An event is like a living organism. Its life depends on the inter-working of all of its parts. Take any one part and you steal the life from the whole thing. This is especially true of John's account of the death of Jesus. John, the theologian of the Gospel writers, more than any of the rest, views the crucifixion of Jesus as more than mere history. In the death of Jesus, John sees the person and purpose of Christ revealed. Let's take a step forward and, by means of John's description of Calvary, stand at the foot of the cross and meet this Christ.

The Gospel writer John tells us, "So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha)." Evidently something about the site resembled a human skull. For those …