The Way Of The Cross

In the name of our crucified saviour, Amen.

Tonight we weep, and lament, our churches are bare, we will shortly extinguish the light of Christ, and the whole church contemplates the events of today, and now sits in the darkness of the realisation of the death of our saviour, and the time of mourning and desolation we now face.

We have just listened to the passion from St Johns Gospel, and we remember the brutality, and sheer inhumanity that Christ faced; first in his arrest, then the torture, and finally the long walk to Golgotha, which ultimately led to his agonising death.

We heard how Christ was treated as a criminal, how the people spat on him and jeered. Most were there to watch the spectacle, and to revel in his misery, they didn’t really care who he was, he was just another criminal sentenced to death, Roman style. Alongside them were the Chief Priest and the rest of his enemies, not only had they been able to rally the crowd against him, but no doubt they also felt satisfaction they had achieved a great victory.

There was only a mere handful of people in the crowd who felt genuine compassion and heartfelt sadness for what was happening. But even they were hidden, out of sight, distraught and tormented by all they had experienced in the past 24 hours, and no doubt frightened and fearful for their own lives.

However, the pain and sorrow they had already endured was nothing compared to what Christ felt, as they witnessed him being flogging and enduring utter humiliation, but even this was nothing compared to what was to come next.

Crucifixion was not a pleasant punishment, It was one of the most painful, disgraceful and barbaric methods of capital punishment ever performed; it was slow, raw, violent, painful and gruesome. After Christ had been sentenced to death he endured the long and painful walk up to the place of crucifixion with his cross, this was then put on the ground and he was forced to lie upon it.

Spikes about 7 inches long and 3/8 of an inch in diameter were driven into the wrists and feet. Remember that these nails wouldn’t be like the smooth nails that we have today, they would have been coarse and uneven. The rough spikes would have hit the nerves, causing shocks of pain up the arms to the shoulders and neck. Then the lifting of the cross, being raised up high for all to see, and the immeasurable pain that would have been felt as the base of the cross found purchase in the hole that would keep it steady.

The position of the nailed body held the victim’s rib cage in a fixed position, which made it extremely difficult to exhale, and impossible to take a full breath. Having already suffered from the scourging, the beatings and the walk, the gospel tells us that, Christ was described as extremely weak and dehydrated.

It was also likely that he was losing significant amounts of blood. As time passed, the loss of blood and lack of oxygen would have caused severe cramps, spasmodic contractions and possibly moments of unconsciousness.

Ultimately, the cause of death in crucifixion was suffocation. To breathe, Christ was forced to push up on his impaled feet to allow for inflation of the lungs. As the body weakened and the pain in the feet and legs became unbearable, then he was forced to trade breathing for pain and exhaustion. Eventually, he became utterly exhausted, so that he could no longer lift his body and inflate his lungs, and death followed.

In many ways this is the PG rated version of what happened, and even this explanation would make the strongest person wince uncomfortably.

For those who may think that this sounds too extreme, I can assure you this is not merely a story made up to shock; this description comes from anthropological experts who have researched the methods that the Romans used to crucify, however I have left a few of the more intricate, gruesome and detailed parts out.

But it wasn’t just the pain that caused the suffering; Crucifixion was also designed to be public, humiliating, degrading and offensive.

It wasn’t just a way of dealing with criminals, it was a way of holding down revolutionaries, a way of showing how utterly contemptible they were and that in the end they were miserable failures. It’s very hard to keep your dignity when you are nailed to a cross naked and in agony and left to die a lingering death in full view of everyone, and there’s nothing you can do, once you are up there, death is inevitable.

And yet this is the way that God chooses to reveal his ultimate glory, by taking this suffering, humiliation and curse upon himself.