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The Crucifixion |
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Roman crucifixion was a
gruesome form of capital punishment. The victim suffered excruciating
pain for hours, even days, before the rigors of the cross finally
snuffed out his life. In its most common form, the cross consisted of
two pieces of wood. The upright, called the stipes, was
permanently fixed in the ground (1). The crosspiece, called the patibulum, was
carried to the site of execution by the condemned man (2). This task was
in itself an ordeal, since the patibulum was a stout beam
weighing more than a hundred pounds (3). After the crucifixion, the
crosspiece was taken down and removed from the site, perhaps as a
precaution against thievery (4). Literary sources suggest that the
familiar picture of Jesus' cross is inaccurate. It is likely that the
crosspiece rested on the upright, instead of being fastened to it
at some distance below the top. That is, the cross of Jesus probably had
the shape of a capital "T" (5). In 1968, archaeologists
discovered the remains of a Jew who had been crucified during the era of
Christ (6). It was possible from the skeletal evidence to determine
exactly how the man had been fastened to a cross. The new information,
debunking many old guesses about the method of crucifixion, left no
doubt that this form of punishment was hideously and cruelly efficient.
A crude iron spike from five to seven inches long had been driven
through each wrist (7). Also, after both feet with heels and toes
together had been turned sideways against the cross, a third spike had
been driven through a board and then through both heels (8). When the
man hung on his cross, the lower part of his body must have been twisted
to one side. During crucifixion, the victim
was provided with a partial seat, called a sedile, a simple
board nailed to the cross (9). But he could use the sedile only
by allowing his torso to slump, with painful results. The weight of his
sinking body forced his knees to bend sharply and stretched out his
upraised arms to an unnatural extent (10). Why did the victim die? In the
strangely contorted sitting position, he could breathe in, but he could
not relax the muscles of the rib cage sufficiently to breathe out (11).
Thus, to exhale, he had to push himself up, using mainly his legs (12).
In time, overcome by weakness, he was not able to raise himself for
another breath, and he died of suffocation (13). Some victims fought off
death for two or more days (14). Others died sooner. Either way, the
agonies of the victim, as he desperately struggled time after time to
raise himself and continue breathing, were prolonged and ghastly. It is improbable, however,
that suffocation was the cause of Jesus' death. The Gospel of Mark (Mark
15:25; 34-37) records that He was nailed to the cross at the ninth hour
in the morning (about nine o'clock) and that He died the same day at the
third hour in the afternoon (about three o'clock). Although He had
suffered scourging, He undoubtedly possessed enough natural vigor to
maintain His breathing on the cross for more than six hours. The
malefactors crucified by His side were still alive at the end of the
day, even though they probably had been scourged also (John 19:31-33).
To hasten their deaths so that no executions would be in progress during
the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the soldiers in attendance broke their
legs. Once they could no longer push themselves up, they died rapidly.
But when the soldiers came to Jesus, they found that He was dead
already. He could not have succumbed to suffocation so soon. What then
was the cause of His death? We gain some insight on Jesus'
bodily state at the time of death by looking at the postmortem evidence.
Shortly after He gave up His spirit, a Roman soldier made sure He was
dead by dealing Him a wound that would have been fatal had He still been
alive. The soldier thrust a spear upward into His side, undoubtedly into
His heart cavity. John reports that from the wound emerged a mixture of
blood and water (John 19:34). Ordinarily, having no blood pressure, a
corpse does not bleed. What then caused the bloody seepage from the
wound in Jesus' side? The most satisfactory explanation is that the
fluid came from the punctured heart cavity, its presence there being a
clear sign of a ruptured heart (15). In reviewing the results of
autopsies performed on several victims of a ruptured heart, a medical
authority stated, "The pericardial cavity was occupied by
approximately 500 cc's of fluid and freshly clotted blood" (16).
The water reported by John was the watery fluid normally present in the
heart cavity. To this was added blood leaking from the torn wall of the
heart. The usual cause of a ruptured
heart is heart disease, leading to an aneurysm in the heart (a place
where the wall is thin and dilated). But it is unlikely that Jesus, a
man of youth and good habits, suffered from heart disease. Anything that
drastically raises the internal pressure of the heart can also produce
rupturing. For example, a blood clot might lodge in a valve and block
outflow, with the result that internal pressure builds to a magnitude
sufficient to rupture tissue (17). In Jesus' case, it is possible,
though unlikely, that a clot came to His heart from an internal wound
incurred earlier. Yet there is a more likely
explanation of Jesus' broken heart. It is possible that violent
contractions induced by severe emotional and physical stress so squeezed
the blood inside the heart that internal pressure rose to bursting
strength. Jesus' broken heart could, in fact, have been caused by His
tremendous agony of soul, as He bore our sins and felt the infinite
weight and coldness of the Father's wrath. Jesus' death cannot be
attributed to any physical cause, however. He taught His disciples, 17
Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I
might take it again. John
10:17-18 In other words, He could live
or die as He willed. Even when His body reached a condition that would
have been fatal to other men, He had the power to go on living. The
Gospel accounts show clearly that He died only when He chose to die. His
next to last saying was, "Father, into thy hands I commend my
spirit" (Luke 23:46). Matthew declares that His death came when He
"yielded up the ghost [that is, 'spirit']" (Matt. 27:50). John
uses a similar expression, translated "gave up the ghost [that is,
'spirit']" (John 19:30). It was impossible that God Incarnate
should die apart from His own consent. Yet when His body could no longer
function without supernatural help, He did not cling to life. Instead,
He willingly commended His spirit to the Father and breathed no more
(Luke 23:46). Footnotes
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