Part 4: The Agony of the Cross

It is interesting that the four gospels have nothing to say about the physical suffering of Christ during his crucifixion. The gospel writers wanted us to focus on something else. We ask the question, “Why did Jesus have to die?” But a really good question that is seldom asked is, “Why did Jesus have to be crucified?”[1] Why was crucifixion the manner of death chosen by God…

Isaiah 53:1   Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?… 3 He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces He was despised, and we held him in low esteem. 4 Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, striken by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed… 10 Yet it was the LORD’S will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand. NIV

The first phase of a Roman execution was scourging. A Roman soldier would use a whip made of leather cords with small pieces of metal and bone tied into the cords. The one being scourged would be stripped naked, there would be no loin cloth. The idea of scourging was to tear into the skeletal muscles. This would not only cause enormous pain, but also cause extreme blood loss and often set the stage for circulatory shock.

The person crucified would be paraded through the streets to maximize shame. At the crucifixion site the prisoner would be thrown to the ground exposing the torn flesh to dirt, rock, and debris. With arms in a bent position, the nails would be driven through the wrists between the ulna and radial bones to the crossbar. Once they were nailed to the crossbar they were hoisted up on to the post. The crossbar would be attached to the post by mortise and tenon, and then with the legs bent the feet were nailed to the post.

Once crucified, people could live for as long as three or four days and though the pain was excruciating what actually killed them was the inability to breathe. The only way to gain a breath would be by pushing oneself up from the legs and feet, or by pulling oneself up by the arms, both of which would cause intense agony. Now add to this horrendous pain, uncontrollable bodily functions, insects feasting on wounds, thirst, muscle cramps, bolts of pain from the severed medial nerves in the wrists, and the lacerated back scraping against the wooden posts with every breath.[2] Tortured, the one crucified dies from the weight of his own body as he suffocates.

So back to our question, “Why did Jesus have to be crucified?” “Why was crucifixion the manner of death chosen by God?”[3] Why did he choose the most torturous, shaming, and agonizing manner of execution devised by man for his death? The answer? What better way to show his love for us!

1John 4:9  This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

[1] Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion: Understanding the Death of Jesus Christ, (Grand Rapids, Michigan/Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 2015), 75

[2] Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion: Understanding the Death of Jesus Christ, (Grand Rapids, Michigan/Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 2015), 95

[3] Rutledge, 75