A "Crucified" Savior
And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him. Luke 23:33.
Crucifixion!
The very thought of it was enough to bring a case of chills to the hardest inhabitants of the Roman world. A cruel form of capital punishment, crucifixion combined public shame with slow physical torture. Death on a cross, Martin Hengel writes, was not "just any kind of death. It was an utterly offensive affair, 'obscene' " in the fullest sense of the word. "Crucifixion was a punishment in which the caprice and sadism of the executioners was given full rein."
The public shame began with dragging the crossbeam of a cross through the streets to a place of public execution. In an era that lacked TV programs and movies to satiate the downward side of human desire for violence, crucifixion was often the "best show" in town for the bored and curious. The victims were stripped of all clothing and affixed to the cross in a manner that prohibited them from caring for their bodily needs or covering their nakedness from the taunts and indignities of spectators. When the execution party reached the place of crucifixion, soldiers fixed the crossbar to the upright beam. Next they stretched the prisoner out on it and drove the nails through soft flesh and hard bone. Finally, they raised the cross and dropped it with a flesh-tearing thud into the hole prepared for it.
The victim, being immobile, could not escape the burning Palestinian sun or fend off cold or insects. Since crucifixion affected no vital organs, death from fatigue, cramped muscles, hunger, and thirst came slowly, often after many days.
The Romans reserved crucifixion for the punishment of slaves and foreigners who were considered criminals and often used it as a public demonstration of the folly of rebelling against the empire.
Jews regarded anyone executed by crucifixion as rejected by the people of Israel, cursed by the law of God, and excluded from God's covenant with the Jewish people. To top it off, the Jews expected their Messiah to be a mighty conquering king, not a suffering criminal. No wonder Paul could refer to Christ's cross as "a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles" (1 Cor. 1:23, NIV).
Jesus was the only person in history to volunteer for that form of death. He came from heaven for it. At the cross the crucified God met my sins.
And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him. Luke 23:33.
Crucifixion!
The very thought of it was enough to bring a case of chills to the hardest inhabitants of the Roman world. A cruel form of capital punishment, crucifixion combined public shame with slow physical torture. Death on a cross, Martin Hengel writes, was not "just any kind of death. It was an utterly offensive affair, 'obscene' " in the fullest sense of the word. "Crucifixion was a punishment in which the caprice and sadism of the executioners was given full rein."
The public shame began with dragging the crossbeam of a cross through the streets to a place of public execution. In an era that lacked TV programs and movies to satiate the downward side of human desire for violence, crucifixion was often the "best show" in town for the bored and curious. The victims were stripped of all clothing and affixed to the cross in a manner that prohibited them from caring for their bodily needs or covering their nakedness from the taunts and indignities of spectators. When the execution party reached the place of crucifixion, soldiers fixed the crossbar to the upright beam. Next they stretched the prisoner out on it and drove the nails through soft flesh and hard bone. Finally, they raised the cross and dropped it with a flesh-tearing thud into the hole prepared for it.
The victim, being immobile, could not escape the burning Palestinian sun or fend off cold or insects. Since crucifixion affected no vital organs, death from fatigue, cramped muscles, hunger, and thirst came slowly, often after many days.
The Romans reserved crucifixion for the punishment of slaves and foreigners who were considered criminals and often used it as a public demonstration of the folly of rebelling against the empire.
Jews regarded anyone executed by crucifixion as rejected by the people of Israel, cursed by the law of God, and excluded from God's covenant with the Jewish people. To top it off, the Jews expected their Messiah to be a mighty conquering king, not a suffering criminal. No wonder Paul could refer to Christ's cross as "a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles" (1 Cor. 1:23, NIV).
Jesus was the only person in history to volunteer for that form of death. He came from heaven for it. At the cross the crucified God met my sins.
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