Continuing for Holy Week, 'The Crucifixion', from 'Looking for Jesus, His Life and Times'

 

The Crucifixion

 Josephus, the still highly respected Jewish historian of the first century spent a lifetime documenting Jewish history. He covers this history in fascinating but almost excruciating detail.  And yet, when he made mention of the event fifty years after the crucifixion, his comments were a really short few sentences, and an obvious echo of the standard language in Christian hymns sung at that time. This tells us something of the impact, or lack thereof, Jesus’ crucifixion had on the general Jewish, Greek and Roman populace fifty years after the fact.

Today, the faithful look back two thousand years with a powerful laser beam of emotional and even fanatical interest that leads to a distorted belief that Jesus’ life and death and perhaps resurrection hit the ancient world like an atomic blast: This event just couldn’t have been missed. Unfortunately, that was not the case. (But, we will take a quick snapshot of the impact on the early church later.)

For now, let’s discover what the everyday crucifixion was actually like, since this is what Jesus suffered. Take photos only if you want them in your own album.

After being found guilty, the criminal was given the obligatory whipping. Humiliation followed, and for Jesus this included a thorned crown and sign above him on the cross mockingly saying , “King of the Jews”. This represented his political crime since the only king of the Jews was considered the Roman emperor. The criminal then carried just the cross bar up to the hill outside of the city, since the posts were left in the ground for the daily crucifixions that occurred.

Golgotha was not a tourist attraction. This was a place people avoided. There would be few people to watch this tortuous event, perhaps only family and a few close friends. But, keep in mind. Jesus was a political criminal, and so showing support at his death tarred the supporters with the same crime. Peter understood this and denied knowing Jesus several times. Cowardly, perhaps, and painfully regretted, but understandable.

Nails were driven through the wrists, not hands, and a wedge on the post was placed in the most uncomfortable of spots, between the legs. All engineered to painfully support the weight of the criminal for the longest time possible. Most died from asphyxia as the lungs filled with fluid as did Jesus’, since recorded memories tell us a sword thrust in Jesus side caused fluid to run.

After his death, the body was removed by family and given a resting place in a tomb donated by a faithful follower of the beloved rabbi.

We don’t have to take any photos, we can head back to the present and see what tradition says is the actual tomb still preserved near Jerusalem. Certainly, you can get on the internet and see the photos already taken by others over the years.

What actually happens next in the story of Jesus?

I will research and contemplate this, and then share my discovery in the next section.

 

Questions to Contemplate and Discuss

  Compare how little importance the ancient world placed on this particular crucifixion of a criminal and how the modern day looks at it. What are your thoughts about this difference?

Who actually witnessed the crucifixion of Jesus and why were they there and not others?

 What have you possibly learned about the technical handling of a crucifixion and how do you feel about this information, and about Jesus himself going through this?

Watch for the next section, and for the whole book go to:

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