THE CRUCIFIXION
Once arrived at the place of execution the victims were placed against the vertical bar of the cross which was already in position and there, tied as they were, with their arms outstretched on the horizontal beam, they were lifted up and the horizontal beam was tied up to the vertical beam. History reveals different manners of tying the condemned to the cross. In the case of Jesus there seems to be the possibility that since Jesus arrived at Calvary without the crossbeam on His shoulders, as Simon of Cyrene had been carrying the beam, that the crossbeam must have been placed on the ground and Jesus must have been pushed over it. His arms must have been stretched over it and, here the Shroud gives us a definite picture of the real crucifixion of Jesus, the soldiers pounded a nail through each wrist of Jesus. Thus nailed to the crossbeam Jesus is lifted up to the vertical beam, the two are tied together and Jesus' feet are then nailed to the vertical beam. It is almost impossible to imagine the atrocity of this barbarous execution; but it was practically the order of the day for the conquering Romans. Professionally they must have performed the operation in no time and in no time Jesus must have been lifted up. Jesus had said one day: "And when I be lifted up I will draw all things to myself " Is this what he meant when he made that promise?
Jesus is nailed to the cross
There in His presence are a few cruel soldiers who were performing a command and were so bored by the repetition of these crucifixions that unaware of the sufferings of the men on the cross, they began to play a game of dice. The time slowly ticks away, people were still curiously waiting to see what would happen. Some of the enemies of Jesus were there to see if the miracle worker would perhaps do the ultimate miracle and come down from the cross. Were they afraid that maybe that was going to happen? or were they so sure that they had finally nailed Him to the cross that they-could taunt Him: 'He saved others, they said, he cannot save Himself He is the king of Israel; let him come down from the cross now, and we will believe Him." (Matt. 27:42)
The Shroud tells us a lot about the last three hours of the life of Jesus. On the cross, to Himself He must have repeated the words of the Last Supper: "I have longed to eat this passover with you before I suffer; because, I tell you, I shall not eat it again until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God. " (Luke 22:16) It was on the cross that the Kingdom would be reestablished. The words that He uttered during those three hours are the confirmation that His mission was accomplished and the kingdom had been reestablished and the door of Paradise had been reopened.
The Shroud shows us the body of Jesus as it was taken down from the cross and laid in the tomb. So that the sufferings of Jesus as He hung on the cross can be better visualized and understood one must look at the picture of the man on the Shroud. One sees the arms of Jesus crossed one over the other. Looking at the hands one notices that the number of fingers on both hands is four and not five. The reason is that the nail, or spike, was not in the palm but in the wrist. One can even see the hole of the spike. The nail was not like the ones we have today, of steel, galvanized, sharp; it was a hand made spike. Because the spike damaged the nerves, the thumb is bent into the palm. That is why only four fingers are visible, the thumb has been contracted towards the middle of the palm of the hand and it remained in that way as Jesus was taken down from the cross. All fingers are slightly bent.
Place on the wrist
where the nail
went in
Physicians say definitely the spike could not have been through the palm of the hand. Because the weight of the entire body of Christ was suspended by the two nails, the tissue of the palm of the hand would have not been strong enough to hold the weight of the body; the nail would simply tear the flesh of the hand and the victim would have fallen from the cross. While with the nail through the wrist, where all the nerves of the fingers and the bones of the wrist come together, the victim would have been held on the cross. This means that Jesus was suspended by the nerves, and nerves are very sensitive.
The only support that Jesus seemed to have had was the support provided by His feet being nailed. If such a nail could be called support, then Jesus by pressing on His feet could push Himself up and allow some kind of rest to His outstretched arms by placing the weight of His body on the feet, pushing Himself up and releasing the pressure both on His arms and on the lungs. The medical doctors in explaining the position of a victim on the cross stress the point that the position of the outstretched arms with the sagging body would bring a slow asphyxiation. In this position of the arms the sides of the chest would be relatively immobile; exhalation from the lungs becomes virtually impossible and the victim would have the sensation of progressive suffocation. The heart would have to work harder, its beats becoming faster and weaker.
Cramps would begin in the forearms and would finally spread to the lower limbs and the trunk. The lungs would be filled with air but unable to expel it. This same condition is produced by tetanus, through the intoxication of the nerve centers. The combination of symptoms of general contraction is thus called: tetany. Asphyxiation and tetany would cause rapid death. The victim on the cross could for a time escape this tetanization by releasing the pressure on the arms, open the cage of the chest by pushing himself up from the nail on the feet, and thus be able to exhale the air from the lungs and breathe somewhat till the muscles of the legs would grow tired and let the body again collapse and begin the cramping all over again. Once the victim had become so exhausted that he could no longer force himself up on the nails, the prolonged asphyxia in the sagging position would quickly bring on death. This is what happened to Jesus, who was already weakened by the severe scourging administered before he was even condemned to death.
For the two thieves it was an execution. For our Lord, strictly speaking, it was not an execution, it was a sacrifice. The attitude of Jesus is different. Our Lord was intelligent, he knew his mission in advance.
He, in His generosity, offered himself, freely and willing, to be sacrificed, in expiation of the evil of mankind, for sinners, for unbelievers. For our Lord it was not an execution. It was a free, willing sacrifice. Our Lord knew in advance. We know from the gospel that our Lord was in Galilee. At a certain point, the gospel tells us, our Lord, firmly, made up his mind. We have to go to Jerusalem. They took a short cut. He was supposed to stay away from the Samaritan territory. The Samaritans were not so good. And yet our Lord went through the Samaritan territory, in other words He took a short cut.
When he came close to Jerusalem, the apostles knew they were heading for trouble. So they said: Lord, why do you want to go to Jerusalem? They will crucify you. They threatened you already. Our Lord insisted, No, I have to go to Jerusalem. The apostles said: Lord, then we will not follow you. It seems from the gospel that our lord began walking alone. At a certain point St. Thomas said: "Let us go, we will die with him." Jesus knew he was heading for trouble in Jerusalem and yet He freely, willingly, went to Jerusalem to be crucified. Jesus freely offered himself to die for our redemption. We see it on His countenance. On the face of our Lord we see his patience. Jesus was able to be patient. to suffer in silence. No sign of hatred, of anger for the soldiers, for the high priests, for the Roman procurator or for the people. He looks surprisingly resigned to suffer, even to die. There is a beautiful explanation. Our Lord died on the cross in obedience to the Father and out of love for us. Love gave Him the strength to be patient, gentle, He was even praying, Father forgive them. They don't know what they are doing. For a moment our Lord on the cross seems to be happy. It is when the good thief said, "Lord when you will be in your kingdom, remember me." Our Lord made an effort, He lifted himself up on the nail the feet to be able to breathe, and said. "This very day you will be with me in paradise." Our Lord promised more than the thief was asking for.
On the face we can see resignation, patience and gentleness because he was dying out of love. We have a good example from parents, mothers and fathers. Parents are able to make any sacrifice for the children. they do it out of love, they even smile while suffering, because they suffer out of love. Our Lord was dying out of love, so was able to remain patient, gentle, prayerful to the very end.
