These simple sentences are loaded with pain. The place was dreadful enough; its popular name was full of dramatic foreboding and the public executions were gruesome. Crucifixion was intended to be very painful, as a serious public deterrent to other criminals as well as a personal punishment for the crime which had been committed. Nailed to a cross, the prisoner could not breathe properly as the weight of his body prevented normal respiration and tissue oxygenation, and eventually death would come as the circulatory system failed.
 
Initially, some of the women including the three Marys and at least one disciple, John, stood near the cross (John 19:25-27). Later they still kept watch but at a distance (Matthew 27:55-56). After the initial agony had been endured by Jesus, a pain-numbing potion was offered. But He refused it. He knew He had to endure both the pain and the shame (Isaiah 53:4) because He was accepting the punishment for all of the sins, of all the people, in all of the world, for all time.
 
The soldiers, however, did not care as they threw dice to see who could claim His clothes. Then they just sat and watched, as the King of heaven and earth bore their punishment too. Pilate's notice said that Jesus was 'the King of the Jews', but the Governor did not understand that Jesus was really everybody's King (John 18:37). One day, the Lord Jesus Christ will judge all people - including Pilate and everybody who has wanted Him out of their lives.
 
The soldiers sat to watch the death of the Son of God. Their passivity achieved nothing except to confirm that it was unmistakably Jesus who died on the cross. There was no substituted prisoner while He died. There was no doubt in the minds of the Roman executioners, the duty centurion, the followers of Jesus, the Jewish historian Josephus and the Roman historian Tacitus – that it really was Jesus on the cross, and that He died. This is so important. If Christ had not died then our sins could not be forgiven: there would be no hope of eternal life with Jesus. But He truly has died for our sins and was raised for our justification (Romans 4:25). That is the basis of our faith and the good news we must share with our friends – so there is no doubt that their sins will be forgiven completely if they repent and trust in Jesus.