After the arrest
in the middle of the night, Jesus was next brought before the Sanhedrin and
Caiphus, the High Priest; it is here that the first physical trauma was
inflicted. A soldier struck Jesus across the face for remaining silent when
questioned by Caiphus. The palace guards then blind-folded Him and mockingly
taunted Him to identify them as they each passed by, spat upon Him, and struck
Him in the face.
Yet, Jesus didn't
say anything because He was thinking of you and me.
The Roman
legionnaire steps forward with the flagrum (or flagellum) in his hand. This is
a short whip consisting of several heavy, leather thongs with two small balls
of lead attached near the ends of each. The heavy whip is brought down with
full force again and again across Jesus' shoulders, back, and legs. At first
the thongs cut through the skin only. Then, as the blows continue, they cut
deeper into the subcutaneous tissues, producing first an oozing of blood from
the capillaries and veins of the skin, and finally spurting arterial bleeding
from vessels in the underlying muscles. The small balls of lead first
produce large, deep bruises which are broken open by subsequent blows. Finally
the skin of the back is hanging in long ribbons and the entire area is an
unrecognizable mass of torn, bleeding tissue. When it is determined by the
centurion in charge that the prisoner is near death, the beating is finally
stopped.
Again, Jesus
didn't do anything, because He was thinking of you and me.
The half-fainting
Jesus is then untied and allowed to slump to the stone pavement, wet with His
own blood. The Roman soldiers see a great joke in this provincial Jew claiming
to be king. They throw a robe across His shoulders and place a stick in His
hand for a scepter. They still need a crown to make their travesty complete.
Flexible branches covered with long thorns (commonly used in bundles for
firewood) are plaited into the shape of a crown and this is pressed into His
scalp. After mocking Him and striking Him across the face, the soldiers
take the stick from His hand and strike Him across the head, driving the thorns
deeper into His scalp. Finally, they tire of their sadistic sport and the robe
is torn from His back. Already having adhered to the clots of blood and serum
in the wounds, its removal causes excruciating pain just as in the careless
removal of a surgical bandage, and almost as though He were again being whipped
the wounds once more begin to bleed.
And yet again,
Jesus didn't do or say anything, because He was thinking of you and me.
He stumbles and
falls. The rough wood of the beam gouges into the lacerated skin and muscles of
the shoulders. He tries to rise, but human muscles have been pushed beyond
their endurance.
Jesus is offered
wine mixed with myrrh. He refuses to drink. Simon is ordered to place the
patibulum on the ground and Jesus quickly thrown backward with His shoulders
against the wood. The legionnaire feels for the depression at the front of the
wrist. He drives a heavy, square, wrought-iron nail through the wrist and deep
into the wood. Quickly, he moves to the other side and repeats the action
being careful not to pull the arms too tightly, but to allow some flexion and
movement. The patibulum is then lifted in place at the top of the stripes and
the titulus reading ,"Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews" is nailed
in place.
Even at this
point, Jesus is thinking of you and me.
The left foot is
now pressed backward against the right foot, and with both feet extended, toes
down, a nail is driven through the arch of each, leaving the knees moderately
flexed. The Victim is now crucified. As He slowly sags down with more weight on
the nails in the wrists excruciating pain shoots along the fingers and up the
arms to explode in the brain -- the nails in the writs are putting pressure on
the median nerves. As He pushes Himself upward to avoid this stretching
torment, He places His full weight on the nail through His feet. Again there is
the searing agony of the nail tearing through the nerves between the metatarsal
bones of the feet.
Jesus cries out in
agony, but he is thinking about us still: you and me.
A
sponge soaked in posca, the cheap, sour wine which is the staple drink of the
Roman legionaries, is lifted to His lips. He apparently doesn't take any of the
liquid. The body of Jesus is now in extremes, and He can feel the chill of
death creeping through His tissues. This realization brings out His sixth
words, possibly little more than a tortured whisper, "It is
finished."
Even at His last
breath, He was thinking of you and me.
His mission of
atonement has completed. Finally He can allow his body to die.
Thus we have had
our glimpse -- including the medical evidence -- of that epitome of evil which
man has exhibited toward Man and toward God. It has been a terrible sight, and
more than enough to leave us despondent and depressed. How grateful we can be
that we have the great sequel in the infinite mercy of God toward man -- at
once the miracle of the atonement and the expectation of the triumphant Easter
morning.
He
rose up from death, because all the while, He was thinking of you and me.
