Key Verse: When they came to the place called,
The Skull, there they crucified Him, along with the criminals; one on His
right, the other on His left.
Luke 23:33
The gospel writers did not need to spend any
time going into details about crucifixion, how it was done, or how the
crucified one would suffer. Crucifixions were all too common in Jesus’ day.
Crosses could be found along the roadside, or as in Jesus’ case, on a hill, in
full view of everyone. It was much like the gallows of, even our earlier
American history in which a hanging would take place in the public square.
Executions today are usually done behind
closed doors, so even today most of us don't know about gas chambers and
electric chairs. I thought that since crucifixion is definitely not a part of
our experience, it would be fitting to give a brief description of a
crucifixion so that you can better understand what Jesus endured for the last
six hours of His earthly life.
The scourging Jesus endured produced deep stripe like
lacerations and appreciable blood loss, and it probably set the stage for shock
induced by that blood loss, as evidenced by the fact that Jesus was too
weakened to carry the crossbar to Golgotha. At the site of crucifixion, his wrists were
nailed to the cross bar and, after it was lifted onto the upright post, his
feet were nailed to that.
The major effect of crucifixion was the
difficulty in breathing, with the arms outstretched and supporting the weight
of the body, it was very difficult to fill the lungs with air. Only shallow breathing was possible. When this produced the sensation of
suffocation, the reflexive need for more air required the victim to suffer the
pain of supporting his weight on the nails through his feet. Death resulted primarily from loss of blood
and eventual suffocation after exhaustion. Jesus' death was ensured by the
thrust of a soldier's spear into his side. It is just amazing to me how
cruel we humans can be to one another.
Remember too that, not only was this done in
public, but the person being crucified was completely naked. The Gospels make
note of the fact that the soldiers took His clothing and divided it among them,
gambling to determine even who would get His underwear. It was just a further
humiliation for our Lord to endure. Yet, even this was a fulfillment of
prophesy. In Psalm 22:18, one of the Messianic Psalms, it says: "They
divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing." Nothing
about this event was a surprise to our Lord.
In the Garden of Eden, they had been naked and
unashamed. With sin came shame over the
exposed human body. Yet Jesus bore this shame, in His nakedness, for you and
me.
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