How Jesus Died I. Introduction A. Initial warning 1. Following material not for the weak of stomach, younger audiences 2. Definitely would be rated "R" for gore and violence B. Nevertheless, an important study: how did Jesus die? 1. When we read the descriptions in the four Gospels of Jesus' death, we are struck by the dispassionate tone provided 2. All four authors record the events quickly and without much explanation 3. People of the first century would need no such explanation; scourgings, mockings, crucifixion commonly known then 4. Today, however, such things not as well understood C. The violence and pain involved is unpleasant, offensive to modern sensibility 1. We live in a very sanitized culture: violence and other such things are on the television screen and that is about it 2. But can we really appreciate Jesus' sacrifice if we do not understand what He suffered? D. What did Jesus suffer? What were His experiences? How did Jesus die? II. From the Garden to Deliverance to Crucifixion A. Mental Anguish of Expectation: the Garden of Gethsemane 1. Jesus' suffering seems to truly begin while praying in the garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:37) 2. Matthew 26:36-46 / Mark 14:32-42 / Luke 22:39-46 3. His soul is sorrowful to death 4. He petitions the Father, if at all possible, to avoid upcoming suffering 5. In the end, God's will be done 6. Praying leads to sweat like drops of blood (cf. Luke 22:44) 7. Believed by some to be hematidrosis, a condition in which a person begins sweating blood on account of great stress 8. Luke does not say that Jesus actually sweats blood, only that the sweat drops were like drops of blood 9. Regardless, demonstration of great anguish of soul 10. As God the Son, fully cognizant of what is about to take place 11. As the Son of Man, no doubt suffers greatly mentally on account of the expectation of what is about to occur! 12. Comforted by an angel, given strength (Luke 22:43) B. The Garden to Pilate 1. Judas soon after arrives with the guards; Jesus betrayed; Peter strikes Malchus, servant of high priest, cuts off his ear; Jesus rebukes him, tells him to put the sword back; heals the servant; is taken away; disciples flee (Matthew 26:47-56, Mark 14:43-50, Luke 22:47-53, John 18:3-11) a. Continued mental anguish b. Now in captivity, led about; alone 2. Presented before Annas and Caiaphas, meeting of Jews; false witnesses come forth, testimony does not agree; Jesus confesses that He is the Son of God; charged with blasphemy (Matthew 26:57-68, Mark 14:53-65, Luke 22:63-65, John 18:12-14, 19-24) a. Mental and emotional suffering: false testimony, hardness of hearts of Jews, inability to get them to understand the truth b. Physical suffering: spat upon, stricken on the face and body, slapped on the face (Matthew 26:67-68, Mark 14:65, Luke 22:63-65, John 18:22) 3. Peter's denials (Matthew 26:69-75, Mark 14:66-72, Luke 22:55-62, John 18:16-18, 25-27) a. Predicted previously, yet still not any less miserable (Luke 22:31-34) b. Emotional pain of being denied by one of His closest disciples 4. By morning, decision to put Him to death, hand Him over to Pilate (Matthew 27:1-2, Mark 15:1, Luke 22:66-71) 5. Jesus stands before Pilate; does not answer; sends Him to Herod, provides no answer, sent back; Pilate offers to release Jesus as part of Passover custom; crowd, incited by Jewish authorities, instead ask for Barabbas the insurrectionist, demand Jesus to be crucified (Matthew 27:15-23, Mark 15:1-14, Luke 23:1-25, John 18:28-40) a. Mental, emotional suffering: mockery and contempt from Herod and his soldiers (Luke 23:11) b. The crowd, previously hailing Him as the Messiah, now wants Him crucified (Luke 19:28-40) c. They do not understand that they have asked for a murderer to be saved and to kill the Author of life (Acts 3:15, 17)! 6. Pilate has Jesus scourged; gives into the will of people, delivers Jesus to be crucified (Matthew 27:24-26, Mark 15:15, John 19:1) a. Scourging not usually done before a crucifixion b. Scourging the standard Roman practice of punishment to dissuade people from further disobedience; most released afterward c. Pilate likely trying to just punish Jesus and not have Him killed d. Scourging involves flogging: a short leather whip (flagrum/flagellum) with lead balls attached at its end e. Jewish custom made 39 strikes the maximum (cf. 2 Corinthians 11:24); Romans had no such compunction f. Whip strikes Jesus on His shoulders, back, and legs g. First just cuts open the skin h. As lashings continue, cut deeper into skin layers; blood comes forth i. Lead balls lead first to bruising; bruises opened in later blows j. Skin eventually hangs off body like ribbons; body a bloody, torn mess k. When centurion sees that prisoner is near death, scourging is finished 7. Jesus, by this point, is quite physically drained and near death; emotionally and mentally drained; suffering not just physical abuse but also mockery and torment III. The Crucifixion A. Humiliation by the Soldiers 1. Matthew 27:27-31 / Mark 15:16-20 / John 19:2-3 2. Soldiers mock Jesus; strip His clothes; put a robe on Him 3. Twisted a crown of thorns, impress it upon His head 4. Put a reed in His hand; provide mock worship 5. Spat upon Him, struck Him with the reed 6. Stripped off robe, put on clothes back on 7. Extreme pain: no medical care for previous scourging 8. Taking off, putting on clothes terribly painful with all the open wounds on His back 9. Pain of having thorns pressed into His scalp; further bleeding 10. On top of physical pain, mental and emotional suffering on account of the mockery of the soldiers B. According to John, final decision by Pilate to crucify Jesus (John 19:4-16) C. Heading to Golgotha 1. Matthew, Mark, Luke say Simon of Cyrene carries cross (Matthew 27:32, Mark 15:21, Luke 23:26) 2. John says Jesus carries own cross (John 19:17) 3. Likely a bit of both: Jesus began carrying it, could no longer, Simon finishes task 4. Not the full cross; generally prisoners carried the cross arm of the cross, the patibulum, weighing about 110 pounds 5. Still a lot for a beaten man! 6. Crowds lament; Jesus tells them to mourn for themselves and the upcoming disaster (Luke 23:27-31) 7. Jesus given wine mixed with gall/myrrh; tasted it; did not drink it (Matthew 27:33-34, Mark 15:22-23) a. Some believe that the mixture would help deaden pain, but why would soldiers who are torturing Him want to do that? b. More likely the mixture just tastes entirely disgusting, and represents another form of torture D. The Crucifixion (Matthew 27:32-50, Mark 15:24-37, Luke 23:32-46, John 19:17-30) 1. Crucifixion seems to originate from Persians, brought into Near East and Classical worlds 2. Reserved for criminals of which Rome wanted to make examples 3. Unlikely the "Latin" cross popular in Western "Christendom;" more likely a tau or T cross 4. One of the most painful ways to die that man has ever imagined a. "excruciating" from Latin ex crucare, "from the cross" b. Death by asphyxiation, exposure, or hunger/dehydration c. The nails in wrists and ankles allow enough movement to continue to breathe but makes it extremely painful d. Rising up causes great leg pain; sinking down causes great pain in arms e. Many run out of strength, can no longer pull themselves up to breathe, asphyxiate (especially when legs are broken; John 18:31-32) f. "Stronger" victims would die of the other causes! 5. Jesus thus crucified, wrists and ankles nailed to the cross a. One nail in each wrist, both ankles with one nail (cf. John 20:25) b. Many think that Jesus was nailed on the cross by the palms, but such cannot bear the weight of the human body and would strip out between the fingers c. In ancient world, wrist as part of hand d. Unbelievable amount of pain 6. Crucified between two criminals a. Likely Barabbas' associates; Jesus is on the cross destined for Barabbas, after all! b. Initially they torment Him; one comes to repentance 7. Some clothes divided between soldiers; lot cast for the seamless tunic 8. Mary His mother, Mary Magdalene, John watch 9. Jesus says seven things: asks Father to forgive His executioners; tells thief that he will be with Jesus in Paradise; commissions John to care for Mary; quotes Psalm 22:1; says He thirsted; commends spirit to God; declares it is finished 10. Mocked by those passing by; also emotional pain of seeing pain of Mary, others, regarding His death 11. When He thirsts, given sour wine (=almost vinegar); last thing He tastes 12. Jesus endures at least 3 hours on the cross (cf. Matthew 27:45-46) E. Jesus' Death 1. Physicians have extrapolated His cause of death based on various details (Dr. C. Truman Davis, "A Physician's View of the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ," http://www.cbn.com/SpiritualLife/ OnlineDiscipleship/easter/ A_Physician's_View_of_the_Crucifixion_of_Jesus_Christ.aspx, as with much of this lesson) 2. Heart failure! 3. Jesus had suffered greatly before He was crucified 4. Likely that tissue had lost too much fluid, compressing the heart 5. Pericardium around the heart fills with serum 6. Dehydration leads Jesus to declare that He thirsted (John 19:28) 7. At the end, heart, overly constricted, stressed, filled with fluid, fails 8. Postmortem evidence: blood and water come forth when Jesus' corpse is pierced by Roman spear (John 19:34-37), evidence of above F. After death, body taken down by Joseph of Arimathea, prepared, and buried 1. Matthew 27:57-66 / Mark 15:42-47 / Luke 23:50-56 / John 19:38-42 2. Body wrapped in cloths, prepared with much myrrh and aloes 3. Sealed in a rock-cut tomb IV. The Suffering of Jesus A. Thus we have seen how Jesus suffered and died B. Physical suffering 1. Abuse at hands of Jews, soldiers 2. Scourging 3. Mockery of soldiers 4. Crucifixion C. Mental and emotional suffering 1. Expectation of suffering to come 2. Forsaken by majority of His disciples, denied by Peter 3. Hardness of heart of the Jews, Romans 4. Derided and mocked 5. Sees pain of own mother, other beloved disciples D. All of this while God the Son! 1. No indication that God the Son abandons Jesus of Nazareth on the cross 2. Therefore, Jesus always entirely able to end it all at any point! 3. Nevertheless, endures the shame and suffering E. This is the price for our salvation 1. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, Romans 5:6-11, 1 Peter 2:21-24 2. Jesus suffered all these things out of His love and the Father's love for us (John 3:16) 3. Let us never consider our salvation "cheap" or "worthless"! F. Let us constantly praise God for His love and grace for us, made evident through the suffering of Jesus Christ, and let us suffer along with Him so that we may be saved! G. Invitation/songbook Scripture, Meditation, and Application 1: Then saith he unto them, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: abide ye here, and watch with me" (Matthew 26:38). Jesus of Nazareth well understood what He was about to endure. He would experience every sort of suffering, pain, and anguish. Thus, in the Garden of Gethsemane, His soul began to sorrow and He prayed fervently to the Father. In this moment we can truly see Jesus' humanity and all He suffered. Why did Jesus need to suffer so? 2: Then released he unto them Barabbas; but Jesus he scourged and delivered to be crucified (Matthew 27:26). The Evangelists did not embellish the story of what Jesus endured when He died; they did not need to do so in their time and place. Their audience well understood what was involved in scourging and crucifixion. Scourging involved whipping of the back with a leather whip; it often featured lead balls attached to the leather. The skin of the back would be flayed afterward and would ooze blood. Crucifixion was the most awful way to die ever conceived; every breath would be painful, and people would suffer mightily until they died. Such a form of execution was designed to humiliate as much as kill. Why would Jesus endure such horrendous evil? 3: And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani"? that is, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? (Matthew 27:46) The scourging and crucifixion would have involved unimaginable physical suffering. At the same time Jesus endured great emotional, mental, and spiritual anguish. He had been abandoned by His disciples and offered up to die by His own people. His people chose an insurrectionist to live and wanted to see Him die. He was mocked and beaten by the religious authorities and the Roman soldiers. Those watching Him suffer and die mocked Him. He was embodying the message of Psalm 22 and evoked it in His words. It was understandable why He felt forsaken, even if it were not true in reality. Why should we consider how much anguish Jesus experienced? 4: And Jesus cried again with a loud voice, and yielded up his spirit (Matthew 27:50). After a little over three hours on the cross, Jesus died. When we hear of how Jesus died we cannot begin to imagine what was endured. For the Roman soldiers watching the experience, it was Friday; they would have been surprised at how quickly Jesus died. Some in the medical field have suggested that Jesus might well have died from heart failure after all the blood loss and dehydration. He did this so that we might find life in Him. How should we well reflect on how Jesus died?