GOD'S GREATEST EXPRESSION OF LOVE
(A Medical description)

. "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his
life for his friends." (John 15:13)
. If you are to truly love and make each member of your family
successful, you must be willing to lay down your life on a daily
basis and "die" for them. This means putting the needs of your
family first, above your rights, personal ambitions, and
schedule.
. The greatest example of one laying down his life for his
friends is Christ. We can never fully comprehend the spiritual
aspect of Christ's suffering and shame, but medical studies shed
glimpses of light on the physical agony and all the horror that
Jesus endured on the cross.
. "For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners
against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds."
(Hebrews 12:3)

. 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, 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 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.
. 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, spat on Him, and struck Him in the
face as they each passed by.
. In the early morning, Jesus, battered and bruised,
dehydrated, and exhausted from a sleepless night, is 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.
. Preparations for the scourging are carried out. The
prisoner is stripped of His clothing and His hands are tied to a
post above His head. The Roman legionaire 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 near
the ends of each. The heavy whip is brought down with full 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 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 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 finally 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 scepter. 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 of 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 clots of blood and serum in the wounds, and its removal, just
as in the careless removal of a surgical bandage, causes
excruciating pain - almost as though He were again being whipped,
and the wounds again begin to bleed.
. 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.
. At Golgotha, the beam is placed on the ground and Jesus is
quickly thrown backward with His shoulders against the wood. The
legionaire feels for the depression at the front of the wrist.
He drives a heavy, square, wrought-iron nail through the wrist
and deep into 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 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 tearing
through the nerves between the metatarsal bones of the feet.
. 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 blood stream and the cramps
partially subside. Spasmodically, He is able to push Himself
upward to exhale and bring in the life-giving oxygen.
. There are 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."
. 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 double sure of death, the legionaire
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 our 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.


Excerpted from "The Crucifixion of Jesus"
by: C. Truman Davis, M.D.,M.S. (March, 1965)
Edited by D. Moore, Computers for Christ #11



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