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 legionnaire 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
legionnaire 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 legionnaire drove
his lance through the fifth space 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