PASSION SERIES: The Torture

The noted Greek historian Herodotus wrote that it was the Persian Empire who first used crucifixion as a form of capital punishment.
They’d experimented with all sorts of ways to publicly eliminate their enemies: stoning, burning, boiling in oil but eventually settled on crucifixion because it was the only way to kill a man while suspended above the ground, which the god they worshipped, Ormazd, had made sacred.
Alexander the Great built his vast empire, in large part, by striking fear into the hearts of any that dared challenge him by prominently displaying his enemies on crosses throughout the region, serving as a warning to any potential rivals. The four generals that followed him did the same.
Eventually, Rome rose to prominence and adopted crucifixion as the primary means of execution reserved for those they deemed as the worst of the worst criminals: rebels who were enemies of the state, runaway slaves and deserting soldiers.
For the Romans, crucifixion was a fitting means to an end. Sure, they could execute criminals in other ways but death by the cross served a purpose greater that merely ending a life…because it was a gruesome public spectacle, it ensured that law and order was maintained.
No scene was more terrible or terrifying to the public than that of a man displayed on a cross.
Crucifixion was viewed by the Romans as the greatest deterrent to crime imaginable and it was employed with that hope in mind.

So while the Romans couldn’t be credited as the inventors of crucifixion, they did perfect it.

By the time of Jesus, Rome actually had a paid professional called the “Exactor Mortis” (agent of death) who was responsible for managing the torture & execution of criminals by crucifixion.
The Exactor Mortis was schooled in medicine and had learned how to add various elements to the procedure and make adjustments to them in order to bring about desired effects.
With his team of death soldiers called the Quaternion following his commands, he could expertly control the amount of suffering, the ultimate cause of death and even when the victim would die.
A victim of crucifixion would first endure a severe beating with a whip before being fastened to a cross.
Remember, as we saw last week, while the Jews had a law that limited whipping to 39 lashes and restricted the blows to the back and shoulders only, the Romans had no such regulations. They simply whip the victim until he or she passed out from shock or blood loss and then wait until they came to and start the process all over again.
The severity to which the Exactor Mortis ordered the flogging determined how long they’d live once crucified.
If the Exactor Mortis wanted his victim to be displayed alive on the cross for several days, a light whip would be chosen. If he wanted the victim to die quickly, he’d choose a whip with shards of class and jagged sheep bones braided into its tails.
Last Sunday, we found that Pontius Pilate, the Roman ruler of the region who had the authority to execute Jesus, found no guilt in Him. He went to great lengths to offer other solutions and satisfy the cries of the Sanhedrin and the vicious crowds bloodthirst.
He offered up Barabbas instead, but they rejected his offer.
Still unwilling to crucify a man that he believed to be innocent, Pilate ordered that the Exactor Mortis and his squad of torturers beat Jesus and had hopes that when he presented his mangled body to the crowd, they’d be satisfied.

In order to make the spectacle as appeasing to the violent mob as possible, the beating that would have been ordered for Jesus would have been the most severe imaginable.

After his hour or so long beating, Matthew 27:28-30 “They stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him. When they had twisted a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand. And they bowed the knee before Him and mocked Him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!" Then they spat on Him, and took the reed and struck Him on the head.”

In the Messianic prophecy of Isaiah 52:14 we read that “His appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and his form marred beyond human likeness”

Even this didn’t quench the bloodthirst of the Jews who demanded His death and when the Sanhedrin shouted for all to hear that if Pilate didn’t crucify Jesus, who declared Himself King and was a threat to Rome, he was no friend to Caesar…Pilate ordered His crucifixion.

With the beating already taken place, the next step was for the prisoner to be stripped naked and a sign called a titulus hung around his neck.
The sign was a crude piece of wood and on it was inscribed the criminals name and crime. It would eventually be attached to the cross just above his head so that everyone knew why he was being hung there to die.
On the sign hanging around Jesus neck and eventually on His cross, the words read, John 19:19-22 “JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. Then many of the Jews read this title, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. Therefore the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but, ‘He said, “I am the King of the Jews.” ’. Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”

After being stripped naked and the titulus hung on his neck, Jesus was forced to carry a massive beam of wood on his back as he made a death march through the already packed streets of Jerusalem to the place where He’d eventually hang. (Via Dolorosa…”way of suffering”)
He wouldn’t have carried the entire cross. It would have weighed upwards of 300 pounds and a man who’d already been beaten to within inches of his death simply could not endure that for very long.
In fact, the severity by which Jesus had been flogged rendered Him incapable of carrying even the cross beam very far.

Luke 23:26 “Now as they led Him away, they laid hold of a certain man, Simon a Cyrenian, who was coming from the country, and on him they laid the cross that he might bear it after Jesus.”

With Simon now carrying the crossbeam, they weave their way through the crowd and winding alleys of the city until they reached a place that the locals had nicknamed, “Golgotha” (the place of the skull).
In keeping with historical records of crucifixion, the cross beam would have been securely fastened to a larger i-beam and Jesus would have laid on top of them.

In most cases, the victim would have been tied to the cross as it would extend the time they’d spend there, getting the most out of the public spectacle, but, if the Exactor Mortis needed death to be quick, he’d order nails to be driven through the hands and feet.
This was the case with Jesus. The Jewish Sabbath was rapidly approaching and it was against their law to leave anyone hanging on the Sabbath Day.

It’d been a whirlwind 24 hours since Jesus was betrayed and arrested in Gethsemane. In short order He’d endured 6 trials held in Palaces, temples, Galilee and at the Praetorium of Pilate. He’d been beaten unmercifully and publicly humiliated as he carried the instrument of His own death, naked, through streets of the city, swollen with pilgrims there for the Passover.
And now, He’d reached the place of His death.

Matthew 27:33-34 “And when they had come to a place called Golgotha, that is to say, Place of a Skull, they gave Him sour wine mingled with gall to drink. But when He had tasted it, He would not drink.”

The gruesome ritual of being fastened to a cross by nails began with soldiers offering their victim a mild painkiller. Don’t mistake this for a merciful act…it was just expedient and practical as it’d be easier to nail a person's limbs into wood if they’re drugged.

Jesus refused. And now, He was laid onto the cross.

Historians tell us that a soldier would lay across the victims chest and another their legs while others would stretch their arms and legs into place.
With hands now in place, square nails that were 5 inches long and nearly an inch wide would be driven through the base of the palms at an angle that would pass through the median nerve and exit through the wrist.
At this angle was maximum torture and only in this way could the body support the weight of the person being crucified.

The knees of the victim would be slightly bent so that when their stacked on top of one another, they could lay flat on the wooden i-beam. Once in place a longer spike would be driven through the foot, near where the ankle joint begins.
With Jesus fastened to the cross, soldiers would work together in tilting the cross vertical and guiding it into a pre-dug hole. The cross would slide into the ground and stop with a jarring thud.
The soldiers then drove wedges between the beam and sides of the hole to keep the cross upright.

As the completed this task, Jesus offered up a prayer Luke 23:34 “Father forgive them for they know not what they do”

As Jesus hung on the cross, He quickly faced two unendurable circumstances. First, the pain in His wrist would have been beyond bearable. Cramps would have knotted His forearms and shoulders. The muscles in His chest would involuntarily paralyze. In this position with his arms in a V shape above His head, He could draw air into His lungs but would have difficulty exhaling.
For temporary relief, He could relax His arms and let His feet support the weight of His mangled body. Enduring the terrible pain that this would have caused in His feet, He could raise Himself higher, momentarily bringing His shoulders in line with His hands, allowing Him to exhale. He couldn’t have stayed in this position long before the pain in His feet, along with cramped in his thighs would have caused Him to sink lower and lower until He’d have returned to His original position.
In order to simply breath, this unimaginable process would been repeated over and over again until the victim died (usually from asphyxiation)
Shortly after 9:00am on Friday morning, Jesus hung between two men.

Some historians suggest that the two men were accomplices of Barabbas. If that’s indeed the case, and I believe there’s sufficient evidence that it is, they must have been surprised to see someone other than their ringleader hanging between them.

I have no doubt that they had heard of Jesus because He’d been the subject of everyone’s conversation for some time now. But even if they were unfamiliar with who He was or who He claimed to be, they would have been able to figure out what He was being crucified for by listening to the taunts from the crowd below them.

Mark 15:29-32 “And those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads and saying, “Aha! You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save Yourself, and come down from the cross!” Likewise the chief priests also, mocking among themselves with the scribes, said, “He saved others; Himself He cannot save. Let the Christ, the King of Israel, descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe.”

While the mockery from the mob was ongoing, the soldiers below were helping themselves to what few possessions the prisoners had. The spoils of war, if you will.

When they came to Jesus' robe, it was unique in that it was woven in one piece. Rather than ruin the garment, the soldiers cast lots for it.
While they were doing this, one of the criminals hanging beside Jesus joined in the chorus of mockery.

Luke 23:39 “Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying, “If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us.”

BUT something had happened in the heart of the other.

Luke 23:40-43 “But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, “Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”