We continue our series of the 5 W’s of journalism. We have completed Who and Where, this week we will deal with these three in one package. One of the most often studied, spoken and written about events of the Bible is of course the Crucifixion and this week we will examine the What, Why and When of the death of Jesus Christ on the Cross. Find a seat here in the Pew and join us.

We will start with What?… That would be the crucifixion itself and it was meant to inflict the maximum amount of pain, shame and torture possible. It was a public event that displayed the power of the Roman Government as a visual reminder not to cross the Roman Government. Even within the Roman Government crucifixion was considered so horrible, it was reserved only for the worst. We shall note that while the Romans did use it, it was invented by other people. The Romans were credited for perfecting it. There was a standard method so to speak…first the victim was severely beaten, some say so badly that they never got to the cross. Next the victim was forced to carry the large wooden crossbeam to the site of the crucifixion, some have written that it liken that to digging your own grave. I debated with myself whether to go lightly into details or be a bit specific…specific won out. The only way in my mind to understand the magnitude of what they did to Jesus, even though we can not imagine the pain, we can with words visualize it. To further the shame of crucifixion the victim would be stripped naked. After forcing him to stretch out his arms on the crossbeam they were then nailed to it…the nails were placed through the wrists which would keep them from pulling through the hands. The explanation here is that in those times the wrists were considered to be part of the hands. By placing the nails here it would put pressure on the large nerves running to the hands…thus causing excruciating pain. The beam would then be raised up and fastened to an upright beam. The upright beam would often be left in place after the crucifixion. With the crossbeam in place they would then nail the feet to the upright beam. Placing the feet one on top of the other and nailing them in the middle of the arch on each foot, allowing for the knees to be slightly bent…also to inflict more pain. The placement of the arms and feet and the point where the nails were used caused the body after some time to slump, this put pressure on the lungs and eventually they were unable to breath. After great pain and suffering they died of asphyxiation.Crucifixion was finally outlawed by the Roman Emperor Constantine in the fourth century.

Why was Jesus Crucified? The simple reason was according to the Bible, Jesus was crucified because he was charged with claiming to be the King of the Jews, which was considered a threat to the Roman Empire. But as Paul Harvey would say here is the Rest Of The Story. I sometimes refer to it as a political hit job. Jewish authorities arrested Jesus and charged him with blasphemy for claiming to be the King of the Jews. As to When this happened, the gospel writers weren’t concerned with precision and timekeeping was approximate in ancient time

however the Gospel of Mark says Jesus was crucified at the third hour (9 AM) and died at the ninth hour. (3 PM) To answer the question as to when it is generally accepted Jesus was likely crucified in the spring of either AD 30 or AD 33, most likely on a Friday. The traditional date is AD 33. 

To close this out I refer you to an excellent article by Mary Fairchild. Here is the url…. https://www.learnreligions.com/timeline-of-jesus-death-700226 

Life is Good

 jk