His hands were tied to a post. A legionnaire swung a flagrum, a short whip of several leather thongs with small balls of lead attached to the end. The whip is brought down with full force. The thongs tear the skin. The balls bruise and the bruises are broken by subsequent blows. The beating continues until the centurion in charge determines the prisoner is almost dead.
They mock him with the crown of thorns and the scepter. The cross is tied across his torso and he’s made to carry it to the place of his execution. He’s too weak to make it. He stumbles. A man named Simon is enlisted to carry the cross.
At the Hill of Death he’s laid upon the cross with his shoulders against the wood. The executioner feels for the depression at the front of his wrist. An iron nail is driven through the wrist and deep into the wood. The procedure is repeated with the other wrist. The nails are driven in such a way as to allow flexibility in the elbows. The cross with him on it is put in place.
The left foot is now pressed backward against the right. The toes are pointed downward. The nail is driven through the arch. Jesus is now crucified.
As he sags on the cross horrible pain shoots along the fingers and up the arms to explode in the brain. As he pushes himself up to relieve the pain his weight presses down on the nail in his feet. The nail tears through the bone and tissue of his feet. Hanging by his arms the pectoral muscles are paralyzed. The intercostals muscles cannot act. Carbon dioxide builds up in the lungs. Hours of limitless pain then agony begin. The pericardium slowly fills with serum and compresses the heart.
The legionnaire drives his lance between the ribs, upward through the pericardium into his heart. Liquid escapes from the heart sac.
Jesus is dead!
The facts of a crucifixion come from my notes. My notes do not indicate any sources. My apology to any source I may have failed to cite.
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