet before the cross would be lifted up and dropped into its hole to stand upright. To understand the severity of crucifixion, I’d like to cite a medical article titled - On The Physical Death of Jesus Christ, JAMA, March 21, 1986 – Vol 255, No. 11. It reads:
 
 The crucial effect of crucifixion, beyond the excruciating pain, was a marked interference with normal respiration, particularly exhalation.  The weight of the body, pulling down on the outstretched arms and shoulders, would tend to fix the chest muscles used for breathing in an inhalation state and thereby hinder passive exhalation.  Accordingly, exhalation would require using the abdominal muscles rather than the chest muscles, and breathing would be shallow.  It is likely that this form of respiration would not suffice and that a high level of carbon dioxide in the bloodstream would soon result.  The onset of muscle cramps or tetanic contractions, due to fatigue and the high levels of carbon dioxide in the blood, would hinder respiration even further.

Adequate exhalation required lifting the body by pushing up on the feet and by flexing the elbows and pulling the shoulders inward.  However, this maneuver would place the entire weight of the body on the bones in the feet, and would produce searing pain.  Furthermore, flexion, or bending of the elbows would cause rotation of the wrists about the iron nails and cause fiery pain along the damaged median nerves.  Lifting of the body would also painfully scrape the scourged back against the rough wooden post.  Muscle cramps and loss of feeling in both the outstretched and uplifted arms would add to the discomfort.  As a result, each respiratory effort would become agonizing and tiring, further reducing the oxygen levels in the blood, and lead eventually to asphyxia.

The actual cause of death by crucifixion was multifactorial and varied somewhat with each case, but the two most prominent causes probably were shock from inadequate perfusion of critical organs due to blood loss and inadequate oxygen levels in the blood due to inability to breathe properly.  Other possible contributing factors included dehydration, stress-induced arrhythmias of the heart, and congestive heart failure with the rapid accumulation of fluid around the heart and in lungs.  Death by crucifixion was, in every sense of the word, excruciating (Latin, excruciatus, or "out of the cross").

My friends…do we really understand the lengths that the Son of God went to in order to redeem us from sin? Do we really understand just how great a sacrifice was made that day? It is my prayer that we all be reminded of just how severely Jesus suffered for you and for me. 1 John 3:16 says this, “This is how we have come to know love: He laid down his life for us.” The next time you wonder just how much Jesus loves you, look to his death. Look to his scourging and look to the cross. There is no greater act of love that could ever be demonstrated. If Jesus was willing to do all of this for you and for me, just what exactly should be our response to Jesus? I’d like to share the last stanza to the hymn, “When I Survey The Wondrous Cross” as an answer to that question. “Were the whole realm of nature mine, that were a present far too small. Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.” 

This has been the Set Your Mind Above Podcast, season 5 episode 12 – and I’m so thankful that we had this time to grow together! A new episode is dropped every Friday, so be sure to tune in next week.  Also, if you’re able to, go ahead and like and subscribe to the podcast, give us a good rating or most importantly share it with someone else – it would help to reach others that I never could alone.  And more than anything, always remember the following: know that I love you, that God loves you, and may we all each and every day set our minds above.