HOLY WEEK

A Physician's View of the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ

By Dr. C. Truman Davis

As a physician, I pursued the physiological and anatomical aspects of our
Lord's passion.

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WARNING: MATERIAL IN THIS ARTICLE MAY BE UNSUITABLE FOR YOUNGER CHILDREN.
PARENTAL DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

About a decade ago, reading Jim Bishop's The Day Christ Died, I realized
that I had for years taken the Crucifixion more or less for granted that I
had grown callous to its horror by a too easy familiarity with the grim
details and a too distant friendship with our Lord. It finally occurred to
me that, though a physician, I didn't even know the actual immediate cause
of death. The Gospel writers don't help us much on this point, because
crucifixion and scourging were so common during their lifetime that they
apparently considered a detailed description unnecessary.

So we have only the concise words of the Evangelists: "Pilate, having
scourged Jesus, delivered Him to them to be crucified and they crucified
Him." I have no competence to discuss the infinite psychic and spiritual
suffering of the Incarnate God atoning for the sins of fallen man. But it
seemed to me that as a physician I might pursue the physiological and
anatomical aspects of our Lord's passion 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,
torture and execution by fixation to a cross. 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.

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 at it. A number of
Roman authors (Livy, Cicer, Tacitus) comment on crucifixion, and several
innovations, modifications, and variations are described in the ancient
literature. For instance, the upright portion of the cross (or stipes) could
have the cross-arm (or patibulum) attached two or three feet below its top
in what we commonly think of as the Latin cross. The most common form used
in our Lord's day, however, was the Tau cross, shaped like our T.

In this cross, the patibulum was placed in a notch at the top of the stipes.
There is archeological evidence that it was on this type of cross that Jesus
was crucified. Without any historical or biblical proof, Medieval and
Renaissance painters have given us our picture of Christ carrying the entire
cross. But the upright post, or stipes, was generally fixed permanently in
the ground at the site of execution and the condemned man was forced to
carry the patibulum, weighing about 110 pounds, from the prison to the place
of execution.

Many of the painters and most of the sculptors of crucifixion, also show the
nails through the palms. Historical Roman accounts and experimental work
have established that the nails were driven between the small bones of the
wrists (radial and ulna) and not through the palms. Nails driven through the
palms will strip out between the fingers when made to support the weight of
the human body. The misconception may have come about through a
misunderstanding of Jesus' words to Thomas, "Observe my hands." Anatomists,
both modern and ancient, have always considered the wrist as part of the
hand. A titulus, or small sign, stating the victim's crime was usually
placed on a staff, carried at the front of the procession from the prison,
and later nailed to the cross so that it extended 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.

But, of course, the physical passion of the Christ began in Gethsemane. Of
the many aspects of this initial suffering, the one of greatest
physiological interest is the bloody sweat. It is interesting that St. Luke,
the physician, 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 ruse (trick) imaginable has been used
by modern scholars to explain away this description, apparently under the
mistaken impression that this just doesn't happen. A great deal of effort
could have been saved had the doubters consulted the medical literature.
Though very rare, the phenomenon of Hematidrosis, or bloody sweat, is well
documented. Under great emotional stress of the kind our Lord suffered, tiny
capillaries in the sweat glands can break, thus mixing blood with sweat.
This process might well have produced marked weakness and possible shock.
After the arrest in the middle of the night, Jesus was next brought before
the Sanhedrin and Caiphus, 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 Caiphus. The palace guards then
blind-folded Him and mockingly taunted Him to identify them as they each
passed by, spat upon Him, and struck Him in the face.

In the early morning, battered and bruised, dehydrated, and exhausted from a
sleepless night, Jesus is taken across the Praetorium of the Fortress
Antonia, the seat of government 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 the unusual 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 this pretender who allegedly claimed to be the King
of the Jews. Preparations for the scourging were carried out when the
Prisoner was stripped of His clothing and His hands tied to a post above His
head. It is doubtful the Romans would have made any attempt to follow the
Jewish law in this matter, but the Jews had an ancient law prohibiting more
than forty lashes. The Roman legionnaire steps forward with the flagrum (or
flagellum) in his hand. This is a short whip consisting of several heavy,
leather thongs with two small balls of lead attached near the ends of each.
The heavy whip is brought down with full force again and again across Jesus'
shoulders, back, and legs. At first the thongs cut through the skin only.
Then, as the blows continue, they cut deeper into the subcutaneous tissues,
producing first an oozing of blood from the capillaries and veins of the
skin, and finally spurting arterial bleeding from vessels in the underlying
muscles. The small balls of lead first produce large, deep bruises which are
broken open by subsequent blows. Finally the skin of the back is hanging in
long ribbons and the entire area is an unrecognizable mass of torn, bleeding
tissue. When it is determined by the centurion in charge that the prisoner
is near death, the beating is finally stopped. The half-fainting Jesus is
then untied and allowed to slump to the stone pavement, wet with His own
blood.

The Roman soldiers see a great joke in this provincial Jew claiming to be
king. They throw a robe across His shoulders and place a stick in His hand
for a scepter. They still need a crown to make their travesty complete.
Flexible branches covered with long thorns (commonly used in bundles for
firewood) are plaited into the shape of a crown and this is pressed into His
scalp. Again there is copious bleeding, the scalp being one of the most
vascular areas of the body. After mocking Him and striking Him across the
face, the soldiers take the stick from His hand and strike Him across the
head, driving the thorns deeper into His scalp. Finally, they tire of their
sadistic sport and the robe is torn from His back. Already having adhered to
the clots of blood and serum in the wounds, its removal causes excruciating
pain just as in the careless removal of a surgical bandage, and almost as
though He were again being whipped the wounds once more begin to bleed. In
deference to Jewish custom, the Romans return His garments. The heavy
patibulum of the cross is tied across His shoulders, and the procession of
the condemned Christ, two thieves, and the execution detail of Roman
soldiers headed by a centurion begins its slow journey along the Via
Dolorosa.

In spite of His efforts to walk erect, the weight of the heavy wooden beam,
together with the shock produced by copious blood loss, is too much. He
stumbles and falls. The rough wood of the beam gouges into the lacerated
skin and muscles of the shoulders. He tries to rise, but human muscles have
been pushed beyond their endurance. The centurion, anxious to get on with
the crucifixion, selects a stalwart North African onlooker, Simon of Cyrene,
to carry the cross. Jesus follows, still bleeding and sweating the cold,
clammy sweat of shock, until the 650 yard journey from the fortress Antonia
to Golgotha is finally completed. Jesus is offered wine mixed with myrrh, a
mild analgesic mixture. He refuses to drink. Simon is ordered to place the
patibulum on the ground and Jesus quickly thrown backward with His shoulders
against the wood. The legionnaire feels for the depression at the front of
the wrist. He drives a heavy, square, wrought-iron nail through the wrist
and deep into the wood. Quickly, he moves to the other side and repeats the
action, being careful not to pull the arms to tightly, but to allow some
flexion and movement. The patibulum is then lifted in place at the top of
the stipes and the titulus reading, "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews,"
is nailed in place.

The left foot is now pressed backward against the right foot, and with both
feet extended, toes down, a nail is driven through the arch of each, leaving
the knees moderately flexed. The Victim is now crucified. As He slowly sags
down with more weight on the nails in the wrists, excruciating pain shoots
along the fingers and up the arms to explode in the brain the nails in the
wrists are putting pressure on the median nerves.

As He pushes Himself upward to avoid this stretching torment, He places His
full weight on the nail through His feet. Again there is the searing agony
of the nail tearing through the nerves between the metatarsal bones of the
feet. At this point, as the arms fatigue, great waves of cramps sweep over
the muscles, knotting them in deep, relentless, throbbing pain. With these
cramps comes the inability to push Himself upward. Hanging by his arms, the
pectoral muscles are paralyzed and the intercostal muscles are unable to
act. Air can be drawn into the lungs, but cannot be exhaled. Jesus fights to
raise Himself in order to get even one short breath. Finally, carbon dioxide
builds up in the lungs and in the blood stream and the cramps partially
subside. Spasmodically, he is able to push Himself upward to exhale and
bring in the life-giving oxygen. It was undoubtedly during these periods
that He uttered the seven short sentences recorded: The first, looking down
at the Roman soldiers throwing dice for His seamless garment, "Father,
forgive them for they know not what they do."

The second, to the penitent thief, "Today thou shalt be with me in
Paradise."

The third, looking down at the terrified, grief-stricken adolescent John
the beloved Apostle he said, "Behold thy mother." Then, looking to His
mother Mary, "Woman behold thy son."

The fourth cry is from the beginning of the 22nd Psalm, "My God, my God,
why has thou forsaken me?"

Jesus experienced hours of limitless pain, cycles of twisting, joint-rending
cramps, intermittent partial asphyxiation, searing pain where tissue is torn
from His lacerated back as He moves up and down against the rough timber.
Then another agony begins -- a terrible crushing pain deep in the chest as
the pericardium slowly fills with serum and begins to compress the heart.
One remembers again the 22nd Psalm, the 14th verse: "I am poured out like
water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted
in the midst of my bowels."

It is now almost over. The loss of tissue fluids has reached a critical
level; the compressed heart is struggling to pump heavy, thick, sluggish
blood into the tissue; the tortured lungs are making a frantic effort to
gasp in small gulps of air. The markedly dehydrated tissues send their flood
of stimuli to the brain. Jesus gasps His fifth cry, "I thirst." One
remembers another verse from the prophetic 22nd Psalm: "My strength is dried
up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou has brought
me into the dust of death." A sponge soaked in posca, the cheap, sour wine
which is the staple drink of the Roman legionaries, is lifted to His lips.
He apparently doesn't take any of the liquid.

The body of Jesus is now in extremes, and He can feel the chill of death
creeping through His tissues. This realization brings out His sixth words,
possibly little more than a tortured whisper, "It is finished." His mission
of atonement has completed. Finally He can allow his body to die. With one
last surge of strength, he once again presses His torn feet against the
nail, straightens His legs, takes a deeper breath, and utters His seventh
and last cry, "Father! Into thy hands I commit my spirit."

The rest you know. In order that the Sabbath not be profaned, the Jews asked
that the condemned men be dispatched and removed from the crosses. The
common method of ending a crucifixion was by crurifracture, the breaking of
the bones of the legs. This prevented the victim from pushing himself
upward; thus the tension could not be relieved from the muscles of the chest
and rapid suffocation occurred. The legs of the two thieves were broken, but
when the soldiers came to Jesus they saw that this was unnecessary.

Apparently, to make doubly sure of death, the legionnaire drove his lance
through the fifth interspace between the ribs, upward through the
pericardium and into the heart. The 34th verse of the 19th chapter of the
Gospel according to St. John reports: "And immediately there came out blood
and water." That is, there was an escape of water fluid from the sac
surrounding the heart, giving postmortem evidence that Our Lord died not the
usual crucifixion death by suffocation, but of heart failure (a broken
heart) due to shock and constriction of the heart by fluid in the
pericardium.

Thus we have had our glimpse including the medical evidence of that
epitome of evil which man has exhibited toward Man and toward God. It has
been a terrible sight, and more than enough to leave us despondent and
depressed. How grateful we can be that we have the great sequel in the
infinite mercy of God toward man at once the miracle of the atonement (at
one ment) and the expectation of the triumphant Easter morning.

Used by permission. Copyright 2000. Dr. C. Truman Davis was a
nationally respected opthalmologist, vice president of the American
Association of Ophthalmology, and an active figure in the Christian schools
movement. He was founder and president of Trinity Christian School in Mesa,
Arizona, and a trustee of Grove City College.

Lord, by Your Cross and Resurrection you have saved the world. You have set us free.