The Cost of the Cross for Jesus!

What He suffered for Me!

            In today’s Pastor’s corner, I want to examine briefly, the love that Christ showed for us through His crucifixion.  I want you to note that while Jesus was not the only person who was crucified, He is the only man who was crucified and faced two issues that no other man faced.  Those issues are first, He took the sins of the world upon Himself, and second, God turned His back on His Son, something that had never happened throughout all eternity.  How alone Jesus must have felt at that moment.  I want to examine briefly the medical aspect of the crucifixion of Jesus, and then we will look briefly at the seven statements of Christ. 

            Jesus knew what He was facing in just a few hours.  As He was praying in the garden of Gethsemane, the Bible tells us in Luke 22 that Jesus knew the pain and agony that awaited Him at the cross, this is why He said in Luke 22:42, “Father if you are willing, remove this cup from Me, yet not My will, but Yours be done.”  Jesus is about to be poured out as an offering.  The suffering that awaited Him caused Him to sweat blood.  This is a real medical condition known as hematidrosis, which is a condition that occurs under extreme stress, causing tiny blood vessels near the sweat glands to rupture and release blood into the sweat! 

            Now comes the crucifixion itself.  Jesus was scourged, which was a brutal flogging, which would have ripped his flesh into ribbons, cut through nerves.  This brutal flogging could be so intense that it had the ability to fracture or break bones.  After this brutal flogging, Jesus is undoubtably in severe pain.  He is probably exhausted and dehydrated, but His torture doesn’t stop there. Jesus was forced to carry the patibulum or the cross bar of His own cross to the place of crucifixion.  This patibulum would have weighed between 70-90 pounds. 

            Once Jesus was at the point of crucifixion, they would have thrown Him to the ground, and placed the Patibulum behind Him.  The Romans who were preparing Jesus for crucifixion were experts at this.  These Romans probably learned the art of crucifixion from the Assyrians and Babylonians.  They were trained to cause maximum pain and not kill the victim.  This meant that they knew how to drive the nails in such a way that they would not sever any major arteries or veins.  They sought to hit as many nerves as possible to cause severe burning pain and inflammation of the nerves, so the pain even before being hung was unthinkable.  As the nails were driven through the hands, (probably closer to the wrist, as human anatomy was not as well defined then as it is now, so the wrist was considered part of the hand) the Romans would have gone between the bones and had the nails scraping nerves as they pounded the nail through the victim’s wrist.

            Once the victim had been nailed to the patibulum, one of two things would have occurred.  If the upright portion of the cross known as the “Stipes,” was already in the ground then the Romans would have tied rope to the Patibulum and pulled the victim along with the Patibulum up to meet the stipes and fasten the two pieces together.  If the stipes was not already set, the patibulum and the stipes would be connected on the ground and placed behind the hole that it would set in and then the Roman guards would pull the cross upward until it dropped into the hole.  Imagine the pain either way, it was painful. 

            Once upon the cross, the weight of the body pulling down on the victim’s arms and shoulder cause severe pain and difficulty breathing, which would lead to asphyxiation.  Imagine the pain of your bodies weight pulling down on your arms and shoulders and your feet are nailed to a small piece of wood that protrudes from the cross and you have to try to force yourself upward to get a breath.  Not only would this have been excruciating because of putting pressure on the nail in feet, but you also had to contend with the fact that the victim’s backs were rubbing up and down against the rough wood of the cross.  Jesus also had a crown of thorns made from one of the thorn bushes of the area.  This crown could have been made from several thorny bushes such as the Syrian acanthus, the Christ’ thorn jujube, holy bramble, or hawthorn.  All of these shrubs had huge thorns many times used as kindling to start fires.  These thorns were probably causing severe bleeding on the forehead of Jesus and the blood was probably flowing into His eyes.  Imagine the burning of the sweat and blood pouring into His eyes.  It has also been said that during crucifixions that wild birds would come and pluck at those on the cross. 

            As we continue to look at the medical aspect of the crucifixion, Jesus more than likely would have succumbed to hypovolemic shock and heart failure.  Because of great blood loss, dehydration and the physical strain on His body, hypovolemic shock would have set in, which is a life-threatening condition where the body is unable to adequately circulate blood. All of these factors were contributors towards His death.  We must remember though that Jesus while man, was also fully God and nothing can kill God.  Jesus gave His life willingly, and freely.  He died a man’s death, but never stopped being God.  After all of this on the cross, the Roman soldier pierces the side of Jesus to ensure that He is dead (all the dead had to be off the cross before the sabbath.)  As the spear pierced Jesus, water flowed out of the wound, indicating that this may have been a cardiopulmonary effusion, which is when fluid forms around the heart in the pericardium. 

            In closing, let me say this, the exact cause of death of Jesus has been debated for years, but without doubt, I can tell you what the cause of death was.  It was love.  He loved us so much that He laid down His life on an old, rugged cross for you and me, so that we may have eternal life with Him.  The good news is that Jesus did not stay dead.  On the third day, He rose from the dead, and was seen by many people including 500 at one time, before ascending back to Heaven forty days later. It wasn’t the nails that kept Jesus there on that cross, it was His great love for you and me.  Again let me reiterate, no man took the life of Jesus, He laid down His life for us, He was like a lamb going to slaughter (Is. 53).  This Easter, we celebrate the risen Lord who truly is the king of kings and Lord of Lords and is seated at the right hand of the Father.  The best news is, “Because He live, we also shall live” (John 14:19).  

God Bles you and Happy Easter

Pastor Jeff