'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
|
Home
Crucifixion of Jesus Christ - picture
|
Questions
about LIFE and Belief - why are we here?
THINK! 