____________________________________________________ THE GOSPEL OBSERVER "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations...teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:19,20). ____________________________________________________ December 17, 1995 ____________________________________________________ THE CRUCIFIXION OF JESUS The Passion of Christ From A Medical Point of View (Part 1 of 2) by C. Truman Davis, M.D., M.S. In this paper, I shall discuss some of the physical aspects of the passion, or suffering, of Jesus Christ. We shall follow Him from Gethsemane, through His trial, His scourging, His path along the Via Dolorosa, to His last dying hours on the cross. I became interested in this about a year ago when I read an account of the crucifixion in Jim Bishop's book, The Day Christ Died. I suddenly realized that I had taken the Crucifixion more or less for granted all these years -- that I had grown callous to its horror by a too easy familiarity with the grim details -- and a too distant friendship with Him. It finally occurred to me that as a physician I didn't even know the actual immediate cause of death. The Gospel writers don't help us very much on this point, because crucifixion and scourging were so common during their lifetime that they undoubtedly considered a detailed description totally superfluous -- so we have the concise words of the Evangelist: "Pilate, having scourged Jesus, delivered Him to them to be crucified -- and they crucified Him." I am indebted to many who have studied this subject in the past and especially to a contemporary colleague, Dr. Pierre Barbet, a French surgeon who has done exhaustive historical and experimental research and has written extensively on the subject. The infinite psychic and spiritual suffering of the Incarnate God in atonement for the sins of fallen man I have no competence to discuss; however, the physiological and anatomical aspects of our Lord's passion we can examine in some detail ... what did the body of Jesus of Nazareth actually endure during those hours of torture? This led me first to a study of the practice of crucifixion itself; that is, the torture and execution of a person by fixation to a cross. Apparently, the first known practice of crucifixion was by the Persians. Alexander and his generals brought it back to the Mediterranean world -- to Egypt and to Carthage. The Romans apparently learned the practice from the Carthaginians and (as with almost everything the Romans did) rapidly developed a very high degree of efficiency and skill in carrying it out. A number of Roman authors (Livy, Cicero, Tacitus) comment on it. Several innovations and modifications are described in the ancient literature: I'll mention only a few which may have some bearing here. The upright portion of the cross (or stipes) could have the cross-arm (or patibulum) attached two or three feet below its top -- this is what we commonly think of today as the classical form of the cross (the one which we have later named the Latin cross); however, the common form used in our Lord's day was the Tau cross (shaped like the Greek letter Tau or like our letter T). In this cross the patibulum was placed in a notch at the top of the stipes. There is fairly overwhelming archaeological evidence that it was on this type of cross that Jesus was crucified. The upright post, or stipes, was generally permanently fixed in the ground at the site of execution and the condemned man was forced to carry the patibulum, apparently weighing about 110 pounds, from the prison to the place of execution. Without any historical or biblical proof, medieval and Renaissance painters have given us our picture of Christ carrying the entire cross. Many of these painters and most of the sculptors of crucifixes today show the nails through the palms. Roman historical accounts and experimental work have shown that the nails were driven between the small bones of the wrists and not through the palms. Nails driven through the palms will strip out between the fingers when they support the weight of a human body. The misconception may have come through a misunderstanding of Jesus' words to Thomas, ``Behold my hands.'' Anatomists, both modern and ancient, have always considered the wrists as part of the hand. A titulus, or small sign, stating the victim's crime was usually carried at the front of the procession and later nailed to the cross above the head.This sign with its staff nailed to the top of the cross would have given it somewhat the characteristic form of the Latin cross. The physical passion of the Christ begins in Gethsemane. Of the many aspects of this initial suffering, I shall only discuss the one of physiological interest; 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.'' Every attempt imaginable has been used by modern scholars to explain away this phrase, apparently under the mistaken impression that this just doesn't happen. A great deal of effort could be saved by consulting the medical literature. Though very rare, the phenomenon of Hemathidrosis, 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. We shall move rapidly through the betrayal and arrest; I must stress again the important portions of the Passion story are missing from this account. This may be frustrating to you, but in order to adhere to our purpose of discussing only the purely physical aspects of the Passion this is necessary. After the arrest in the middle of the night, Jesus was brought before the Sanhedrin and Caiaphas, the High Priest; it is here that the first physical trauma was inflicted. A soldier struck Jesus across the face for remaining silent when questioned by Caiaphas. The palace guards then blindfolded Him and mockingly taunted Him to identify them as they each passed by, spat on Him, and struck Him in the face. In the early morning Jesus, battered and bruised, dehydrated, and exhausted from a sleepless night, is taken across Jerusalem to the Praetorium of the Procurator of Judea, Pontius Pilate. You are, of course, familiar with Pilate's action in attempting to pass responsibility to Herod Antipas, the Tetrarch of Judea. Jesus apparently suffered no physical mistreatment at the hands of Herod and was returned to Pilate. It was then, in response to the cries of the mob, that Pilate ordered Bar-Abbas released and condemned Jesus to scourging and crucifixion. There is much disagreement among authorities about scourging as a prelude to crucifixion. Most Roman writers from this period do not associate the two. Many scholars believe that Pilate originally ordered Jesus scourged as his full punishment and that the death sentence by crucifixion came only in response to the taunt by the mob that the Procurator was not properly defending Caesar against the pretender who claimed to be the King of the Jews. (article to be concluded next week) ___________________________________________ The Footility of Sin by Stan Cox That's right, I said the footility of sin! Occasionally my wife and I play a board game with others called Balderdash. The object of the game is to guess the real definition of an obscure word supplied by the game. One of the words we came across in a recent game was ``footle.'' At the time, we joked about the word, saying that it sounded like an ignorant person trying to say futile. However, when the real definition was revealed, it turned out that our jokes were right on target. The word ``footle'' means futile or foolish. Maybe someone decided to combine the ``fool-'' of foolish, and the ``-le'' of futile, and made up a new word....but it is a legitimate word! It is also a word appropriate for our title. The practice of sin is foolish, and futile! Those who engage in sin do so at their peril, for...''the wages of sin is death'' (Romans 6:23). Notice the following quotation from Holman's Bible Dictionary on the subject of foolishness. ``FOOL, FOOLISHNESS, AND FOLLY Translations of several uncomplimentary words which appear approximately 360 times throughout the Old and New Testaments to describe unwise and ungodly people. The words are especially predominant in the Wisdom Literature of the Old Testament. Persons who do not possess wisdom are called ``fools''; their behavior is described as ``folly.'' The picture which emerges from the biblical material is quite simple: folly is the opposite of wisdom, and a fool is the opposite of a wise person. Both wisdom and folly are depicted as philosophies or perspectives on life. The religious person chooses wisdom, whereas the non-religious person opts for folly. Wisdom leads to victory; folly to defeat. Wisdom belongs to those who fear God, and the ``fear'' of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Prov. 1:7). Wisdom is the essence of life. The foolish person is the one who is thoughtless, self-centered, and obviously indifferent to God.'' An interesting and important point here made is that the opposite of foolishness (or ``footleness'') is wisdom. And wisdom is characterized by a turn to God! As the Psalmist said, ``The fool has said in his heart, 'There is no God.' They are corrupt, They have done abominable works, There is none who does good'' (Psalms 14:1). Sin is footle, because the sinner rebels against the God who made him. One could just as well rage against the weather, or cut off the nose to spite the face. It makes no sense at all to rebel against the One to whom you owe your existence, and must trust for your eternal well being. Sin is footle. It is both foolish, and futile. And remember, the complete statement of Paul in Romans 6:23 is, ``For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.'' Do you want to be footle, and choose death, or do you want to do the wise thing, and take hold of the gift given by God through His beloved Son? -- via Reflections on the Scriptures (downloaded from Gary's List, 11/21/95) ________________________________________ Tri-State CHURCH OF CHRIST 1314 Montgomery Avenue, Ashland, Kentucky 41101 Sunday: 10:00 A.M. Bible class 10:50 A.M. Worship 6:30 P.M. Worship Wednesday: 7:30 P.M. Bible study evangelist/editor: Tom Edwards (606) 325-9742 e-mail: tedwards@zoomnet.net Gospel Observer web site: http://www.zoomnet.net/~tedwards/go ________________________________________