Unjust Suffering

We all suffer. Sometimes we suffer justly, reaping what we sow as fallen individuals in a fallen world. If I do drugs, I suffer physical withdrawal symptoms when I stop. If I run a marathon without training, I strain ligaments. If I sleep around, I get STDs and unwanted children. If I drink too much coffee during the day, I get a headache. If I drink too little, I also get a headache. Instances of just (i.e., warranted) suffering are countless on this side of paradise. We make mistakes and we face consequences for such mistakes.

Sometimes, however, we suffer unjustly. We don’t deserve it. We are betrayed, cheated on, lied to, ridiculed, and slandered without warrant. We suffer empathetically alongside sick loved ones. We are helpless victims of criminal activity, cross-cultural hatred, and social alienation. We are persecuted for our religious convictions. The list of unwarranted forms of suffering is also endless.

Our sufferings, both just and unjust, are, however, pitiful compared to the completely unjust sufferings through which Christ went in the final days of his earthly life. For the sake of your edification and in light of it being Good Friday, I thought I would share some of the particulars of his final earthly days. Many of these details were taken from a recent sermon of a well-known American pastor. I share them with you not to be dramatic or to tug at your emotional heart strings. I am not trying to reenact Mel’s Gibson’s Passion of the Christ in blog form. My intention of sharing these details is to enable you to relativize your current sufferings and worship Christ as the one who suffered far worse than you so that you would never suffer eternally that which he suffered.

So what was crucifixion really like?

Josephus, a first century Jewish historian and apologist, referred to crucifixion as “the most wretched of deaths.” It was an act of psychological, physical, and emotional terror. In fact, the word “excruciating” literally means “from the cross.” The crucified individual would usually die of asphyxiation. In other words, hanging upon a cross would cause a person to go in and out of consciousness by impairing his or her ability to breath. It would cause intermittent choking, suffocating, and smothering, as if the person was in and out of a choke hold (mostly in) until death. Some crucifixions lasted hours and some up to 9 days. Criminals baked in the heat of the sun during the day and shook uncontrollably with chills at night. Most would lose control of their bodily functions, dripping feces and blood into a puddle at their feet. The crucifixions were done in public areas where people would spit on them, throw stones at them, and mock them. Women were often crucified with their faces toward the cross, while men generally faced the crowd. When taken down, their bodies were often fed to the dogs and vultures. Their bones were used as chew toys. It was the most shameful and physically painful way to die possible, reserved for only the most high crimes (e.g., treason, murder, etc.).

What was Jesus’ crucifixion like?

Worse than this.

Immediately after speaking of his upcoming death at the Last Supper, Jesus was under such psychological and emotional distress that he sweat blood in prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. After being betrayed by one of his best friends for a mere 30 pieces of silver, he was arrested. However, there was no trial. The accusations of the Jewish leaders didn’t agree, but they condemned him nonetheless.

They began to beat him. The Bible says that he was flogged. What is flogging? It was a form of torture at the hand of a device known as a flagrum. Picture a tennis racket handle with strips of leather attached to it. At the end of the leather strips were hooks made of bone or metal, coupled with heavy metal balls used to “tenderize” the flesh. In the case of Jesus, the Roman soldiers stripped him virtually naked, extended his hands over a rock, cuffed him, and whipped him with the flagrum. While the balls softened his flesh, the hooks dug into his skin and connective tissues and ripped them out as the solider tugged at the flagrum. It is widely agreed that the hooks of the flagrum went deep enough to dislodge his ribs and pierce his lungs. Few survived flogging. Jesus did. The Bible says that he was “marred beyond human likeness,” but he did not die.

Jesus was then told to carry his cross. It weighed more than 100 pounds. He carried it as a blatant message to others not to follow him or such a fate would be theirs. After carrying the cross some distance, Jesus fell down and upon him fell the cross. The History Channel recently did a documentary on the crucifixion and the interviewed doctor compared the cross falling on Jesus to a car accident. He equated it with a no-seatbelt driver being slammed head-on by a truck traveling 55 mph. Jesus suffered a bruised heart that began leaking blood into a sac just outside the heart. Over time, the sac filled with blood and water. This explains why blood literally exploded from Jesus’ side when a soldier pierced his ribs on the cross.

Jesus then had a crown of thorns dug into his skull. These were not tiny prickly rose thorns. These were 5-7 inch thorns that were pushed forcefully into his cranium. They then laid him on the cross bar and drove the equivalent of railroad spikes through the most sensitive nerve centers of his body—his hands and feet. He was then lifted up and a statement was put over his head in mockery: “King of the Jews.” As he looked out at the crowd whom he loved, all he heard was mockery.

And then Jesus spoke. What did he say? “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” To the repentant criminal crucified alongside him, he said, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” The fact that he was speaking coherently means that his physical and mental faculties were still intact. He was not dying of asphyxiation. He was blatantly aware of everything happening to him. He could feel every wound. He could hear every insult. He was not anesthetized. He watched and felt the full extent of his murder.

Jesus then quoted Psalm 22 and cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” What was happening here? The unbroken intimacy of God the Father and God the Son was being temporarily broken. Jesus was taking upon himself our sin and as a consequence was banished from the presence of the Father. Neither you nor I have experienced such emotional pain— far worse than any physical pain I just described. Far worse than any of your breakups. Far worse than any divorce. Far worse than your mother or father dying. Far worse than your child dying. The son of God was murdered at the hands of you and I while his father, completely able to stop it, willfully watched.

And into his Father’s hands Jesus then committed his spirit. The work was finished.

As we reflect on the death of Christ this Good Friday, I urge you to soak in some of these details. I urge you to “go there.” Sit in the reality of the crucifixion. Dwell in the pain through which your Savior went so that you would never have to experience it. Mourn that you were the one who caused it. And get ready to celebrate that which followed three days later…