As a child that attended church regularly because my mom made me, I never paid much attention to Jesus’s crucifixion. I had no idea what the last supper represented or let alone that it was the night before the most significant event in history.
Recently, my friend asked me to be apart of a bible study group and I’ve gotten a head start on the reading. As an adult, I’ve definitely been able to dive deeper with my understanding of it and almost feel ashamed that I’m almost 30 and never understood the significance of this event. Let alone, have been to church PLENTY of times and apparently never paid attention enough to absorb this.
So, I write this for those of you who are in the same boat as me, have a read and tell me what you think.
Theories…
Many people have questioned the genuity of the bible, especially the resurrection.
Many theories have suggested Jesus was given a drug to only appear dead and to wake up later in the tomb and flee. Other publishing’s led with other ideas for example; he never really died; pretended to die; was resuscitated; or even one where Jesus fled to Egypt and married a priestess Isis.
Even so, all of these authors had one thing in common… no proof and admitting, “We could not – and still cannot- prove the accuracy of our conclusion.”
His Crucifixion
Affiliate –> Click the picture to be sent to book purchase.
Lee Strobel (the author of the book I’m referencing from) interviewed with Alexander Metherell M.D., PH.D.
Lee references the topic, “a beating so barbarous that it shocks the conscious, a form of capital punishment so depraved that it stands as wretched testimony to man’s inhumanity to man.”
The reason Metherell was referred to Lee for this interview was because he was a reliable resource that could be trusted to discuss the most major event in the history of man kind.
“I had been told he could discuss the topic dispassionately as well as accurately. That was important to me because I wanted the facts to speak for themselves…”
– Lee Strobel
The Debates
To begin… from my understanding so far, The Last Supper happened the evening before the next day crucifixion. After Jesus’s supper, he left to pray, KNOWING what was going to happen to him the following day… yup… just got chilly.
Now, Lee points out that in the bible it states that Jesus sweat blood. He questioned whether that was true? Or an exaggeration?
Metherell responds with, “This is a known medical condition hematidrosis…” a condition rarely found but can be possible under high levels of psychological stress. It’s where high psychological stress leads the capillaries in the sweat glands to break down and expel from the body in small amounts. Therefore, sweating blood.
Next, due to his stressful condition, his skin becomes sensitive anticipating the horrid events to follow. So when it came to the next day.. Jesus skin would have been much more sensitive during the flogging given by the Roman soldier.
Note: Jesus was brutaly beaten before he was hung on the cross.
Flogging by the Romans were done with braided leather whips that consisted of metal balls and sharp bones for bruising and slashing the skin. Often, the beatings were so brutal you could clearly see the spine, along with veins and muscular tissue.
After his beating, he was then laid down on the horizontal beam (which was separate from the vertical piece that remains placed in the ground somewhere else) stretched him out and nailed his “hands”. I quoted “hands” because they actually would nail through the wrists so the weight of the bodies wouldn’t slide off through the skin of the hands between the fingers.
Lee argues that he’s seen paintings and pictures of the crucifixion and Jesus appears to be nailed up through his palms, not the wrists. Pictures I feel like are regularly shown throughout the religious community. I for one, have also seen images with the nails through his palms and his nailed hands were also mentioned in the bible. Metherell counters back with, “So the nails went through the wrists, although this was considered part of the hand in the language of the day”. So back then they must not of had a word for the wrists, it was pretty generalized and vague so long ago.
In the book it mentions Jesus stumbles on his way to the crucifixion site and another helps him carry the horizontal piece he is nailed to through his wrists… now… they’re referring to this as hypovolemic shock . It’s when the body tries to recover from blood loss. Which is exactly what’s happening after Jesus was beaten, nailed, and then made to walk to where he would be hung….
So the reason publishers and authors suspected the drug to fake his death comes in around here in his story. During his stumbled walk to the crucifixion site, Jesus said, “I thirst” and another gave him a sip of vinegar. So many have found a need to question that and if it was a “fake a death” drug. After such brutalized flogging by the roman soldier… and blood loss… it has also been observed that he would of pretty much been in a serious critical condition at this point and it’s probably a miracle he can even walk.
Once he reaches the vertical piece of the cross, they hang him on it and then nail his feet. All the times he’s nailed, they would have driven the large nails through major nerves… which is compared to hitting your funny bone really hard only to take a pair of pliers instead, crimp down and twist… hard. Ouch.
The kind of stress Jesus went through was unimaginably painful… in fact, the word excruciating was invented during this specific event because there were no words to describe the kind of pain Jesus endured during that event. Hanging on the cross would have resulted in his arms being stretched at least an extra 6 inches and his arms dislocated from his shoulders.
The cause of death would be next. But I haven’t read that far and I don’t want to spoil things by ruining his book.. Interested in this book you can click this direct link to purchase.
I appreciate you guys taking time out of your day to read this and I hope you can start or keep continuing your journey with God knowing he is the only one that matters. Don’t pay any attention to the wickedness of this world, he is where the joy is.