'And they shouted, "Crucify!"...'
A Medical Description of the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ
This may disturb you, so don't read it if you don't want to;
it's pretty horrific...
The physical trauma of Christ begins in Gethsemane with one
of the initial aspects of His suffering - the bloody sweat. It is
interesting that the physician of the group, St. Luke, is the only one to
mention this. He says, “And being in agony, He prayed the longer. And his
sweat became as drops of blood, trickling down upon the ground.”
Though very rare, the phenomenon of hemathidrosis, or bloody sweat, is
well documented. Under great emotional stress, tiny capillaries in the
sweat glands can break, thus mixing blood with sweat. This process alone
could have produced marked weakness and possible shock. After the arrest in the middle of the night, Jesus was brought before the
Sanhedrin and Caiaphas, the High Priest. A soldier struck Jesus across the
face for remaining silent when questioned by Caiaphas. The palace guards
then blindfolded Him and mockingly taunted Him to identify them as they
each passed by; they spat on Him and struck Him in the face. Condemned
to Crucifixion
In the early morning, Jesus, battered and bruised, dehydrated, and
exhausted from a sleepless night, was taken across Jerusalem to the Praetorium of the Fortress Antonia. It was there, in response to the cries
of the mob, that Pilate ordered Bar-Abbas released and condemned Jesus to
scourging and crucifixion. Flogging first
Preparations for the scourging are carried out. The prisoner is stripped
of His clothing and His hands tied to a post above His head. The Roman
legionnaire steps forward with the flagrum in his hand. This is a short
whip consisting of several heavy, leather thongs with two small balls of
lead attached to the ends of each. The heavy whip is brought down with
fill force again and again across Jesus’ shoulders, back and legs. At first the heavy thongs cut through the skin only. Then, as the blows
continue, they cut deeper into 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 stopped. 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 a king. They throw a robe across His
shoulders and place a stick in His hand for a sceptre. A small bundle of
flexible branches covered with long thorns is pressed into His scalp. Again there is copious bleeding (the scalp being one of the most vascular
areas in the body). 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. This had already become
adherent to the colts of blood and serum in the wounds, and its removal,
just as in the careless removal of a surgical bandage, cause excruciating
pain - almost as though He were again being whipped, and the wounds again
begin to bleed. The walk to crucifixion
The heavy beam of the cross is then tied across His shoulders, and the
procession of the condemned Christ, two thieves and the execution detail,
begins its slow journey, The weight of the heavy wooden beam, together
with the shock produced by copious blood loss, is too much. 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. The nails of crucifixion
At Golgotha, the beam is placed on the ground and Jesus is 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 inot 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 beam is
then lifted in place at the top of the posts and the titulus reading
“Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews” is nailed in place. The pain of
crucifixion
The left foot is pressed backward against the right foot, and with both
feet extended, toes down, a nail is driven through the arch of each. As he
pushes Himself upward to avoid the stretching torment, He places His full
weight on the nail through His feet. Again there is the searing agony of
the nail through His feet. Again there is the searing agony of the nail
tearing through the nerves between the metatarsal bones through the feet.
Crucifixion - the medical effects
As the arms fatigue, great waves of cramps sweep over the muscles,
knotting them in deep, relentless, throbbing pain. With these cramps comes
the inability to push Himself upward. Hanging by His arms, the pectoral
muscles are unable to act. Air can be drawn into the lungs, but cannot be
exhaled. Jesus fights to raise Himself in order to get even one short
breath. Finally, carbon dioxide builds up in the lungs and in the blood
stream and the cramps partially subside. Spasmodically, He is able to push
Himself upward to exhale and bring in the life-giving oxygen. Hours of this limitless pain, cycles of twisting, joint-rending cramps,
intermittent partial asphyxiation, searing pain as tissue is torn from His
lacerated back as He moves up and down against the rough timber. Then
another agony begins. A deep crushing pain deep in the chest as the
pericardium slowly fills with serum and begins to compress the heart. The compressed heart is struggling to pump heavy, thick, sluggish blood
into the tissues - the tortured lungs are making a frantic effort to gasp
in small gulps of air. The markedly dehydrated tissues send their flood of
stimuli to the brain. Jesus gasps, “I thirst.” Crucifixion - the last
gasp
He can feel the chill of death creeping through His tissues. With one last
surge of strength, He once again presses His torn feet against the nail,
straightens His legs, takes a deeper breath, and utters His seventh and
last cry, “Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit.” Apparently to make doubly sure of death, the legionnaire drove his lance
through the fifth interspace between the ribs, upward through the
pericardium and into the heart. Immediately there came out blood and
water. We, therefore, have rather conclusive post-mortem evidence that Out
Lord died, not the usual crucifixion death by suffocation, but of heart
failure due to shock and constriction of the heart by fluid in the
pericardium.
- Condensed from "The Crucifixion of Jesus Christ" by C. Truman
Davis, M.S. March, 1965 |
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