to be catholic : thoughts from the heart

The True Horror of Crucifixion: What Jesus Endured For Us

A gem I found on YouTube.

Many people portray the Crucifixion as a painless and speedy event that hardly even made a dent in Jesus' body. It pains me to see paintings in Church of Him without blood, just carrying the cross with what appears to be a facade of pain on His face, because that is not accurate,

That's not even a quarter of it.

I have courage, trust me, but maybe not that much as to never open my mouth in protest the way He did. Or rather, didn't do.

While praying in the garden, Luke, the probably- Greek physician born in Antioch of the Apostles, records Jesus was sweating blood. This is known as a rare condition and is seen in prisoners about to be executed.

The emotional trauma and fear seemed to really dig its claws in.

Then there's the scourging. The thongs, a Roman weapon at the time, were made to ensure the victim knew that they made a fatal blunder.

So, His hands are tied down, locked, and His back, shoulders, neck, and legs are scourged until it's a bloody mass, an almost bloody pulp. He probably didn't even look human at that point.

So, when that's done, He's dragged down, leaving behind a pool of blood, which people most likely wiped down. He's dragged in His own blood mercilessly.

So, the Crown of Thorns. That crown was not just regular rose thorns you would find in your garden, those were four inch think thorns from a bush that really delivered torture. When it was placed on His scalp, I guarantee you that was a major bleeding source. The scalp is one of the most blood-abundant parts of the body and therefore..that experience was anything but painless. Imagine thorns digging into your skin.

So, they made fun of Him, called Him the King of the Jews. We know that.

They spat in His face, pushed Him down. Slapped and pushed Him forward.

It was a 100-200 pound cross/cross beam He had to carry, and when He fell, that was anything but easy.

Nailed to the cross; He was most likely nailed through the wrists because simply nailing through the hands would be impossible to keep the victim upright, making escape possible. They were most probably nailed into His top wrist, where the hand starts. Medically, the wrists are part of the hands, so it's easy to understand why people consider it to be just His hands. Then His hands and wrists were most likely tied with rope afterwards to ensure a near-zero chance of escape.

If you reach your arms out, you'll probably find it more difficult to breathe even then, so imagine that on a cross with no options to move at all. He struggled to breathe, which was agony.

Christianity is the (if not only) religion in which the Savior died for US, and we don't have to die for Him unless we choose.

No other religion shows this love, this sacrifice.

Jesus willingly entered into His passion even though His fear was prominent.

A website giving us the medical view of His crucifixion;

'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."