The New Testament writers almost deal with the crucifixion of Christ itself as an afterthought. The details surrounding the crucifixion are explicit and lengthy; the details about the crucifixion itself are sparse:
Matt. 27:35 And when they had crucified Him, they divided up His garments among themselves by casting lots.
Mark 15:25 It was the third hour when they crucified Him.
Luke 23:33 When they came to the place called The Skull, there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left.
John 19:18 There they crucified Him, and with Him two other men, one on either side, and Jesus in between.
Do not — because of the scarcity information — minimize the horror of crucifixion. One dictionary provides an overview of the process of crucifixion:
Crucifixion took place as follows. The condemned person carried the patibulum (cross-beam) to the place of execution — the stake was already erected. Then on the ground he was bound with outstretched arms to the beam by ropes, or else fixed to it by nails. The beam was then raised with the body and fastened to the upright post. About the middle of the post was a wooden block which supported the suspended body; there was no foot-rest in ancient accounts. The height of the cross varied; it was either rather more than a man’s height or even higher when the offender was to be held up for public display at a distance. On the way to execution a tablet was hung around the offender stating the causa poenae, and this was affixed to the cross after execution so that all could see. Crucifixion was regarded as one of the worst forms of execution. Cicero calls it the supreme capital penalty, the most painful, dreadful and ugly. [Josephus] agrees.” [TDNT]
But even that description fails to account for the trauma experienced by the body. One medical doctor attempted to give an account of the process of death by crucifixion:
Simon is ordered to place the patibulum on the ground and Jesus is quickly thrown backwards with His shoulders against the wood. The legionnaire feels for the depression at the front of the wrist. He drives a heavy, square, wrought-iron nail through the wrist and deep into the wood. Quickly, he moves to the other side and repeats the action, being careful not to pull the arms too tightly, but to allow some flexion and movement. The patibulum is then lifted in place at the top of the stipes [the vertical beam]….
The left foot is pressed backward against the right foot, and with both feet extended, toes down, a nail is driven through the arch of each, leaving the knees moderately flexed. The Victim is now crucified. As He slowly sags down with more weight on the nails in the wrists, excruciating, fiery pain shoots along the fingers and up the arms to explode in the brain — the nails in the wrists are putting pressure on the median nerves. As He pushes Himself upward to avoid this stretching torment, He places His full weight on the nail through His feet. Again there is the searing agony of the nail tearing through the nerves between the metatarsal bones of the feet.
At this point, another phenomenon occurs. As the arms fatigue, great waves of cramps sweep over the muscles, knotting them in deep, relentless, throbbing pain. With these cramps comes the inability to push Himself upward….Air can be drawn into the lungs, but cannot be exhaled. Jesus fights to raise Himself in order to get even one small breath. Finally carbon dioxide builds up in the lungs and in the blood stream and the cramps partially subside. Spasmodically He is able to push Himself upward to exhale and bring in the life-giving oxygen….
Hours of this limitless pain, cycles of twisting, joint-rending cramps, intermittent partial asphyxiation, searing pain as tissue is torn from His lacerated back as He moves up and down against the rough timber: Then another agony begins. A deep crushing pain deep in the chest as the pericardium slowly fills with serum and begins to compress the heart….
It is now almost over-the loss of tissue fluids has reached a critical level-the compressed heart is struggling to pump heavy, thick, sluggish blood into the tissues-the tortured lungs are making a frantic effort to gasp in small gulps of air….
The body of Jesus is now in extremis, and he can feel the chill of death creeping through His tissues.…
His mission of atonement has been completed. Finally he can allow His body to die.
Yet even as horrid as that death was physically, that elicited no verbal recorded response from Christ nor any significant attention from the Gospel writers.
They are intentional in their lack of attention to the physical effects of the crucifixion. Because the horror of the cross was not in the physical suffering, as excruciating as that was. The horror of the cross was that the Son of God experienced the infinite wrath of God. It was not until the Father forsook the Son that Christ cried out, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?”
In those words is the real horror of the crucifixion of Christ.
Words of Grace 