The last two weeks I’ve been addressing the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the evidence for it. So far, we’ve seen that it is something so wonderful and so real that the apostles were willing to die very painful deaths for it. They would not have done so for a lie — only everlasting truth. We have also seen that the idea that the apostles stole the body and that the Roman guards were asleep is completely illogical and could never have happened. This week I’ll be addressing the aspects of a crucifixion that ensure death, ruling out the possibility that Jesus’ death was a hoax.
Some theorize that Jesus had been knocked out so he just looked dead. This, like the theory that the Roman guards were sleeping on the job, does not make any logical sense. First of all, his death was by crucifixion. He was nailed to a wooden cross with nails going through his wrists and one nail piercing both of his ankles. Israeli archeologist V. Tzaferis discovered tombs of people who were killed in such manners. Death on a cross was usually suffocation as the condemned were unable to support themselves well enough to breathe. Getting to this point was a long and painful process.
Before this he was beaten and whipped and a thorn crown jammed onto his head. The beating was customary after a sentencing of death by crucifixion. Jewish law permitted 39 lashes, but the Romans set no such limitations. The whip used was called a flagrum. It had a solid handle and had leather thongs of different lengths attached to it. Attached to the leather were sharp pieces of glass or stone. This whipping was not just a slap. They used such force the glass or stone would dig into the skin, then they would yank the whip away taking some skin with it. As the whipping continues, more and more skin is removed.
One aspect of death by crucifixion that Jesus did not endure is the breaking of the legs. This was done to speed up death if a crucifixion was taking too long. Breaking the legs eliminated all ability to hold oneself up enough to breathe. Jesus’ legs, however, were not broken as was prophesied by King David in Psalms 34:20 “He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken.” (ESV) Why was this done? Because they already knew that Jesus was dead. How? They slit his side and not just blood, but water gushed out. Anatomically, this happens when the sac around the heart is broken. This happens only after (or during) death. After seeing that Jesus was already dead, the Romans didn’t bother breaking his legs.
It was then and only then that the Romans took him down from the cross and handed his dead body over to the disciples who took him to a sold rock tomb. In those days, before someone was closed in a tomb, he/she was thoroughly washed with warm water. Before the body was bathed, the mouth was covered to prevent water from trickling into the mouth. After the body was cleaned, the body was tightly wrapped in linen, enclosing spices. This does not mean a little cinnamon and basel was sprinkled on the linen. Historians estimate that approximately 100 pounds of spices were used in Jesus’ burial. That sounds like a lot. It was not, however, uncommon. For example, a man named Gamaliel, who was a grandson of Hillel, a Jewish scholar in Jesus’ time, was buried with 86 pounds of spices. It is not documented how many pounds of spices was used when King Herod was buried. We do know, however, that it took 500 servants to carry the spices to his place of burial.
Some people claim that Jesus was just in a coma. For this to be true, he would have had to survive at least 39 lashes of a flagrum — probably more considering Roman soldiers, not Jews, were doing the lashing. He was then nailed to a cross for hours. He would have also had to survive the rupture of the sac around his heart, as water flowed from his side when he was pierced with a spear.
After burial, he would have had to come out of a coma underneath 100 pounds of cloth and spices, unwind himself, move a huge stone, and walk past Roman guards. Think about it. There’s only one conclusion to be drawn: He was dead. Now he lives.
— Chelsea Tolliver is an undecided junior. She can be reached at ctollive@utk.edu.
