CSI: Jeruaslem

[Devolution]

Just thought I'd post some interesting articles I've enjoyed lately.

I don't intend to debate on this post, any who wish to…the chair is yours.

This is from some site known as http://www.GodOnThe.net
It's not an outstanding article, in my opinion, but does has some good points…

REASONS THAT SOUND GOOD
AREN'T ALWAYS
GOOD SOUND REASONS!

“C'mon.  Jesus didn't really die on the Cross.  He just passed out or went into a coma from loss of blood, stress, etc.  Later on He came to and made the appearances.”

This is referred to as the “swoon” theory.  Many people believe it because on its face it sounds plausible—more plausible than believing someone came back from the dead.  However, under close examination the swoon theory falls apart.

Roman executioners knew how to tell when their victims were dead!

Consider this: Roman soldiers were among the most ruthless, cruel and knowledgeable military men of the ancient world.  When it came to knowing how to kill people they were experts. Can you really believe that an entire squad of Roman executioners couldn't tell whether a prisoner really was dead???  They would be a laughingstock among their peers if something like that happened!

Jesus was stabbed in the side, which would ensure His death.

John 19:31-35 “[31] Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jews did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. [32] The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. [33] But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. [34] Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. [35] The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe.

Roman custom required stabbing under Jesus' circumstances.  It wasn't a coincidence.

Most people, even most theologians and historians, believe it was pure coincidence that a Roman soldier stabbed Jesus.  Most people believe the soldier stabbed Jesus to make sure He was dead.  Usual Roman practice was to leave the corpses of crucified victims on the cross to be eaten by wild animals or to rot in public view—after all, crucifixion was intended to be the ultimate degradation and humiliation … and a warning to others!  Interestingly, there was an exception.  According to Quintilian, a first-century author, a victim's relatives were permitted to take down the body and bury it if the victim was first pierced by the executioners. In his Commentary on Matthew, Origen, one of the early Church Fathers, says the lance thrust to Jesus was administered “according to Roman custom, below the armpit.”  (See Humber, Thomas.  The Sacred Shroud. New York, Pocket Books, 1977)

If you seriously examine what the swoon theory requires, you'd have to be an absolute idiot to still consider it possible.

EVENTS  DESCRIBED  IN  THE  BIBLE  OR  OTHER  HISTORICAL  SOURCES
1.
Jesus gets beaten by members of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish High Council.

2.
Jesus gets flogged (“scourged”) with a Roman flagrum, similar to a “cat-o-nine tails”.  It had three “tails”, each with a little metal dumbbell-shaped attachment that digs into the flesh.  It was considered so cruel that it was illegal to flog a Roman citizen.

3.
Jesus is beaten with wooden reeds (like “caning”).

4.
Jesus gets slapped and punched by a group of Roman soldiers.

5.
Jesus has a cap or thorns pressed onto His head.  Middle Eastern crowns of the period were not little circles like a British or French crown.  They were like the mitre worn by Roman Catholic bishops.

6.
Jesus is tied to the crossbeam that will be attached to the vertical post.  Crossbeams typically weighed about 40 pounds (20 kg).

7.
Jesus has to walk up a hill to the crucifixion site.  He falls several times and the soldiers have to force a bypasser, Simon of Cyrene, to carry the beam.

8.
At the hilltop Jesus is untied.  He is then nailed to the Cross.  The nails are put through His wrists not His palms, as commonly depicted by artists.  One foot is put on top of the other and a nail is driven through both of them.

9.
Jesus is left on the Cross for hours and dies.

10.
Soldiers come to break the legs of the victims, to bring on death.

11.
The body of Jesus is stabbed in the side with a Roman lancia.

12.
The body of Jesus is taken down from the Cross, and wrapped in grave clothes.  Scholars disagree as to whether Jesus was wound in strips like a mummy or covered with a burial shroud, e.g., the Shroud of Turin.  The text does not resolve this issue.  For discussion we will assume a long shroud, which is easy to unwrap.

13.
The body of Jesus is laid in a stone tomb provided by Joseph of Arimathea.

14.
A large stone door is placed in front of the tomb.  The stone is so heavy that three women didn't think they could move it together.

15.
A wax seal is put on the outside of the door and a group of guards are stationed.

Let's play detective and “reconstruct” the swoon theory's next sequence of events:

1.
“Jesus didn't die, He just passed out from stress, fatigue, shock, or exhaustion.”

See Forensic Pathology Report on Jesus.

Problem:  Once Jesus passed out, He would have hung in a “Y” position, with knees bent. Experiments with volunteers have proved that in that position lung muscles become paralyzed from strain in just a few minutes.  Within 6-12 minutes a person stops breathing and will die of asphyxiation if the strain is not removed.  This isn't speculation, it's scientific fact established by direct observation.

Problem:  With the blood loss from the flogging and the further loss from the stab wound, Jesus would have gone into hypovolemic shock (shock from extremely low blood pressure caused by bleeding).  Without a transfusion and with nothing to stop the internal hemorrhaging He would have died within minutes. Prior to the stab wound, the blood loss alone would have killed him in a few hours.

Calculate: Maximum Allowable Blood Loss
Kilograms = pounds ÷ 2.2
Hct = Hematocrit—the percentage by volume of red blood cells in a sample of blood that has been spun in a centrifuge.
ml = milliliter (about 1/1000 of a quart). 1 pint = 473 ml

Problem:  With the internal bleeding and build-up of fluids Jesus would have died from congestive heart failure.  Pathologists generally agree that this was a contributing cause of Jesus' death.

Problem:  The Gospel of John says that when Jesus was stabbed blood and water came out of His side. A number of forensic pathologists have examined the descriptions (and, in some cases, information on the Shroud of Turin).  They all agree that there is no way water could have come out.  But, they agree that the heart is surrounded by the pericardium, which contains a watery fluid and a lance thrust would have extracted this fluid, which would look like water.  The thrust would also have pierced the heart, drawing accumulated blood.

Problem: Even if Jesus didn't die of asphyxiation and even if He didn't die of congestive heart failure and even if He didn't die of hypovolemic shock and even if He didn't die from the internal hemorrhaging itself, He had a large, deep, open chest wound through at least one lung and probably the heart, with internal bleeding. This w
ould have caused internal infection and in a few days He would have died of sepsis, i.e., infection. The Bible says Jesus appeared to hundreds over a period of forty days after the Crucifixion.

2.
After Jesus “passes out” He is left on the Cross unconscious for an unknown length of time.

3.
Then Jesus is stabbed.  John 19:34

4.
John 19:38a  “Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus.”

Problem:  This wasn't done with a phone call from the Crucifixion site!  Joseph or a servant has to walk or ride by donkey to Governor Pilate's office, wait to get permission to speak to the Governor, wait to be taken to an audience with the Governor.

5.
Mark 15:44 [44] Pilate was surprised to hear that he was already dead. Summoning the centurion, he asked him if Jesus had already died. [45] When he learned from the centurion that it was so, he gave [permission to take] the body to Joseph.

6.
Mark 15:46 So Joseph bought some linen cloth, …

7.
All this time, Jesus is still hanging on the Cross!!!  (Allegedly … unconscious, but still alive!)

8.
The Roman soldiers and various spectators are still standing around watching. And nobody realizes that Jesus is still breathing and still alive!

9.
John 19:38c “With Pilate's permission, he [Joseph of Arimathea] came and took the body away.”

10.
Even as they are taking Jesus down from the Cross nobody realizes He is still breathing and still alive!

11.
Nobody checks for a heartbeat. If they do check for a heartbeat, they don't find one.  (If they did find one they would have known He was still alive.)  Even though there's no heartbeat and He's not breathing, somehow He's still alive.

12.
Nobody thinks it odd that a body that has been hanging on a cross allegedly dead for several hours, is still warm.

13.
Even as they are wrapping Jesus in burial clothes nobody realizes He is still breathing and still alive!

14.
They lay Jesus in a tomb and roll a heavy stone in front of the only entrance.

15.
Guards are posted outside the tomb and the tomb is sealed with a wax seal.  (The exact number that constituted “your guard” is unknown but most scholars believe it was at least four soldiers, probably more.)

16.
Despite being beaten and stabbed, despite internal hemorrhaging, despite having had no food or water, Jesus somehow recovers from His coma by natural means, not by a miracle!

17.
Jesus wakes up in a completely dark, completely enclosed tomb, His entire body wracked with pain.

18.
Jesus feels His way around the tomb and finds the stone door.

19.
Jesus manages to push the heavy stone door to the side even though there is nothing to grab onto on the inside surface of the stone.  (The stone was slid into a groove.  Hence, it has to be moved sideways, not simply out.)

20.
Even in His weakened condition, in a quiet private cemetery, Jesus manages to push back the stone door without any of the guards noticing!

21.
Why go half-way?  Jesus has been whipped, beaten and stabbed, is hemorrhaging, and hasn't had any food or drink for at least three days.  Does He just push the stone open enough to squeeze through?  No, He pushes the stone door COMPLETELY out of the way!!!

22.
Of course, at this point, the logical thing to do is get naked!  Before leaving the tomb, Jesus strips off the burial garments.

23.
Just because He has been whipped, beaten and stabbed, is hemorrhaging, and hasn't had any food or drink for at least three days is no reason to be sloppy!  So He neatly folds the garments before leaving.

24.
Amazingly, while He is doing all this, the guards still don't notice anything!

25.
This whipped, beaten, stabbed, bleeding, half-starved, naked, revived crucifixion victim then blithely walks away from the sealed tomb, right past a group of heavily armed guards.

26.
Miraculously, … I'm sorry, according to the swoon theory there are no miracles … none of the guards directly appointed by the Governor even notices this whipped, beaten, stabbed, bleeding, half-starved, naked, revived crucifixion victim walking away from the sealed tomb!

I guess we just have to assume that it was a pretty common occurrence for those guards to see whipped, beaten, stabbed, bleeding, half-starved, naked, revived crucifixion victims walking away from sealed tombs …

27.
Whipped, beaten, stabbed, half-starved, naked, and still bleeding, Jesus then walks several miles.

28.
No one notices the whipped, beaten, stabbed, bleeding, half-starved, naked, revived crucifixion victim walking along the road.

29.
And still, not even one of the guards has noticed anything suspicious like, oh … say, … the fully opened tomb!

And now we come to the part that's a little hard to believe about the swoon theory …

30.
Jesus does all of this on feet that had been run through by nails!!!

[Devolution]

Related Forensics based on the wounds suffered upon the man image on the shroud of Turin….

This is a great read in my opinion once you get to the medical conclusions.  

Forensic Pathology
Report on Jesus

Get Mayo Clinic JAMA article (PDF)  

Forensic pathology is the scientific study of how people are injured or how they die. Autopsies are normally performed by physicians with training in forensic pathology.

Since the mid-1970's there has been intense interest in an ancient burial garment known as the Shroud of Turin. Purportedly, it is the burial shroud that Jesus was wrapped in before He was placed in the tomb provided by Joseph of Arimathea. There is strong, even overwhelming, scientific evidence that the Shroud is genuine. What is unique about the Shroud is that it contains the image of a crucified man in great detail, in negative format, i.e., like a photographic negative. No one has been able to explain how the image was made. One scientist claims that the image is an iron-oxide-based pigment but dozens of experts in many fields have conclusively proven him wrong and the same scientist has also been proven wrong on another of his 'leading' cases, involving a Viking map of part of the New World.

——————————————————————————–

You may have heard that in 1988 radiocarbon tests “conclusively” proved that the Shroud dates from about 1270-1350 A.D. and “That settles it—it's definitely not from the first century A.D.”

You may not have heard: The entire sample was not part of the original Shroud—it was taken from an unsuspected repair done in the early modern era.

The radiocarbon dating was performed on a sample cut from one corner of the Shroud, in a portion where there is no image. In the mid-2000's a husband and wife couple (who were not scientists) realized that photomicrographs (ultra-high resolution photos) taken in the late 70's by a member of the Shroud of Turin Research Project (STURP) showed that there was a previously unsuspected repair of the Shroud and that the entire sample was taken from the repaired section.

Without identifying the object photographed or who took the images, they submitted the images to three textile experts, each of whom said the images definitely showed an expert repair using a “French reweave” technique common in Europe in the early modern era. The technique wove in a piece of cotton and the cotton was then dyed to match the color of the surrounding linen. This is possible because linen is highly resistant to dye but cotton is not.

The repair was done so expertly that even under high magnification and close inspection none of the STURP team had noticed any difference. Understand that (i) there was no record of such a repair; (ii) the STURP members were not looking for an expert repair; (iii) the image area has always been the main subject of study; (iv) none of the STURP members are textile experts; (v) textile experts concur that it was an exceptionally well-done repair; and (vi) a reweave is intended to not be noticeable even under close inspection.

The couple managed to get a scientific paper published and to present their findings at a respected conference. When the paper was published, Ray Rogers, the scientist who had taken the photomicrophs, read it and his reaction was, “That's ridiculous! These people aren't even scientists! I have sample fibers we took during the examination. I can prove their theory is false!”

Rogers put a sample under the microscope and got the shock of his career when, instead, he confirmed their theory! He saw that clearly there were cotton threads interwoven into linen threads and the cotton was dyed to match the linen. He knew from having personally examined the Shroud under high magnification that there definitely were no cotton threads and no dye in the area that contained the image.

Because Rogers knew he was dying of cancer, he called another member of STURP, photographer Barrie Schwortz, told him his results, Schwortz videotaped interview footage with him, and he prepared a paper and submitted it to a scientific journal five days before his death. Subsequently the paper was accepted and published in 2008.

Schwortz also examined X-ray false-color flourescence images taken by STURP and pointed out that in the entire Shroud, the only area that came out green was the area from which the sample was taken—indicating that that area had a different chemical composition than the rest of the Shroud. Prior to the discovery of the previously unknown repair, no one had noticed the anomaly. The interviews with Rogers and Schwortz were included in a December 2008 documentary on the Discovery Channel titled Unwrapping the Shroud: New Evidence.

The radiocarbon results have always been the subject of great debate, because all other scientific evidence indicates that the Shroud originated in Israel around the first century A.D. Rogers' work confirmed that the radiocarbon results were accurate—the sample indeed did date from 1270-1350 A.D. But Rogers' work also confirmed that the sample was not part of the original Shroud, so the radiocarbon dates are simply irrelevant.

——————————————————————————–

This page will not get into the pros and cons of the debate on the Shroud's authenticity.  Two excellent Shroud books are:

Iannone, John C. The Mystery of the Shroud of Turin. New York, Alba House 1998 ISBN 0-8189-0804-1

Wilson, Ian. The Blood and the Shroud. New York, The Free Press, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc. 1998 ISBN 0-684-85359-0

——————————————————————————–

Regarding the Shroud, however, four points are important:
 
1.
Aside from issues of Resurrection, Jesus Christ's crucifixion is unique in a number of ways, described below.

2.
Scientists agree that even if the Shroud is genuine, they cannot prove that the man in it is Christ, because science deals with repeatable natural phenomena and the Crucifixion and Resurrection were one-time events.

3.
Scientists have been able to do a forensic pathological analysis of the man who was in the Shroud. They have been able to determine the causes of the wounds he suffered and the medical results.

4.
The man in the Shroud was executed in exactly the same way Jesus reportedly was executed.

Aside from issues of Resurrection, Jesus Christ's crucifixion is unique in a number of ways.  The following is from Stephenson, Kenneth and Habermas, Gary. Verdict on the Shroud. Wayne, Pennsylvania: Dell/Banbury Books, 1981, with Webmaster's Notes added in [italicized blue square brackets].

“… the crucifixion and burial of Jesus differed significantly from the ordinary ways the Romans crucified criminals and the Jews buried their dead. Jesus' case was irregular. He was scourged [whipped, flogged], crowned with thorns, nailed to his cross, stabbed in the side (instead of his legs being broken), buried well but incompletely, and his body left the cloth before it [his body] decomposed.” p. 162.

For purposes of this page, we do not need to conclude that the man in the Shroud was Jesus. We are attempting to describe how Jesus died. Therefore, since both men died in the same way, if we describe how the man in the Shroud died we will, for all practical purposes, be describing how Jesus died.

The following is from Report on the Shroud of Turin pp 2-4. Dr. Joseph Heller, the author, a former Harvard professor of Internal Medicine and Pathology, simplified some of the medical terminology in this forensic report written by Dr. Robert Bucklin, the deputy coroner and forensic pathologist of Los Angeles County, a report concurred in by Dr. Joseph Gambescia, a pathologist in Pennsylvania:

Irrespective of how the images were made, there is adequate information here to state that they are anatomically correct. There is no problem in diagnosing what happened to this individual. The pathology and physiology are unquestionable and represent medical knowledge unknown 150 years ago.

This is a 5-foot, 11-inch male Caucasian weighing about 178 pounds. The lesions are as follows: beginning at the head, there are blood flows from numerous puncture wounds on the top and back of the scalp and forehead. The man has been beaten about the face, there is swelling over one cheek, and he undoubtedly has a black eye. His nose tip is abraded, as would occur from a fall, and it appears that the nasal cartilage may have separated from the bone. There is a wound in the left wrist, the right one being covered by the left hand. This is the typical lesion of crucifixion. The classical artistic and legendary portrayal of a crucifixion with nails through the palms of the hands is spurious : the structures in the hand are too fragile to hold the live weight of a man, particularly of this size. Had a man been crucified with nails in the palms, they would have torn through the bones, muscles, and ligaments, and the victim would have fallen off the cross.

There is a stream of blood down both arms. Here and there, there are blood drips at an angle from the main blood flow in response to gravity. These angles represent the only ones that can occur from the only two positions which can be taken by a body during crucifixion. [A momentary 'T' position to breathe, until the pain on the feet becomes too great, and a “Y” position with bent knees, which quickly paralyzes the chest muscles from strain and pain.]

On the back and on the front there are lesions which appear to be scourge marks. Historians have indicated that Romans used a whip called a flagrum. This whip had two or three thongs, and at their ends there were pieces of metal or bone which look like small dumbbells. These were designed to gouge out flesh. The thongs and metal end-pieces from a Roman flagrum fit precisely into the anterior and posterior scourge lesions on the body. The victim was whipped from both sides by two men, one of whom was taller than the other, as demonstrated by the angle of the thongs.

There is a swelling of both shoulders, with abrasions indicating something heavy and rough had been carried across the man's shoulders within hours of death. On the right flank, a long, narrow blade of some type entered in an upward direction, pierced the diaphragm, penetrated into the thoracic cavity through the lung into the heart. This was a post-mortem event, because separate components of blood cells and clear serum drained from the lesion. Later, after the corpse was laid out horizontally and face up on the cloth, blood dribbled out of the side wound and puddled along the small of the back. There is no evidence of either leg being fractured. There is an abrasion of one knee, commensurate with a fall (as is the abraded nose tip); and, finally, a spike had been drive through both feet, and blood had leaked from both wounds onto the cloth. The evidence of a scourged man who was crucified and died from the cardiopulmonary failure typical of crucifixion is clear-cut. [Italics added]

[end of quote]

The following is from Verdict on the Shroud, pp 182-185:

One of the most intriguing aspects of the Shroud image is the graphic evidence of the spear wound in Jesus' chest. The Gospel of John states that he was already dead when he was stabbed in the side in order to make sure that he was dead, and that blood and water proceeded from the wound. [Actually, according to an ancient source, stabbing was a Roman post-mortem desecration “per custom” if anyone requested the body for burial.] This mixture is visible on the Shroud. It proceeded from the chest wound, and is actually more visible on the dorsal [back] image, where the blood flowed horizontally across the waist. Physicians agree that the Shroud image of the wound is consistent with the gospel statement that a Roman lance penetrated Jesus' heart. However, the experts have similar but somewhat differing explanations for the presence of the water as well as blood in the flow from the wound.

One view concerns the pericardium, the sac which surrounds the heart, and which contains a small amount of watery fluid. When the body undergoes great stress, as crucifixion would certainly entail, the amount of fluid increases and the sac expands. The Roman lance would then have passed through Jesus' pericardium and into the right side of his heart, which is filled with blood even after death. As the lance was withdrawn, it would draw out the blood from the heart and the watery fluid from the expanded pericardium.

Anthony Sava, an American physician, has a different explanation for the water flow. He believes that the severe scourging caused internal hemorrhaging in Jesus' chest, and the pleural cavity filled with blood. The blood settled on the bottom of the chest cavity while a clear liquid was left on top. Sava says that the Roman lance entered the chest and, upon being withdrawn, released the blood and the water from the chest.

Both of these views may be partially correct. The lance could have passed through the pleural cavity, through the pericardium and into the heart. The blood could have come both from the pleural cavity and from the right side of the heart, while the water could have come from both the upper chest cavity and from the pericardium. Indeed, this combination is the general view held by the German radiologist Moedder and by English physician David Willis.

The most probable thesis is that held by Bucklin, who agrees with Moedder and Willis that the lance pierced both the pleural cavity and the right side of the heart. He opposes Sava's theory that there was severe hemorrhaging in the chest, since the chest injuries were not severe enough. However, Bucklin agrees that most of the water proceeded from pleural effusion while most of the blood came from the right side of the heart.

The explanations for the blood and water flow are closely related at several points. All physicians who have examined the question agree that Jesus was already dead when the chest wound was inflicted. The blood and water most probably flowed from both the heart and the chest cavity.

The Physical Cause of Jesus' Death

Physicians who have examined the Shroud image are unanimous in their belief that the man was dead when he was placed in the Shroud, and that his death was caused by crucifixion and the tortures that preceded it. They also agree that he was dead when the spear pierced his side. They are not as sure about the exact [emphasis in original] cause of Jesus' death, but their opinions are quite similar.

Most experts hold that Jesus died primarily of asphyxiation, the usual cause of death in crucifixion. According to this view, Jesus died more quickly than most victims because scourging and beating had gravely weakened him. He was eventually unable to pull himself up on the cross in order to breathe [the “T” position described above], and he asphyxiated in the “down” position [the bent-knee “Y” position] on the cross. In this case, the muscles around his lungs kept him from exhaling and directly caused his death. Bucklin adds that complications due to congestive heart failure were likely as well.

Sava offers a related alternative. He holds that the internal hemorrhaging in the chest cavity caused by the fierce scourging was a cause of death. The liquids slowly compressed the lungs, causing asphyxiation by pleural effusion.

Davis presents another somewhat similar view. He holds that the pericardium, the sac surrounding the heart, filled with fluid under the stress of suffering. This liquid compressed the heart, eventually causing heart failure. After Jesus was dead, the Roman lance pierced both the pericardium and the heart, and released the blood and watery fluid.

A
consensus is visible among these views. Most scholars hold that asphyxiation played an important part in Jesus' death. He struggled on the cross to keep breathing. Some scholars hold that he asphyxiated directly when the chest muscles fail to sustain breathing. Others suggest asphyxiation as the blood and fluid also compressed his lungs. But all these scholars agree that the Shroud contains conclusive evidence that Jesus indeed died and that it reveals the general features of his death. [End-note number omitted]

[end of quote]

Again, in the interest of intellectual honesty, I must point out that the last quote from Verdict on the Shroud states that “scholars hold … in Jesus' death.” It is more accurate to state that “scholars hold … in the man in the Shroud's death.” (And he died in exactly the same way as Jesus)  As Heller points out in his book, when members of the Shroud of Turin Research Project (STURP) were asked point-blank “Is the man in the Shroud Jesus?” their response was that science can never conclusively answer that question. At page 216 he quotes STURP member Ray Rogers:

“In science, you're entitled to any hypothesis you choose, …. But if you don't have a test to examine that hypothesis, it's not worth anything. [That doesn't mean the hypothesis is wrong, only that it cannot be validated scientifically.]  We do not have a [scientific] test for Jesus Christ. So we can't hypothesize or test for that question.”

Interestingly, it would turn out that three decades later the same Ray Rogers would settle the 1988 radiocarbon-dating controversy by proving that the sample was taken from a previously undetected repair that was not part of the original Shroud!

[Devolution]

A Physician Analyzes the Crucifixion

A medical explanation of what Jesus endured on the day He died
by Dr. C. Truman Davis

Several years ago I became interested in the physical aspects of the passion, or suffering, of Jesus Christ when I read an account of the crucifixion in Jim Bishop's book, The Day Christ Died. I suddenly realized that I had taken the crucifixion more or less for granted all these years – that I had grown callous to its horror by a too-easy familiarity with the grim details. It finally occurred to me that, as a physician, I did not even know the actual immediate cause of Christ's death. The gospel writers do not help much on this point. Since crucifixion and scourging were so common during their lifetimes, they undoubtedly considered a detailed description superfluous. For that reason we have only the concise words of the evangelists: “Pilate, having scourged Jesus, delivered Him to them to be crucified … and they crucified Him.”
Despite the gospel accounts' silence on the details of Christ's crucifixion, many have looked into this subject in the past. In my personal study of the event from a medical viewpoint, I am indebted especially to Dr. Pierre Barbet, a French surgeon who did exhaustive historical and experimental research and wrote extensively on the topic.

An attempt to examine the infinite psychic and spiritual suffering of the Incarnate1 God in atonement2 for the sins of fallen man is beyond the scope of this article. However, the physiological and anatomical aspects of our Lord's passion we can examine in some detail. What did the body of Jesus of Nazareth actually endure during those hours of torture?

Gethsemane

The physical passion of Christ began in Gethsemane. Of the many aspects of His initial suffering, the one which is of particular physiological interest is the bloody sweat. Interestingly enough, the physician, St. Luke, is the only evangelist to mention this occurrence. He says, “And being in an agony, he prayed the longer. And his sweat became as drops of blood, trickling down upon the ground” (Luke 22:44 KJV).

Every attempt imaginable has been used by modern scholars to explain away the phenomenon of bloody sweat, apparently under the mistaken impression that it simply does not occur. A great deal of effort could be saved by consulting the medical literature. Though very rare, the phenomenon of hematidrosis, 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.

Although Jesus' betrayal and arrest are important portions of the passion story, the next event in the account which is significant from a medical perspective is His trial before the Sanhedrin and Caiaphas, the High Priest. Here the first physical trauma was inflicted. A soldier struck Jesus across the face for remaining silent when questioned by Caiaphas. The palace guards then blindfolded Him, mockingly taunted Him to identify them as each passed by, spat on Him, and struck Him in the face.

Before Pilate

In the early morning, battered and bruised, dehydrated, and worn out from a sleepless night, Jesus was taken across Jerusalem to the Praetorium of the Fortress Antonia, the seat of government of the Procurator of Judea, Pontius Pilate. We are familiar with Pilate's action in attempting to shift responsibility to Herod Antipas, the Tetrarch of Judea. Jesus apparently suffered no physical mistreatment at the hands of Herod and was returned to Pilate. It was then, in response to the outcry of the mob, that Pilate ordered Barabbas released and condemned Jesus to scourging and crucifixion.

Preparations for Jesus' scourging were carried out at Caesar's orders. The prisoner was stripped of His clothing and His hands tied to a post above His head. The Roman legionnaire stepped forward with the flagrum, or flagellum, in his hand. This was a short whip consisting of several heavy, leather thongs with two small balls of lead attached near the ends of each. The heavy whip was brought down with full force again and again across Jesus' shoulders, back, and legs. At first the weighted thongs cut through the skin only. Then, as the blows continued, they cut deeper into the 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 produced large deep bruises that were broken open by subsequent blows. Finally, the skin of the back was hanging in long ribbons, and the entire area was an unrecognizable mass of torn, bleeding tissue. When it was determined by the centurion in charge that the prisoner was near death, the beating was finally stopped.

Mockery

The half-fainting Jesus was then untied and allowed to slump to the stone pavement, wet with his own blood. The Roman soldiers saw a great joke in this provincial Jew claiming to be a king. They threw a robe across His shoulders and placed a stick in His hand for a scepter. They still needed a crown to make their travesty complete. Small flexible branches covered with long thorns, commonly used for kindling fires in the charcoal braziers in the courtyard, were plaited into the shape of a crude crown. The crown was pressed into his scalp and again there was copious bleeding as the thorns pierced the very vascular tissue. After mocking Him and striking Him across the face, the soldiers took the stick from His hand and struck Him across the head, driving the thorns deeper into His scalp. Finally, they tired of their sadistic sport and tore the robe from His back. The robe had already become adherent to the clots of blood and serum in the wounds, and its removal, just as in the careless removal of a surgical bandage, caused excruciating pain. The wounds again began to bleed.

Golgotha

In deference to Jewish custom, the Romans apparently returned His garments. The heavy patibulum3 of the cross was tied across His shoulders. The procession of the condemned Christ, two thieves, and the execution detail of Roman soldiers headed by a centurion began its slow journey along the route which we know today as the Via Dolorosa.

In spite of Jesus' efforts to walk erect, the weight of the heavy wooden beam, together with the shock produced by copious loss of blood, was too much. He stumbled and fell. The rough wood of the beam gouged into the lacerated skin and muscles of the shoulders. He tried to rise, but human muscles had been pushed beyond their endurance. The centurion, anxious to proceed with the crucifixion, selected a stalwart North African onlooker, Simon of Cyrene, to carry the cross. Jesus followed, still bleeding and sweating the cold, clammy sweat of shock. The 650-yard journey from the Fortress Antonia to Golgotha was finally completed. The prisoner was again stripped of His clothing except for a loin cloth which was allowed the Jews.

The crucifixion began. Jesus was offered wine mixed with myrrh, a mild analgesic, pain-reliving mixture. He refused the drink. Simon was ordered to place the patibulum on the ground, and Jesus was quickly thrown backward, with His shoulders against the wood. The legionnaire felt for the depression at the front of the wrist. He drove a heavy, square wrought-iron nail through the wrist and deep into the wood. Quickly, he moved to the other side and repeated the action, being careful not to pull the arms too tightly, but to allow some flexion and movement. The patibulum was then lifted into place at the top of the stipes4, and the titulus5 reading “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews” was nailed into place.

The left foot was pressed backward against the right foot. With both feet extended, toes down, a nail was driven through the arch of each, leaving the knees moderately flexed. The victim was now crucified.

On the Cross

As Jes
us slowly sagged down with more weight on the nails in the wrists, excruciating, fiery pain shot along the fingers and up the arms to explode in the brain. The nails in the wrists were putting pressure on the median nerve, large nerve trunks which traverse the mid-wrist and hand. As He pushed himself upward to avoid this stretching torment, He placed His full weight on the nail through His feet. Again there was searing agony as the nail tore through the nerves between the metatarsal bones of this feet.

At this point, another phenomenon occurred. As the arms fatigued, great waves of cramps swept over the muscles, knotting them in deep relentless, throbbing pain. With these cramps came the inability to push Himself upward. Hanging by the arm, the pectoral muscles, the large muscles of the chest, were paralyzed and the intercostal muscles, the small muscles between the ribs, were unable to act. Air could be drawn into the lungs, but could not be exhaled. Jesus fought to raise Himself in order to get even one short breath. Finally, the carbon dioxide level increased in the lungs and in the blood stream, and the cramps partially subsided.

The Last Words

Spasmodically, He was able to push Himself upward to exhale and bring in life-giving oxygen. It was undoubtedly during these periods that He uttered the seven short sentences that are recorded.

The first – looking down at the Roman soldiers throwing dice6 for His seamless garment: “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they do.”

The second – to the penitent thief7: “Today, thou shalt be with me in Paradise.”

The third – looking down at Mary His mother, He said: “Woman, behold your son.” Then turning to the terrified, grief-stricken adolescent John , the beloved apostle, He said: “Behold your mother.”8

The fourth cry is from the beginning of Psalm 22: “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

He suffered hours of limitless pain, cycles of twisting, joint-rending cramps, intermittent partial asphyxiation, and searing pain as tissue was torn from His lacerated back from His movement up and down against the rough timbers of the cross. Then another agony began: a deep crushing pain in the chest as the pericardium, the sac surrounding the heart, slowly filled with serum and began to compress the heart.

The prophecy in Psalm 22:14 was being fulfilled: “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.”

The end was rapidly approaching. The loss of tissue fluids had reached a critical level; the compressed heart was struggling to pump heavy, thick, sluggish blood to the tissues, and the tortured lungs were making a frantic effort to inhale small gulps of air. The markedly dehydrated tissues sent their flood of stimuli to the brain. Jesus gasped His fifth cry: “I thirst.” Again we read in the prophetic psalm: “My strength is dried up like a potsherd; my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou has brought me into the dust of death” (Psalm 22:15 KJV).

A sponge soaked in posca, the cheap, sour wine that was the staple drink of the Roman legionnaires, was lifted to Jesus' lips. His body was now in extremis, and He could feel the chill of death creeping through His tissues. This realization brought forth His sixth word, possibly little more than a tortured whisper: “It is finished.” His mission of atonement9 had been completed. Finally, He could allow His body to die. With one last surge of strength, He once again pressed His torn feet against the nail, straightened His legs, took a deeper breath, and uttered His seventh and last cry: “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.”

Death

The common method of ending a crucifixion was by crurifracture, the breaking of the bones of the leg. This prevented the victim from pushing himself upward; the tension could not be relieved from the muscles of the chest, and rapid suffocation occurred. The legs of the two thieves were broken, but when the soldiers approached Jesus, they saw that this was unnecessary.

Apparently, to make doubly sure of death, the legionnaire drove his lance between the ribs, upward through the pericardium and into the heart. John 19:34 states, “And immediately there came out blood and water.” Thus there was an escape of watery fluid from the sac surrounding the heart and the blood of the interior of the heart. This is rather conclusive post-mortem evidence that Jesus 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.

Resurrection

In these events, we have seen a glimpse of the epitome of evil that man can exhibit toward his fellowman and toward God. This is an ugly sight and is likely to leave us despondent and depressed.

But the crucifixion was not the end of the story. How grateful we can be that we have a sequel: a glimpse of the infinite mercy of God toward man–the gift of atonement, the miracle of the resurrection, and the expectation of Easter morning.

[Wakeup]

Hi Devo.

It really breaks my heart to read all that.
That is *total obedience* to his Father.
From the great creator,to down low, tortured,mocked, and finally killedby his creatures.
Satan must have been inside those men.
But at the same time,satan must have been really worried
since this man Jesus has conquered death itself.

We also can conquer death by obeying God to the last
moment.

Greetings to you.

wakeup.

[Wakeup]

Some here believe that Jesus was never sacrificed.
Because God did not need a sacrifice.
After all that he has done for us,he is rejected still.
Very sad indeed for them.

wakeup.

[Author]

Posts