Crucifixion was used on the worst criminals as it was a very torturous form of execution. According to Jewish scripture, those who died by crucifixion were “under God’s curse”.
It was common for the criminal to carry the cross-beam of their cross to Golgotha. Most criminals would have been able to do this without any help. The fact that Jesus needed assistance from Simon of Cyrene suggests that he must have been physically and emotionally weak. The soldiers offered him a drink to relieve his pain, but he did not take it.
Romans crucified people publicly as an example to others. Many people would have watched the crucifixions and shouted insults at the criminals. On top of each cross, a sign would have outlined the crime committed. On top of Jesus’ cross, it said ‘Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.’
Jesus was crucified at 9.00 am between two bandits.
The crowd, including the religious leaders, laughed at Jesus’ weakness after he was brutally tortured, and mocked him. They shouted, “He saved others, but he cannot save himself.” In this moment, we can see Jesus as the suffering servant, alone and rejected by all.
This was prophesied in Isaiah:
He was put to death for the sins of our people. — Isaiah 53:8
Mark records some unusual events that occurred during the crucifixion of Jesus:
- Darkness descended on the entire region, even though it was midday (12 o’clock). In Jewish scriptures, darkness was seen as a symbol of tragedy. Jesus then cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Some people thought that he was calling for Elijah, who it was believed would help those in need. Many have reflected on why Jesus said this. Did he feel abandoned by his Father? Jesus cried out with a loud shout and died at 3 o’clock. It seems strange that Jesus had the strength to cry out when he was seconds from death. This is maybe the reason for the Roman centurion thinking he was the Son of God.
- After Jesus’ death there was an earthquake. People rose from the dead. This was a symbol that all those who believed and trusted in Jesus would be brought forgiveness and new life.
- The curtain hanging in the Holy of Holies, the place in the temple where God was believed to be present, was torn in two from top to bottom. The curtain ripped from the top, suggesting that God tore it as a symbol that the way to Him was open. The barrier to God had been removed through the sacrifice of Jesus.
Mark notes the women who were present and witnessed Jesus’ death – Mary Magdalene, Mary (the mother of James and Joses), and Salome. These women did not run away like the disciples; instead, they were the first to arrive at the tomb.
A doctor describes the end:
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.
At this point, 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 paralyzed, and the intercostal 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 bloodstream, and the cramps partially subside.
Spasmodically, he is able to push Himself upward to exhale and bring in the life-giving oxygen.
It was undoubtedly during these periods that He uttered the seven short sentences recorded:
The first, looking down at the Roman soldiers throwing dice for His seamless garment, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”
The second, to the penitent thief, “Today thou shalt be with me in Paradise.”
The third, looking down at the terrified, grief-stricken adolescent John — the beloved Apostle — he said, “Behold thy mother.” Then, looking to His mother Mary, “Woman, behold thy son.”
The fourth cry is from the beginning of the 22nd Psalm, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
Jesus experienced hours of limitless pain, cycles of twisting, joint-rending cramps, intermittent partial asphyxiation, searing pain where tissue is torn from His lacerated back as He moves up and down against the rough timber. Then another agony begins — a terrible crushing pain deep in the chest as the pericardium slowly fills with serum and begins to compress the heart.
One remembers again the 22nd Psalm, the 14th verse: “I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.”
It is now almost over. The loss of tissue fluids has reached a critical level; the compressed heart is struggling to pump heavy, thick, sluggish blood into the tissue; 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 His fifth cry, “I thirst.”
One remembers another verse from the prophetic 22nd Psalm: “My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.” 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.” His mission of atonement has been completed. Finally, He can allow his body to die.
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.
The 34th verse of the 19th chapter of the Gospel according to St. John reports: “And immediately there came out blood and water.” That is, there was an escape of water fluid from the sac surrounding the heart, giving postmortem evidence that Our Lord died not the usual crucifixion death by suffocation, but of heart failure (a broken heart) due to shock and constriction of the heart by fluid in the pericardium.
You can read the entire suffering and death as detailed by a physician here.
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