The Crucifixion of Christ

Golgotha- The place of the skull--Just outside of Herods wall-- its sad while walking into the city, you would see the place of execution or someone be executed. 'The sight of this sent a message to anyone who resisted, this could happen to them'

The Last Evening-- Jesus at the Last Supper-- Judas goes off to betray and later Jesus is found in the garden. Imagine a place where lit houses and darkened streets that Jesus would be led past to his crucifixion.

Gethsemane-- The Olive Yard-- At the foot of Mt Olives--Here possibly freshly plowed ground where they had been tending the olive trees, the fragrance of flowers all around, Kinda like the garden of Eden or place of beauty. The place to rest or relax, but not for Jesus. Jesus goes to the garden to pray (Isaiah 53:3-7) (John 19:17) While Jesus being under great stress, at the garden, all leads up to so great an anguish that his sweat becomes great drops of blood. What happens here is called "Hemathydroses" Around the sweat glands there are multiple blood vessels in a net like form....The blood vessels, under the pressure of great stress, constrict...until anxiety is replaces with resignation. The reversal occurred, the vessels dilated and the sweat became blood. They rupture.

Now while Jesus was praying in the garden, Judas betrays him and they're already angered because their teachings have been challenged. So for 30 pieces of silver he is sold out... What have we sold him out for? Fame, hobbies, houses, lands, habits or what?

The fluid loss in the garden from intense sweating and the loss of blood (Keep this in mind) Pain is in the mind.....if it hurts your hand, foot, tooth, or wherever it is, it hurts all over. (Meaning you are suffering) Biochemical changes in the body due to emotional factors, there is pain.

So with torches and lanterns they go after Jesus. Judas betrays him with a kiss, as if to say I love you. People hear the rustle of soldiers and armour clinking, but this goes on all the time right? Seems nothing to be concerned about.

So Jesus is arrested and kept up all night, taken from place to place. The crowd enlarges and begins to taunt, mock, yell, and scream at him. The anger and fear of the Sanheadrons was magnified by their wealth and influence, they had a lot to lose.

(Their festivals and big to dos) 'Many don't don't go to church today because of this very reason.'

Jesus has been betrayed, accused, arrested, and charged with blasphemy and sentenced to die. His condition begins to get worse. He hasn't eaten or had rest, sleep, nor anything to drink, since the last supper. The loss of blood, or " hydrosis", has affected him profoundly.

Bound and under guard, Jesus was taken to Pilate and was whipped with a whip that had possibly metal, glass, or some type of object that took hunks of meat with every whip. Arms, legs, back, head, face, torso....... with blood spraying all over.....hunks of meat being ripped away from the bone. It is said by some, that it was so severe, that you could probably hear the air going in and out of his lungs because of the lack of flesh on his back. On top of this they spit, slapped, and cursed him. They put a crown of thorns upon his head. They stripped him of his raiment to further humiliate him, seemingly to give him no way of defense.

More fluid loss, sweating, and bleeding.......across the chest area the call it "plorefusion" or fluid build up around the lungs. When ever you lose fluids or blood, the body goes in to shock. The blood pressure goes down and heart rate increases. Stress and fatigue increase the sensitivity of the pain. Across his now raw and bleeding back, the soldiers drape a rough cloth across his back (Purple robe).

Due to the nerves across his head, "trinemanel" and "oxsipatal" nerves, where the crown of thorns were...over time the pain can be unbearable. Even through all of this its not enough for the crowd. So Jesus is handed over to be crucified. After pulling off the half dry and half blood soaked cloth, they put the rough tember called the cross upon him. (John 19:17- And he bearing his cross went forth unto a place called the place of a skull...)

The rough tember, ripping, and splintering his back, is very heavy, and is laid upon his back and shoulders. The body of Christ is now in the state of shock, from his brutal beating, sweating, and profuse loss of blood. Fluid accumulating around the lungs, "plurlafution" a state of shock. Jesus falls under the weight and pain, compounded with fatigue. Simon of Serene is compelled to carry his cross.

They take Jesus to the "place of a skull", a place where the city discards its trash....."Human" and otherwise. Orphans died and was discarded, and criminals who nobody cared for, were tossed out to be eaten by rats and dogs. The smell was awful. So bad in fact, that while doing an archilogical dig in the 1890's , the smell was so bad there that they had to take 10-15 minute periods while others took their place.

Jesus has endured hours of misery, but the worst is yet to come. They nailed him on the cross. The nails were long with big heads and they drove them in to his hands and feet. The nail is driven into the "media nerve" and causes severe burning and like lightening bolt pain, which runs into the spine, from both hands and feet. Some who have certain kind of injuries, have been given lots of morphine, and it would not even phase the pain. Its called, "corsagie", an injury to the media nerve. Sometimes surgery to the spinal cord is done to take this pain away. Its so severe that if you blow on this injury, it sends extreme pain all over the body, and the patient will scream and scream. When the nail goes in to the foot, it will rupture the "plature nerve", and the pain would be similiar to that of the hand. The injuries to the body and pain is multiple at this point. With every breath and movement and his head pushing against the crown of thorns. His body, his badly beaten back, arms, legs, the media and planure nerve irritation, the cramping, the joint pain, the intense thirst, the body going through horrible pain.

Ofen while on the cross the victim lingers for days. But in the case of Jesus its a matter of hours. Many changes in the body are taking place. The stomach stops functioning, the heart will beat more rapidly until failure, the lips will protrude from the mouth, the tongue would stick to the roof of the mouth as it swells. The blood flow to the muscles is not enough to meet the demands of the body. Not enough air in the lungs, the heaving, gasping, gurgling.........The blood pressure drops, the increased heartrate, until the body says..."STOP" The fluid build up around the heart, when they pierced him in the side, and forthwith came blood and water.

The body went in to 3 kinds of shock. (1) Hypobolamic- loss of blood, fluid volumn. (2) Traumatic --All the injuries inflicted on the body of Christ. (3) Carteogentic--Which is both of these combined together and where the heart fails as a pump.

Crucifixion...A silent testiment to unimaginable human savagery.

Now as we just took a walk through the last hours of Christ, through the biblical and medical view.....hope this will somehow help you to understand the sufferings of Christ for our sins.

Pastor Michael A.