I've been working on writing some curriculum to hopefully use in some type of class someday. Anyway, I'm working on a section about salvation and just got done with my narrative about the death of Jesus. My whole point, as should be obvious, is to stress that Jesus truly suffered. I think about all these people who have been killed in Joplin by the tornado. It's somehow comforting to know that most of those who died died quickly. The same, however, cannot be said about Jesus. His torture lasted for hours and included everything from excruciating physical suffering to extreme emotional humiliation. I'm sure you're looking forward to reading this now... but here it is anyway.
One of the reasons the Roman Empire lasted as long as it did was because of their law enforcement. They knew how to burn gruesome images into the minds of potentially rebellious people, demonstrating the punishment the peoples' insurgence would warrant. By the first century A.D., the Roman army had hundreds of years worth of practice crucifying the worst of criminals and rebels, honing the agonizing form of execution into an art form. It was not unheard of for the Romans to line vast stretches of highway with the crosses of thousands of dissenters. Then, as people traveled, they were given a horrifying picture of the potential fate awaiting those with similar defiant ambitions.
On a Thursday night toward the beginning of the Spring of A.D. 33, one of Jesus' long time students led the temple police to Jesus' place of prayer. Though his other students were prepared to go to war on Jesus' behalf, their master chose to go peacefully with mob. He was dragged before the religious leaders as a criminal and was given a hasty trial. They rendered a guilty verdict and immediately began punishing him, placing a blindfold over his eyes and beating him. It was unlikely that Jesus got any sleep that night.
Then, early in the morning, he was dragged before the governor of the region, Pilate, who quickly passed him off to another bureaucrat. When Pilate regained control of the unusual prisoner, he suggested to the crowd and religious leaders that Jesus had committed no crime worthy of death. But the growing mob of rowdy Jews would not take "no" for an answer. They shouted for Jesus to be crucified and began to work themselves into a riot. Eventually, the Roman governor saw that he had no other option, so he consented. Jesus was flogged with a whip that would have contained shards of bone and glass designed to rip the skin from his back and legs. Just to maintain consciousness amidst the pain would have required Jesus to exert every ounce of energy he had.
Next, the soldiers, who were beginning the most nerve-racking time of year in Jerusalem, dragged Jesus away to use as stress relief. They decided to have some fun with Jesus, stripping him naked only to redress him as a parody of the king he claimed to be. The crown they smashed into his scalp was composed of long, sharp thorns that would have contributed to significant blood-loss from Jesus' head. The soldiers spit all over him and humiliated him beyond what any human should have to experience.
After such a degrading experience, Jesus was required to carry his own crossbeam across the city. Yet, due to his weakened state, Jesus could not bear the hundred pound wooden beam, so a bystander was forced to lug it through the narrow city streets. They took him to a place called the Skull, probably named so because of skull-shaped sections of rock, just outside the city walls. The soldiers offered Jesus wine mixed with some medicine to act as a painkiller. However, he refused, apparently wishing to suffer the full extent of his pain. Then, they laid his crossbeam on the ground, stretched his arms against it, and nailed large spikes into his wrists. The nerves they cut and severed must have created excruciating pain, while his destroyed arteries produced a steady flow of blood.
As the soldiers lifted Jesus into place, all of his weight would have become centered on the nails in his wrists, tearing at his muscles and ligaments. Most likely, a large nail was also driven through his ankles so that he could use his legs to lift himself to breathe, otherwise he would have died quickly. But, the true horror of crucifixion was that it could last days. Accordingly, crucifixion is considered by many to be the most painful and horrendous way a person can die. Jesus' crucifixion likely lasted over six hours during which he forgave those crucifying him, ministered to a criminal who was also being crucified, reassured his mother, cried out to God, watched as onlookers ridiculed him, and finally died. To be sure he had died, the soldiers drove a spear up into Jesus' heart, which released a flow of blood and fluid guaranteeing the obvious. The Son of God was dead.
-Matt
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