Posted by Sebastian Shakes:
“The reasons why the Bible tells us that Jesus was no longer recognizable as a human being."
Most of the images of Jesus hanging on the cross are pretty clean. It looks like he stepped out of a shower, climbed up on the cross, and had some nails driven through his hands and feet…which hardly bled at all.
However, I think it is important for us to understand the physical suffering of Jesus as it shows us how much we are loved and what He Had to go through for us.
The cross was made of two parts the upright post the "Stipes" which was permanently fixed in the ground at the site of execution and the "Patibulum" it is the part the victim was made to carry, it weight around 110 pounds. Even carrying the patibulum proved to be too much for some men, especially after all the beating which many of them have received.
If the authorities wanted someone to die quickly, they would generally drive nails into the hands and feet of the victim. The nails were not driven into the palms of the hands as most pictures show. Rather, they were driven through the wrist near the hands. If the spikes were driven through the hands, the weight of the person would cause the nail to rip through the hands and the victim would fall off the cross. But when driven through the wrist, the set of bones which attach the wrist to the hand keep the hands from ripping free.
The crucified victim rarely died from blood loss. Most often, they died from asphyxiation, that is, the inability to breathe. Before the nail was driven through the victim’s feet, the legs were bent at the knee so that the bottom of one foot was flat against the vertical beam. One foot was placed on top of the other, and one long nail was driven through both feet. When the cross was erected, the weight of the body caused the victim to slump, putting all the weight of the body on the nails through the wrists, which caused a huge compression on the lungs. And that kept the victim from inhaling. As long as he was slumped down, he could not take in breath.
To take a breath, the victim would have to stand up on the nail through his feet, causing excruciating pain in the feet, but enabling him to take a breathe. But when that became too painful, he would slump back down, putting all his weight on his wrists, and also returning to the condition of not being able to breathe. Eventually, the victim would become weak and tired and could no longer lift themselves up on their feet to take a breath, and they would die from asphyxiation.
The first physical trauma for YeShua was inflicted with a soldier striking Him across the face for remaining silent when questioned by Caiaphas. Then He was blind folded and taunted asking Him to identify them as they were beating Him. They spit on Him, struck Him on the face repeatedly and pulled the hair out of His beard. Spitting on someone was the lowest form of disgrace to a person in that time and still is.
Although we do not know exactly how many guards participated, however we do know from history that the palace guard consisted of 900-1200 soldiers, so even if only ten percent participated, in this "Heinous" criminal act we see that Jesus endured a lot of beating, full fisted blows, shame, disgrace, and much devastation to His physical appearance at the hands of these soldiers.
They bared and stretched Jesus tight, at that time a Roman legionnaire steps forward with the flagrum "sometimes it is called a flagellum or cat-of-nine-tails" in his hand. It is a short whip consisting of nine heavy leather thongs, each with small lead balls, embedded with bits of glass, stone, or bone attached near the ends.
In the beginning the heavy thongs cut through the skin only. Then, as the blows continue, they cut deeper into the subcutaneous tissue, 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, to the point where
eventually, the skin on the back hangs in long ribbons, and the entire area is an unrecognizable mass of torn bleeding tissue.
As the flagging continues and the flagellum is quickly pulled back, violently ripping and tearing the flesh off the body, in the process, a victim may have several ribs broken. Then they took a small bundle of flexible branches covered with long thorns woven into the shape of a crown and pressed into His scalp. Since head wounds always bleed a lot, the blood runs down His face and into His eyes.
Then they handed him a "scepter” beating and mocking Him, making a big joke out of it. They then struck Him on the head with the scepter causing to bleeding perfusely from His Head. The soldiers then take a heavy patibulum, and tied it roughly to Jesus’ shoulders. The procession leads down the Via Dolerosa. With Jesus are the two thieves who will be crucified with Him, and the execution detail of Roman soldiers.
Friends, Jesus Had gone through this pain, suffering, and humiliation to offer us redemption, and eternal life with the complete confidence of a full pardon to Our sins.
He offer us reconciliation and a free and complete accommodations at a beautiful resort In Heaven called Paradise, that He Has prepared for us with His own Hands in its appropriate time.
Amen.
