When men think of what it cost Jesus to be man’s Redeemer, they typically focus on his physical suffering on his last day: the scourging, the crown of thorns, the nails, and the cross. As important as these things are, they are only a fraction of the cost he paid.
Understand that his suffering on that day was not unique. Many men suffered the horror of a Roman crucifixion before and after his death. He didn’t receive a unique dose of Roman cruelty. He received a common dose. He got the same nails and the same cross that all condemned to crucifixion got. His beating and scourging were common. The plucking of his beard was not without parallel.
So wherein lies the bulk of the cost? The incarnation — the eternal Son becoming God-manifest-in-flesh for the redemption of mankind. This involved three amazing costs Jesus paid so he could die an atoning death on a Roman cross. The first was his permanent adoption of a human body and nature. God the Son is now eternally a man. The second was his thirty-four year absence from the glories of heaven while he lived in the sin pit of this world. The third was the break of fellowship with his Father for three awful hours on the cross — “My God, My God: Why have you forsaken me” — while he, as a man, bore the sins of the world. How can you run from such love!