The Third Hour

It was about the third hour when they crucified him, nine in the morning.

They had flogged him. The Roman soldiers had mocked him, putting a purple robe on him like he was a king. They fashioned a crown out of thorns and put it on his head.

"Hail, king of the Jews," they said, bowing before him in mockery.

Jesus was in no condition to carry the cross. He was physically exhausted. His body had been beaten to a pulp. But most of all he carried the weight of the world.

A man from Cyrene named Simon had come for the Passover. The Roman soldiers grabbed him from the crowd and forced him to carry the crossbeam for Jesus. They brought Jesus just outside the gate to a place the Jews called "Golgotha," the place of a skull.

Pilate had fashioned the charge carefully: "THE KING OF THE JEWS." He wanted to mock the people.

They offered him wine vinegar to deaden the pain, but he refused it.

Two criminals were crucified with him. They mocked too. One of them was particularly harsh: "You're a disgrace, claiming to be our messiah. Where's the Son of Man now?"

The soldiers threw dice to see who would get Jesus clothes. Meanwhile Jesus hung naked from the cross.