21th June 2010

Mark 15:21-34 – The Crucifixion

• There were various types of crosses.
• The ‘T’ shaped cross
• The ‘X’ shaped cross.
• The ‘Christian’ cross as we know it. This was the one Jesus would have been executed upon. We know this because of the sign that was pinned on it. Only this type of cross would have that type of sign put on it.
• The death was a slow one mainly resulting from a drop in blood pressure and a speeding up in heart rate. This mixed with sheer pain caused the method of death to be feared.
• The body was disposed of in various ways sometimes involving speeding up death. Wild animals were allowed to eat the body - although not in the case of the Jews. To placate them, the Romans allowed them to be buried straight away.  Because of this they tended to speed up the death of the Jews on the cross either by either:
• kindling a fire under them,
• letting beasts attack them whilst still dying
• or by breaking their bones with an iron mallet.
• According to Fox book of Martyrs; history records that the fear of what was about to happen to someone about to be crucified would affect their body well before the actual crucifixion.
• Some lost the power of their legs.
• Some appeared like ghosts due to how incredibly pale they became in their face.
• Others lost the power of speech.
• Some literally lost their minds and this could be seem on their approach carrying the cross bar to the place of execution.
• Jesus would have seen many crucifixions but especially as a child as a revolt had been put down and hundreds of its participants had been crucified on the side of the roads in that region of the world.
• It still amazes me that Jesus went through with it. It seems to me that He probably succumb to the fear of the crucifixion as I wonder if that’s why Simon was used to carry His cross.
• Jesus, I believe was fearful not of death but of the cross and yet He did it anyway. He was determined to die for us. I need to understand that fear is not an excuse to deny what I should do or who I should be.