How Do We Know What Crucifixion Looked Like?

 

How Do We Know What Crucifixion Looked Like?

 

Matthew 27:33-37, NIV - They came to a place called Golgotha (which means “the place of the skull”).  There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it.  When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots.  And sitting down, they kept watch over him there.  Above his head they placed the written charge against him: this is Jesus, the king of the Jews.

 

Crucifixion was ghastly.  For hundreds of years after Jesus was crucified, Christian artists never depicted this brutal execution method.  As horrible as modern Christians imagine the crucifixion was, early Christians worked hard not to imagine it.  Most of them had seen at least one crucifixion because they lived in a time and place where they were common.  It is estimated that Matthew wrote this gospel in 85 AD, approximately half a century after Jesus was crucified.  Still, there is no description of what crucifixion involved.  Matthew (nor the other Gospel writers for that matter) felt the need to include details because everyone already knew those details all too well.  We know the details because of historians like Josephus and others who knew that future generations would no longer realize just how barbaric the practice was. 

                Matthew did not have to paint a picture with words of what the crucified Jesus would look like for he knew his readers would already know the image well.  To that image, Matthew adds the sign hanging above Jesus’s head which listed the charge for which Jesus hung on the cross, “this is Jesus, the king of the Jews.”  Jesus had mounted no armed revolution nor challenged any ruler.  Matthew makes sure we know that Jesus hangs there for no legitimate reason, as if a legitimate reason exists for killing a human being in this barbaric way.  While Jesus hangs there, he listens as the guards who just nailed Him to the cross cast lots to see who gets His clothes.  In addition to painting the guards as completely unfazed by the cruelty they performed day after day, this detail also signals to us that Jesus hung on that cross naked.  The humiliation was complete. 

                After the winner of Jesus’s clothes was determined, they just sat here and watched Jesus.  This, of course, was their job.  No one must interfere with the execution, which normally would take about six to nine hours.  Other gospels suggest that Jesus didn’t last that long, for he had already been badly injured.  In any case, all who were present just sat there watching bleeding Jesus slowly suffocate to death over the course of at least three to four hours.   Can you imagine spending hours watching such a thing?

                Most of us can’t imagine that.  I’m pretty sure I would have had to walk away or at least look away.   Even in our culture that often glorifies and desensitizes us to violence, this is too much.  Gory deaths on TV take a few seconds, about the same amount of time as it takes to read the verses above.  We move on quickly.  My aim here in this reflection was to slow the process a bit, to invite us to feel the barbarism of this moment, to sit with Jesus’s utter humiliation and pain for at least a few minutes. 

                Why?  Because this moment is why Jesus said that He came:

“From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. “ (Matt 16:21-22)

The Son of God came to suffer and be murdered.  If that is why Jesus said that He came, then it at least merits our deliberate reflection.  So. my hope is that, as we encounter this awful moment over the next few reflections, we will give Jesus that – a few moments of making ourselves see what we’d rather not see or dwell on. 

 

Question:  What happens in you when you spend a few minutes thinking about the difficult details of the crucifixion? 

 

Prayer:  Jesus, it is hard to look upon You hanging on that cross.  Even so, we look into Your eyes as you willingly submit to it for our sake.  Help us to not look away.  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for people that you are aware of that are suffering terribly right now.

 

Song:  When I Survey the Wondrous Cross – Kathryn Scott

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kimLXNhzZMA

“I Have Some Bad News and Some Good News” - January 10, 2022

 

“I Have Some Bad News and Some Good News” - January 10, 2022

 

Matthew 17:22-23, NRSV - As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into human hands,  and they will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised.” And they were greatly distressed.

 

Before we get to the main reflection today, I want to comment on something some of you might have noticed.  In most modern translations, there is no verse 21 in Matthew 17.  This speaks to an issue that Bible translators have to deal with when they are rendering a new translation of the Bible.  Generally speaking, translators try to use the oldest manuscripts of the original handwritten texts available in the original language.  In this case, it is Greek.  There are a few ancient Greek manuscripts of the New Testament Books.  The problem is, there are differences between those different manuscripts.  We’ve stumbled onto one of them today.  Some have verse 21 and some don’t.  When translators come across something like this, they have to make a decision.  Do they include it or not.  That decision has many complex issues to consider that we don’t have time to consider today, but what I will say for now is that the majority of translation teams of among the most trusted English versions of the New Testament chose to omit verse 21.  This is why I chose not to cover it in these reflections.  But I did want you to be aware of the issues that are involved in bringing a new translation of the Bible to you and me.

                So moving into our reflection, Jesus gives the disciples a dose of “good news-bad news.”  They get the bad news first because the bad news will occur first;  Jesus will be killed.  The good news is that, three days later, He will be raised from death.  To be fair, this is not the first time they have heard this bad/good news.  If you remember, in Chapter 16, he begins to tell them this:

 (suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.” (16:21)

You should know that Jesus will tell them about His death and resurrection two more times before it actually happens (20:17-19 and 26:1-2).  It seems clear that Jesus knew that His disciples would take a while to wrap their mind around this coming event.  We have the advantage of looking back on something that has already happened.  We were taught this story with the “happy” ending already in place.  For the disciples, who don’t have this hindsight advantage, all they can hear is that Jesus says He is going to be killed.  They have found the Savior that their grandparents, great-grandparents, and dozens of previous generations have hoped for and now they are told that Savior is now going to be taken from them. 

                Imagine what pregnancy would be like if you weren’t sure that it would end with a precious child being born.  Imagine going through 16-20 years of education with no idea whether it would be useful when you received that degree (probably not too hard to imagine these days).  Imagine your most beloved family member telling you that they have only months to live and not knowing how you would be able to go on living without them (my guess is a few of us have already experienced that).  Our human tendency is to latch on to the bad news right in front of us.  When Peter objects to hearing the bad news in Matthew 16, Jesus tells him, “you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”(16:23)  While Jesus is patient, (telling His friends the same thing at least four different times)  He calls us to stretch to embrace a longer vision.  The bad thing that has you filled with dread right now is NOT the last thing, no matter how it plays out. 

Most of us have seen this play out.  Pregnancies most often end with sweet bables, but sometimes they don’t and it is bitterly painful.  But I know parents who have tasted that bitter pain and found joy again.  I have seen people spend those two decades of education getting the degree (even an MD certification in a couple of cases) and never work in their field of expertise because they found something even better.  And on occasions too many to count, I have seen people who hoped against hope that the terminal diagnosis would incorrect and ultimately be devastated when it proves to be accurate.  But over time, they find themselves experiencing peace on the other side of the loss they didn’t think they could survive.

Jesus needs us to know that “in this world, you will have trouble.” (John 16:33)  We can’t skip to the good part.  But especially in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus would have us see that there is always deeply good news on the other side of that thing that has us “greatly distressed.” (17:23).  The invitation is to embrace that long vision of life even when it’s so hard to see.  The worst thing is NEVER the last thing.

 

Question:  How would you live differently than you live right now if you knew that no matter what happens, the end of your story is “exceedingly good news?”

 

Prayer:  Holy Spirit, inhabit our hearts so that our minds could embrace your long vison of Good News.  Help us to hold onto the hope that the worst thing is never the last thing for your children.  Amen,

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for someone you know who is struggling to hold onto hope right now.

 

Song:  At the Foot of the Cross (Ashes for Beauty) - Kathryn Scott

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtAiFJDHSAg