Jesus was lead a short distance from Pilate’s chambers into a courtyard for the scourging. He was stripped of His clothing, except for His undergarment. His hands were tied to a post. Scourging used a whip with 7 leather strips. To make the suffering greater and the damage more serious, two small lead balls were sharpened and tied to the ends of each leather strip so that they would cut deeply into the flesh. There was a team of 6 executioners.
They were violent criminals from Egypt who were condemned for their crimes to hard labor. They resembled wild beasts that were half-drunk; they took delight in scourging prisoners. One executioner stood on either side of Him so that Jesus’ entire body, front and back from His neck to His feet, was covered with lashes. The two executioners alternately swung their whips with the force of their entire bodies. At each stroke, Christ’s body shook with an agonized shudder, but He did not utter a word, and His silence redoubled the satanic rage of His executioners. When they tired, a second and then a third team took control of this barbarous torture.
The Jews were required to limit the scourging to 40 lashes, and in order to be strictly correct they limited the scourging to 39 lashes. But the Roman soldiers were in control of Jesus and they had no interest in being strictly correct. Scourging had the potential to kill the victim, because of the violence that was inflicted. The art of the torture was to bring someone close to the point of death, without having him expire. As I mentioned earlier, Jesus’ subcutaneous tissue was unusually sensitive because of the sweating of blood, the Hemathidrosis, so that the scourging was even more severe for Him. The Shroud clearly shows the effect of the leather strips with the lead balls attached. At first, the thongs bruised the skin and caused contusions. Then as the blows continued, they cut deeper into the subcutaneous fatty tissue causing an oozing of blood and serum from smaller vessels. Finally, the sharp lead balls cut more deeply into the underlying muscle tissue. Blood spurted from open arteries; the skin and muscles hung in long, quivering ribbons. The entire area was an unrecognizable mass of torn, bleeding tissue.
After 45 minutes, when this brutal torture was completed, and Christ was nearly unconscious, they untied His hands and He collapsed to the ground. His open, bleeding wounds were contaminated with dust and dirt. Christ’s clothes were returned to Him.
During the night, the Roman soldiers demonstrated their ingenuity and cruelty in further defaming and debasing our sacred Lord. Since He claimed to be a king, they stripped Him of His tunic and draped a purple rag over His shoulders to signify His royalty. A reed was placed in His hand to serve as a scepter.
They then fashioned a crown of thorns for His head. This was not part of the normal crucifixion ritual. One of the soldiers brought branches from a wild hawthorn bush with long, sharp, hard thorns. Although depictions of Christ usually show the crown as a wreath placed around His forehead, investigations suggest it was more likely shaped like the bottom of a basket and covered His entire scalp. The thorns penetrated the skin, and were driven more and more deeply when He was repeatedly struck on the head with reeds. Surgeons know that scalp wounds can bleed profusely. Long streams of blood flowed down Our Lord’s forehead, through His tangled hair, into His beard and down His neck. They had Him sit on a tub which served as His throne. A comedy of adoration was played out as the crowd yelled, “Hail, King of the Jews!” They roared with laughter. Jesus uttered no rebuke and accepted their vile treatment without response. When they tired of their amusement, they violently tore off the purple cape. The open wounds across His shoulders and back were stuck to the fabric; as it was removed, the raw lacerations were once again torn open.
After Jesus had been taken away, Judas Iscariot wandered through the town in a confused and stuporous state. He was aware he had turned over an innocent friend and had received 30 pieces of silver as his reward. He felt remorse for his actions, but was devoid of hope which might lead him to true repentance.
He went to the Sanhedrin and told the elders, “I have sinned in betraying innocent blood.” He attempted to return the coins, but they treated the betrayer with contempt; they refused to accept the silver because it was blood money. Judas finally forced them to acknowledge responsibility for their action: he flung the coins into the temple sanctuary and
departed. The chief priests announced that it would be sinful to deposit such money in the temple treasury because it had become unclean from the purpose for which they had used it. The money was allocated to purchase a burial place for foreigners, called the Potter’s Field or the Field of Blood.
I personally believe Judas saw Jesus twice during His transit for the trials. He later went to the upper room where the Last Supper had been celebrated. He found himself in front of Mary, the mother of Jesus. She asked him why he had come and what he had done. When Judas was about to run away, she called him with a kind, gentle voice saying, “Judas, Judas! Stop, Stop! I am telling you in His name; repent Judas. He forgives...”
At this point, Judas had gone mad and staggered through the town. He saw Jesus’ blood everywhere. He wandered to the southwest corner of the city, to the Pottery Gate. This region had a reputation dating back hundreds of years. It was here that ancient kings of Juda had worshipped Moloch. Children were burned as offerings to the pagan god. Possibly because of its evil history, the area had become a dump; it was known as Gehena and had become a symbol of hell, because of the smoldering fire and smoke from the burning garbage.
Judas climbed to the top of a cliff and selected an olive tree. He took the belt from his waist and tied it about his neck. The other end he attached to a limb of the tree and he leaped into space. Either the limb or the belt broke; Judas went hurtling onto the jagged rocks below. Luke’s gospel tells us, “Falling forward, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out.”
I believe that Judas had the opportunity, even after the betrayal, to express sorrow for his actions and seek repentance, and Jesus would have forgiven him. However, he lost all hope and fell into the depths of despair. We are told, “It were better for that man if he had not been born.”
The Carrying of the Cross and the Crucifixion
Jesus was placed in the hands of Longinus, a centurion who was responsible for one hundred soldiers. This Roman officer was curious about his unusual prisoner, and felt a sense of compassion for His plight. He offered Jesus a drink of wine to lessen His suffering, but Jesus refused. I believe the centurion told Jesus, “I will try to make You suffer only what is necessary.” Jesus was later offered a mixture of water and honey. He would have been extremely thirsty as a consequence of dehydration, blood loss and shock, but Jesus refused because, “He did not want to suffer less.” Although condemned men were often taken on a long route around the city, to be viewed and mocked by the citizenry, Jesus was observed to be in an extremely weakened condition, so a shorter route was taken to Golgotha.
As I mentioned earlier, I believe the crucifixion occurred on a Tau cross. The patibulum weighed approximately 100 pounds. It was placed on the shoulders of the each of the condemned men, and their arms were extended and tied to it. Jesus started on His journey, along the Via Dolorosa (the Way of Sorrow), walking along the rough, rocky path with bare feet. The raw wood of the patibulum wore deeply into the lacerations over His shoulders, created by the scourging. The soldiers had cords that bound Him, and controlled His course. Longinus was anxious to have the execution completed before dark, because of the upcoming Passover holiday.
According to the tradition of the Stations of the Cross, Jesus fell at least three times. With the weight of 100 pounds on His shoulders, and His arms extended and tied to the wood, these falls were extremely damaging to His knees and His chest. The soldiers became impatient and whipped Him repeatedly to get Him to His feet and to move more quickly. The road they traveled was approximately 650 yards to the hill at Calvary, outside of the city gates.
Along the Via Dolorosa, the citizens of Jerusalem mocked Jesus; they again threw rocks and trash at Him, they struck Him with sticks and spat upon Him. The midday sun was hot; Jesus’ salty perspiration bathed His countless wounds, increasing the pain of each of the stripes from the flagellation. The group climbed the hill of Golgotha (the Place of the Skull) outside of the city limits.
We know that Jesus was near death at this point, and the Romans were fearful that He might expire before reaching the crucifixion. Longinus enlisted the reluctant assistance of Simon, a visitor from Cyrene in North Africa, to carry the cross.
The blessed women of Jerusalem tearfully followed our Lord; He warned them not to weep for Him but for their children. He was referring to the destruction of Jerusalem, which would take place 40 years later. In 70 A.D., Titus and his army laid waste to the holy city and destroyed the magnificent temple. They slaughtered or sold into slavery all of its inhabitants. Reports indicate that 1.2 million died; 40,000 people were crucified. The number was so large, that it was reported they could find no more wood to make crosses. In spite of His immense suffering, the guards were surprised that Jesus never uttered a complaint or even a sound.
When He encountered Mary along the journey, He called out His first word, “Mother.” It was a heartbroken and heartbreaking cry of a little boy who was dying all alone, surrounded by His torturers and tormentors. Mary pressed her hand against her heart as if she had been stabbed.
When they reached the top of the hill, the ropes were released, and Jesus carefully removed the patibulum from His shoulders, trying not to rub against His open sores or displace His crown of thorns. He pressed His hands against His chest because He experienced pain from His heart. He was very short of breath at this point. The 2 thieves threw their crosses on the ground, and yelled vile profanities. Jesus was silent. The journey along the Via Dolorosa was completed. The crucifixion was about to begin.
The victims must first be stripped of their garments. The lower garments were dealt with more easily, but Christ’s upper garments firmly adhered to His wounds. Stripping them was a horrible business. In the hospital we frequently have patients with open wounds and burns. Doctors cover the wounds with sterile dressings to keep them clean. But the raw surfaces weep a liquid called serum. When it dries it becomes like glue. To change a dressing, we often take the patients to the operating room a place them under general anesthesia to alleviate their suffering. But Jesus was controlled by the Romans, and they had no interest in alleviating his suffering. His tunic was viciously ripped from His body; blood streamed to the ground again from the freshly opened wounds. His entire body felt like it had been set on fire.
Part of the humiliation and degradation of the crucified was to hang from the cross totally naked. I believe that Longinus demonstrated compassion for Jesus’ modesty. He took Mary’s veil, which was soaked with her tears, and offered it to Jesus. He discreetly turned His back to the crowd, removed His undergarment, and wrapped the veil several times about His loins securely.
Initially, the thieves were simply tied to their crosses, one at the right and one at the left of where Jesus was to be crucified. They howled, and swore, and complained about the pain of the ropes cutting into their wrists. They blasphemed the Lord and cursed the Roman soldiers who were punishing them. It was now Jesus’ time for intense suffering.
Although the thieves had been forced to the ground by several of the torturers, Jesus offered no resistance. He lay down in the dirt where He was told. The raw, open wounds on His back were caked with dirt and pieces of gravel. He stretched out His arms. Two executioners sat on His chest to hold Him fast, the third stretched out His right arm. The fourth had in his hand the quadrangular nail with a flat head. The nail was 1/3 of an inch in thickness and approximately 8 inches in length. The executioner carefully felt for the proper point in the wrist, he raised the hammer and gave the first strike.
Jesus, who had closed His eyes, uttered a piercing cry from the sharp, lancinating pain; His eyes flooded with tears. The pain was excruciating. Mary responded to the cry of her tortured Son with a groan that sounded like the moaning of a lamb at slaughter. She held her head in her hands. Jesus sensed her suffering. In order not to cause her further anguish, He uttered no more cries. Repeated strokes drove the nail through the wrist, securing Him to the patibulum.
The executioners then moved to His left arm. They took a rope, tied it to His wrist and forcefully pulled on it to extend the arm. There was a hole in the patibulum where the nail was to be placed. Jesus’ arm was too short to reach the hole They guards pulled more forcefully on the rope, dislocating His left shoulder, tearing muscles and ligaments. The second nail was driven through the wrist and deeply into the wood.
Once Jesus’ wrists were secured to the cross, He was forced get onto His feet. The executioners raised the heavy beam. He came first to a sitting position and then was made to stand. They moved Him backwards and placed His back against the stipes. Very quickly, they lifted the patibulum. At this point, Christ was hanging with His full weight from the nails in His wrists, like an animal suspended from two meat hooks. The nails tore deeply into the open wounds. His feet dangled just above the ground. His shoulders, wounded by whips and by carrying the cross, were painfully scraped against the splinters in the raw wood. They fitted the hole in the patibulum on the top of the stipes and attached the sign which is known as the titulus, recognizing Jesus as King of the Jews, just behind His head.
His feet were then impaled. The left foot was pushed flat against the stipes, and with one blow, the 3rd nail was driven through the top of his foot between the 2nd and 3rd metatarsal bones. The assistant then bent the other leg, and the executioner, bringing the left foot around in front of the right, pierced the right foot with a second blow. The nail was pounded into the wood.
To help us understand the injury from the nails, Dr. Barbet experimented with cadavers. He estimated Christ’s weight to be approximately 160 pounds. But, His body sagged with the arms forming an angle of 65 degrees. From the physics of vectors, it can be shown that the force exerted on each nail was not what we might expect (half of 160 pounds or 80 pounds). Because of the oblique angle of the arms, there were approximately 209 pounds of force exerted on each nail. In experiments, Barbet showed that a nail through the palm of the hand, as depicted by many artists, could not support the force. The nail would tear through the skin very quickly, and probably tear off part of the hand. But, the Roman guards were very skilled at performing a crucifixion. They had done this hundreds of times before. We believe both from his experiments and from the Shroud of Turin, that the nails were skillfully passed through the wrist between the eight carpal bones. The nails penetrated Destot’s space and were supported by the transverse carpal ligament.
Although this location would not result in significant bleeding, it did result in a significant injury and possibly partial transection of the Median Nerve in the wrist. This large nerve trunk supplies motor function to the thumb, causing it to flex. It is also a major sensory nerve to the first three fingers. Injury to the nerve would result in excruciating pain known as Causalgia. Patients who have experienced such a critical injury have considered suicide for relief.
The nails in the feet are thought to have penetrated the second intermetatarsal space No major vessels were injured by this placement, although it is likely the Peroneal Nerve and the Plantar Nerves, which supply sensation to the bottom of the foot, would be pierced by the nail.
When we observe pictures of Christ on the cross, or watch Mel Gibson’s movie, “The Passion of the Christ,” we are lulled into the assumption that Christ simply hung in one position for 3 long hours. Nothing could be further from the truth. Death by crucifixion was a gruesome, morbid torture that involved asphyxiation or suffocation. We all have a major muscle below our lungs called the diaphragm. In order to breathe in, this muscle contracts expanding the chest cavity. This function is aided by the accessory muscles of respiration, the pectoralis major and the intercostal muscles. When these muscles contract, our chest cavity expands and we inspire. Then to expire, the muscles simply relax and our chest cavity compresses.
But when Christ hung down on the cross, He had no difficulty breathing in. He just couldn’t breathe out. So after He was lifted up, His respirations became more shallow. He turned blue from cyanosis. In order to keep from passing out, He pulled on the nails in His hands and pushed on the nails in His feet. This allowed Him to raise up to a higher position, dropping His arms to a lower position. He was able to take a few normal breaths. Then He was overcome by the pain of the nails and dropped back to a lower position. So for three long hours, Jesus was involved with dynamic, exhausting up-and-down movements. And each time he moved, the open wounds across His shoulders and back, created by the scourging, we scraped across the splinters in the raw wood.
After the exquisite pain of the nails being driven into His body had dulled somewhat, the muscles of His arms tightened with contractions that became more and more violent. For 3 long hours, He experienced waves of cramps throughout most of the muscles of His body. We have all awakened in the night and experienced the acute pain in the calves of our legs from a cramp. We have felt the intense burning pain and the need to relax the muscles and stretch in order to alleviate the pain. Jesus suffered from tetany, a horrible series of muscle spasms without relief. Occasionally, the muscles of His neck would spasm, throwing his head backward, driving the thorns from the crown more deeply into His sacred scalp.
People often ask, “What was the cause of Jesus’ death on the cross?” We really don’t for certain; many theories have been offered. Although we believe that Christ was in good health, his extreme suffering and severe pain could have brought about a sudden, catastrophic heart attack. He could have suffered from a cardiac arrhythmia or arrest. He may have developed blood clots in the calves of His legs early on. If these clots migrate to the lungs, they cause a pulmonary embolus, which would shut off the respirations. This is one of the common causes of death in older people in the hospital.
There is another interesting theory. If Christ had suffered a heart attack early on, blood supply to a portion of the heart would have been blocked. As a result, a portion the heart muscle would die and the area would become soft or mushy. As a result of continued suffering, it is possible that the heart muscle could have been torn open. Doctors would refer to this as a ruptured heart; lay people would call this a “broken heart.” Christ would have experienced bleeding into the sac that surrounds the heart, the pericardium. He would have died from internal hemorrhage.
There is no question that Jesus experienced shock. Shock represents inadequate blood flow, depriving vital tissues of oxygen and nutrients. When this develops, a patient becomes weakened and nauseated. He vomits. He lapses into unconsciousness or coma and slowly dies. There are three principal forms of shock. Traumatic shock results from tissue injury and pain. Hypovolemic shock results from diminished circulating fluid volume, due to bleeding and dehydration. Cardiogenic shock develops when the heart is no longer strong enough to pump blood under sufficient pressure to vital organs. Breathing would become more labored as the lungs fill with fluid (congestive heart failure). In my opinion as a surgeon, shock was the ultimate cause of Christ’s death on the cross.
The Gospels record that Christ spoke seven times from the cross before He died. I would like to review these communications which are profound:
1. We believe that Christ hung on the cross for 3 long hours before he expired. Although He suffered the extremes of physical pain, the degradation of near nakedness and the verbal abuse, Luke’s gospel tells us that he repeatedly said, “Father, forgive them, because they know not what they do.” He demonstrated immense compassion for us as sinners and His willingness to forgive all of our offenses.
2. In His death as in His life, Jesus was surrounded by sinners, whom He came to save. The two thieves who were crucified with Him, cursed Him. In time the good thief, Disma repented saying, “Remember me when you enter upon your reign.” Luke records how lavish is the love of Christ, as He responds, “This day you will be with me in Paradise.” This is such a wonderful, moving expression of instantaneous, total forgiveness and redemption. As we each approach our own death, there can be no more powerful words, we could hope to hear.
3. In mid-afternoon, Jesus said, “Woman, this is your son. Son, this is your mother.” Placing Mary and John in each other’s care, He was prepared to depart from them. Streams of tears flowed down Mary’s face as she finally realized she was about to lose her divine Son. John’s Gospel suggests that Christ was establishing the close relationship between the Church and her children, whom He will not leave as orphans.
4. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me.” This was a gut-wrenching cry of grief and loneliness. Jesus, who had lived in the presence of the Father for eternity, sensed His total abandonment, hanging on the cross. Judas betrayed Him with a kiss; Peter had denied Him three times; His frightened disciples had run for cover. Those He had come to save had demanded His execution. For a long time, this quotation was particularly troubling to me, thinking that the Lord had fallen into the depths of despair. In studying the crucifixion, I have learned that He was recalling for all of us, the opening passage of the 22nd Psalm, which foretold His Passion.
5. “I am thirsty.” In the physical sense, Jesus experienced extreme thirst from dehydration, blood loss, exposure to the hot mid day sun and shock. But in a spiritual sense, Jesus thirsted to satisfy our need for redemption. In the Garden of Gethsemane, remember He prayed, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup from Me.” He has now accepted and consumed the bitter cup of redemption.
6. “It is finished.” Was this a final cry of defeat? Throughout His entire life, Jesus emptied Himself for us. The word finished makes clear that His definitive work of redemption is consummated or fulfilled for all of humanity. No, it is rather a triumphal shout of victory over death, a roar of fulfillment. He has completed His sacrifice. The horrific price of our redemption has been paid.
7. “Father, into Your hands, I commend My spirit.” This is a portion of Psalm 31, a quotation of the everyday prayer of the Jewish people at that time. Christ, who freely chose to die for us, chose the moment of His death, when His work on earth was completed.
As Jesus hung, dying on the cross, the physical forces of nature seemed to respond in a crescendo, acknowledging Our Lord and Savior. From the sixth to the ninth hour (that is from noon until 3 P.M.) the earth turned black from an eclipse of the sun. This was foretold in the Book of Amos in the Old Testament, “On that day, says the Lord, I will make the sun set at midday and cover the earth with darkness in broad daylight.” As He died, the earth was shaken with a mighty earthquake. Lightening flashes illuminated the skies. A cyclonic whirlwind swept across the land. Many sepulchers were unearthed. After Christ’s resurrection, there were reports that the bodies of many holy people rose from the dead and were seen in Jerusalem, bearing solemn testimony to the divinity of Jesus. The inhabitants of the holy city were overcome with confusion and terror.
The members of the Sanhedrin and the leaders who condemned Jesus to death were able to reflect in horror, on the seriousness of their sin. There was a wave of conversion among those who recognized that the Son of God had been put to death.
The temple curtain, which was 18 inches thick, was torn from top to bottom. To the Israelites, the temple was not just a building where people gathered to worship; it was the dwelling place of the Lord. The curtain, which protected the holiest place in the temple, separated the place of God from the place of man. Its destruction could have only been done by God to symbolize the end of the old order of Jewish rituals and sacrifices. This was the advent of the Lord’s new covenant with man: a covenant of love, not of fear, with the promise of eternal salvation.
Mary called to Jesus several times, and He did not answer. She broke down in tears, and John tried to console her saying, “He no longer suffers.” Mary responded by saying, “I no longer have my Son.” The cruel insulting words of the crowd were now silenced. Longinus was overcome with sympathy for the suffering of this just man; he shed tears at the time of His death. This pagan soldier was the first to proclaim the divinity of Christ. “On seeing the manner of His death, he declared, ‘Clearly this man was the Son of God.’ ”
Prior to releasing the bodies for burial, he was required to verify that the victims were dead. The legs of the thieves were broken, which caused shock, asphyxia and death. Although we know that Christ had expired, a lance was thrust into His right chest below the 6th rib. The Gospel tells us that water and blood drained onto the ground. This phenomenon can be explained from an understanding of the earlier injuries to His chest from repeated falls, and from heart failure. A pleural effusion developed (an accumulation of fluid in the pleural space). As the lance penetrated the chest, it went first through the pleura (the water), then into the cardiac ventricle where the blood was still in liquid form.
Jesus was hurriedly placed in a tomb. He was wrapped in a linen burial cloth, the Shroud of Turin, and a great stone was rolled across the entrance of the tomb. Pilate learned of prophesies that Jesus would rise from the dead, and thought that His disciples might to try to steal the body. He, therefore, placed a soldier at the entrance to the tomb and all departed. The apostles and disciples were in a profound state of great sadness and confusion on the loss of their Master. But we know they had only to wait two more days. Our sacred Lord would indeed rise from the dead on Easter Sunday and unquestionably prove to all the world, His divine kingship. Our Redemption would be assured.
The symbolism of Christ’s blood is important for us to understand. In Jewish tradition, when a person sinned, he was required to offer an “imperfect sacrifice” of a lamb or goat without blemish. It was brought to the priest and in laying one’s hand on the head of the animal, one’s sins were confessed. Symbolically, the sin passed from the person to the lamb. Its blood was drained, as the life force left the animal. The carcass, which became unclean from the sin, was taken outside of the holy city and burned. In a similar way, Jesus was offered as the “perfect sacrifice” for the redemption of all mankind. Jesus chose to carry our sins outside the gates of Jerusalem, to become our sin-offering to the Father. In accord with the Jewish tradition, we are cleansed by the blood which He shed on our behalf, making us worthy of eternal life.
The plan for our redemption was no accident. It did not begin in Jerusalem with an angry crowd, although Jesus willingly submitted to the crucifixion; it did not begin in Bethlehem where He was born…to die. From the Old Testament, Isaiah tells us, “It was the Lord’s will to crush Him.” (Isaiah 53:10) The moment the forbidden fruit touched Eve’s lips, the shadow of the cross appeared on the horizon. It was the Father’s master plan. John the Baptist introduced Jesus prophetically as, “The lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” Our all-loving God would give up His only Son, rather than give up on His children. Our God couldn’t bear to experience eternity without us.
Every important detail of Christ’s life and death was foretold in the Old Testament, before He was born. There are 332 distinct prophesies relating to the Messiah. Some of the more important prophesies involve betrayal by a familiar friend, being forsaken by His disciples, being proved without guilt, although He was ultimately executed, the method of crucifixion and mockery by spectators, the gambling for His garments, the prayer for His enemies, the anguished sense of being forsaken by God, the yielding of His spirit into the hands of His Father, the bones not being broken, and His being buried in a rich man’s tomb.
You are now aware of the terrible physical sufferings of our Lord, seen through the eyes of a surgeon. You are able now able to envision each of the physical aspects of the Passion, which Jesus’ human nature chose to endure for our redemption.
But, I, your Lord Jesus, want you to know the most intimate and most powerful mystery of My redemption, which has never been told. My physical sufferings were as nothing, compared to the suffering of My divine nature. What weighed most heavily upon My being was not the totality of My physical torments, but My divine awareness of the multitudes, down through the centuries, who would not accept the magnificent gift of My redemption. So many countless sinners would choose to turn away from Me, to choose lives of sin, to choose the path of darkness, to follow Satan, the evil one, to eternal damnation. In My selfless act of love as your Lord, I want you to know that I died that day on Calvary of a “broken heart,” scorned and rejected by so many.
We are now left with the question, “Why?” Why did our Lord have to suffer so mercilessly for our redemption? The classic answers are not satisfactory: To bring an end to the old law; to fulfill the prophecies. I personally believe this is an unanswered mystery of our faith. Why was our Lord willing to undergo this suffering? This question is completely answered in the quotation I offered at the beginning of my presentation: John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him may not die but may have eternal life.” Jesus offered this supreme act of love for you and for me, because He couldn’t bear the thought of returning to heaven, for all eternity, without us.
A Final Prayer
Dear Lord Jesus, thank You for dying on the cross for me; for offering me the means to eternal life with You. I confess that my sins and those of my brothers and sisters, brought you to this day of sacrifice. Give me a fresh faith to believe and comprehend the incredible. Help me to find my purpose in You. Heaven is too magnificent, Hell is too horrible, eternity is too long to wander aimlessly, apart from You.
Please come into my heart more fully; become the Lord of my life. As you chose to surrender Your life, I now choose to offer my life totally to You. I will take up my cross and follow You, not according to my will, but to follow Your perfect will for the remainder of my life. Amen.
Epilogue
In 1999, I sensed a gentle whisper, “Would you preach my Passion.” Without knowing the destination, I set out as a surgeon on a journey to more fully understand the physical sufferings Our Lord endured for our redemption. After a year of prayer and two more years of study, I created a PowerPoint Presentation entitled, “The Passion of Our Lord through the Eyes of a Surgeon.” I glibly said quietly, “O.K. Lord, what do you want me to do with this?” I presented it many times to missionaries during medical visits to
But, when a close friend was convicted of embezzlement, the thought came, that maybe it was meant for the prisons. Prisons are dank, dark places full of guilt, shame, hostility…truly the place of the Evil One. So, I boldly went into one prison after another to proclaim a message of hope, forgiveness, redemption, salvation and eternal life. The results far exceeded my wildest expectations. Career criminals cried; they let down their hardened veneer of toughness and responded in a powerful way. Later, I combined my message with an appeal to read The Purpose Driven Life, by Rev. Rick Warren. In
My two-year study was not intended to produce a published article, which would require a formal bibliography. Some of the passages in my text are taken from a variety of sources, which I did not carefully annotate many years ago. So, the bibliography below is offered with my apology; it is incomplete, but the best that I can offer, almost a decade after my research began.
A Doctor at Calvary , by Pierre Barbet
The Poem of the Man-God, by Maria Valtorta
The Mel Gibson’s movie “The Passion of The Christ”
