Putting Jesus on Trial (Part 4)
In recent weeks, we have stood with Jesus in his trial before the Sanhedrin, in his interview with Pilate, and walked with him on the harrowing journey from his place of judgment to the place of his execution. We have arrived at Golgotha, “the place of the skull,” an abandoned limestone quarry northwest of Jerusalem. We stand at the intersection of Roman efficiency and the profound cultural shame of Roman crucifixion. Remembering that the Near-East was then, and remains to this day, an honor-shame culture, amplifying the shame of those executed was of paramount importance to the Roman state.
The Configuration
In the auditorium of my local church building, there is a gigantic wooden cross anchored high on the front wall. I believe it is made of oak, and it is highly polished. Though many cherish this cross, I’m not a big fan of it, because it is so incongruous with what the cross of Jesus actually was. Modern Christianity has taken something vile, and sanitized it—made it beautiful and art-worthy. I understand doing that, but it is slightly cringe-inducing for me. The cross was much more than a pagan mode of capital punishment. It was agonizing. It was cruel. It was brutal.
Joseph Henry Thayer describes the cross, the σταυρός (stauros), as “the well-known instrument of most cruel and ignominious punishment, borrowed by the Greeks and Romans from the Phoenicians; to it were affixed among the Romans, down to the time of Constantine the Great, the guiltiest criminals, particularly the lowest of the people, slaves, and rebels.”1
As Thayer noted, crucifixion was reserved for the basest of criminals. It sometimes served as arbitrary amusement for sadistic, provincial governors. When crucifixion was adopted by the Romans, it was typically limited to slaves and aliens, because it was considered far too barbaric for Roman citizens, and even then it was limited to crimes against the state. You will recall from Part 2 of this series that it was vital for the Jews to reclassify Jesus’ offenses as a political threat to the state of Rome rather than a religious crime against Israel.
In its root form, the term “stauros” depicts a pointed stake driven into the ground with the sharpened tip exposed, pointing upward. It was designed for the impalement of the offender. Observing such a punishment would be immensely satisfying for a sadistic individual, and equally agonizing to endure for the one being punished. Impalement was the mode of execution chosen by the Persian king Darius for any who would violate his decrees, and added emphasis and insult is seen in the fact that the impalement stake was to be taken from the framework of the offender’s own house.2
Variations on the impalement stake allowed for a horizontal beam to be affixed to the top of the pole, forming the shape of a T, or through the middle, forming what is thought of, in contemporary culture, as a cross. The latter configurations allowed the punished to be attached to the instrument with cords or spikes, rather than impaled upon it. Contrary to current-generation artistic and cinematic depictions, victims were typically elevated a foot or two from the ground, making the execution experience intimate and proximal to the mocking passers by.
A crucifixion victim could take many days to die, and in non-Jewish cultures the bodies were typically left to rot in the open air; though in some cases the dead body was given to family or friends for proper burial. As noted in Part 3 of this series, Rome acquiesced to some cultural distinctives of the Jews, and in Jewish culture, crucified bodies were not to be left on the cross beyond nightfall. The victim was considered accursed by God and, as such, must not be left in place because that would defile the land.3
The Removed Defilement
Also noted in Part 3 (linked above), Jesus had to be crucified outside the city, beyond the second wall and, ironically, was executed in the very place where builders of his day discarded their rejected stones. The “beyond the wall” requirement stemmed from the Levitical command that any defiled person was to be removed from the camp.4, 5 The holy God walked in the camp and uncleanness within was not tolerated.
By his own Law, Jesus was considered unclean, and his execution had to occur outside the camp, in the place of rejected stone. In the ultimate irony, the religious “builders” of Jesus’ day discarded their Messiah, executing him in a place of literal discarded stone.
The Reversal
The church is frequently referred to as an “upside down” kingdom. The first shall be last and the last, first. Leadership is by serving. Almost everything Jesus does is counterintuitive. Under the Levitical protocol, one who touched a leper was unclean and expelled from the camp.6 But when Jesus touches a leper, rather than becoming unclean, Jesus makes the leper clean.7 In Jesus’ day, the tabernacle was a closed structure where only the ceremonially fit could enter. The church, by contrast is a welcoming community to the unclean where we can enter and become cleansed.
The Mercy
Both Mishnaic and Talmudic records describe a tradition, drawing on Proverbs 31:6, prescribing an act of mercy by the women of Jerusalem wherein they provided an analgesic mixture of wine, frankincense, and myrrh to those where were enduring capital punishment. It was, essentially, a narcotic potion intended to provide a numbing effect to alleviate the agony of one’s execution.
Corresponding with this tradition, Jesus was offered such a mixture during his crucifixion experience, but refused to accept it.8 Jesus’ refusal was a deliberate choice to remain sober while enduring the rejection of his own people and undergoing the Roman state’s ultimate demonstration of power. Jesus refused to succumb to the brokenness expected of a crucifixion victim.
The Proclamation
The Titulus Crucis, mentioned in previous posts, was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek,9 making it not just a sign, but an international proclamation. It was written in the holy language of the people demanding his death, the legal language of the man responsible for approving his execution, and the language of commerce of the wider community. In writing what he wrote, Pilate unintentionally declared the universal nature of the death of Jesus. It was a matter of profound global, legal, and spiritual significance.
The Asphyxiation
The spikes of crucifixion were typically driven through what we call the wrists, between the carpal bones, known as the Destot’s space. Linguistics contemporary to Jesus described the wrist as a part of the hand, thus the biblical account is factually accurate. Those who attempt to use this as a demonstration of scriptural unreliability fail to understand the folly of using 21st-century anatomical charts to interpret 1st-century, descriptive prose. The gospels are describing the crucifixion event, not the precise carpal or tarsal coordinates.
Archaeological evidence indicates the legs were attached to the sides of the upright stake with spikes driven through the calcaneus, the bone that forms the prominence of one’s heel. As the victim needed air, he could push upward on this spike to grab a breath, and then relax until needing another breath. Succumbing to exhaustion, pain, and blood loss, the victim eventually lost the ability or will to push up for air and died of asphyxiation. Crucifixion involved a repetitive choice between suffocation and pain.
When it was necessary to hasten the onset of death,10 the legs of the victims would be broken to prevent them from pressing upward to gasp for air.11 This practice amplifies the fact that Jesus’ legs were not broken, and the prophecy of that reality was fulfilled. 12 Rather, Jesus’ side was pierced to confirm he was dead.13
The Honorable Burial
When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who also was a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut in the rock. And he rolled a great stone to the entrance of the tomb and went away.
– Matthew 27:57-60, ESV
The verses quoted above read like an, “Oh, by the way” statement. They are anything but.
Claiming the body of a crucified man was a risky, legal maneuver. Bear in mind that the body of a crucified man was a display of Roman power. It was a trophy, a statement, and a warning. From this vantage point, the body was very much the property of the Roman state or, more specifically, the emperor. Its destiny was to rot and be scavenged by birds until it was discarded in a criminal community burial pit, rather than to be lovingly laid in a private tomb.
Daring to identify in any way with a convicted, crucified prisoner was a dangerous undertaking. Remember the fear of the disciples following Jesus’ arrest.14 They ran away, just as Jesus told them they would.15 Even following Jesus’ resurrection, the disciples were hiding behind locked doors.16
From that baseline, Roman law made allowances for the body of an executed individual to be released following a formal petition to the proper authority. In Jesus’ case, that authority was Pontius Pilate. The petition, however, needed to come from a person of significant social standing. A petition coming from a Jew of “common” social standing could result in the petitioner’s arrest and trial as a collaborator. Joseph of Arimathea was uniquely qualified to make the petition. Reputed to be a member of the Sanhedrin17, he had the ability to gain an audience with the Governor.
Pilate seems to have shown no hesitation to release the body of Jesus to Joseph, and we are compelled to ask, “Why?” Thinking back to Part 2 of this series, Pilate was uncharacteristically reticent to convict and sentence Jesus. He repeatedly said he found no guilt in him, was recorded as being “afraid”18 during the trial, and made multiple attempts to secure Jesus’ release. While Joseph was cautiously asking Pilate for the favor of taking possession of Jesus body, the reality is, Joseph is doing Pilate a favor by freeing him of this troubling man’s body. Pilate jumped at that opportunity.
Recalling, again, that Jesus came from an honor-shame culture, an honorable burial, if it could be secured, would have been important to those close to him. However the burial happened, it needed to happen quickly because the Sabbath was rapidly approaching.
Having obtained legal permission to take possession of Jesus’ body, Joseph purchased a clean linen cloth called a sindōn, a simple, unsewn length of high-quality linen.19 The body was washed, wrapped in the linen with spices for preservation and odor control, and placed on a stone bench within the tomb.
Nicodemus, the Pharisee who conversed with Jesus at night, supplied an extraordinary quantity of burial spices,19 roughly seventy-five pounds of myrrh and aloes, an amount well beyond what was used in a standard burial. This is a spice mixture quantity that would be used in a royal burial.
The burial space for Jesus was in Joseph’s own new tomb. It was hewn our of rock and had never been used.20 Jesus was born from a virgin womb and laid to rest in a virgin tomb. A new tomb was a luxury in that it ensured the body of Jesus was not mixed with the bones of others. There could be no confusion that the empty tomb became occupied, and was occupied by one body, alone.
Approximately a year later, once the flesh had decomposed, family members would return and gather the bones, placing them in a stone box called an ossuary. This is why the Gospels emphasize that the tomb was new. There were no other bones within that could possibly be confused with the bones of Jesus. The newness of the tomb will come into play next week as we continue this series.
The Intentionality
When the days drew near for him to be taken up, [Jesus] set his face to go to Jerusalem.
– Luke 9:51, ESV
From the beginning, Jesus knew this day would be what it was. He marched into the flames with a sober mind and wide-awake eyes. Nothing was a surprise to him. In the Gospel records we have what are often called the Passion Predictions. These are moments when Jesus hints at, or states outright what was awaiting him in the very near future.
Passion Prediction One:
And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
– Mark 8:31-33, ESV
Passion Prediction Two:
They went on from there and passed through Galilee. And he did not want anyone to know, for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he is killed, after three days he will rise.” But they did not understand the saying, and were afraid to ask him.
– Mark 9:30-32, ESV
Passion Prediction Three:
And taking the twelve again, he began to tell them what was to happen to him, saying, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles. And they will mock him and spit on him, and flog him and kill him. And after three days he will rise.”
– Mark 10:32b-34, ESV
As we read through the gospel accounts, and we encounter statements from Jesus like those listed above, it is clear that Jesus always knew what was coming, yet it does seem to me that the quote from Luke marks a pivotal moment for Jesus. He “set his face” toward Jerusalem, showing us a firm, unyielding resolve to do what he had to do. Jesus passed numerous exit ramps along the way, but he stayed the course and remained true to the mission.
In John 6, when the crowd was so enamored with Jesus that they tried to force him to be their king, he had to withdraw to a solitary mountain, refusing to be a political king. When Peter confronted and rebuked Jesus, Jesus saw the work of Satan in that and gave a sharp refusal to any interference. In a rather bizarre instance, some Pharisees came to Jesus and told him to leave Jerusalem because Herod Antipas wanted to kill him.21 Throughout his ministry, Jesus said, “My hour has not yet come,” but the time had arrived for that message to shift to “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.”22
The question is often asked, “Who killed Jesus?” Some say the Romans killed him, and from a certain perspective, that is correct. Others say the Jews killed Jesus and again, from a certain perspective, that is also correct. Still others say you and I killed him, because it was for our sins he died. Again, from a given vantage point, that is correct. But I’m offering a fourth option. Jesus killed himself. Consider what Jesus said here:
For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.
– John 10:17-18, ESV
Jesus made a deliberate choice to lay down his life to make it possible for you and for me to be in a restored relationship with God. This is a truth that contains both horror and beauty. The horror has been spelled out over the previous three weeks and, most prominantly this week. I’ve tried to be truthful without being gratuitous in describing Jesus’ last days. That was the horror. The beauty is what remains, and we will look at that next week.
1. Thayer, J. H., (1998). A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (p. 586). (New York, NY: American Book Company)
2. Ezra 6:11
3. Deuteronomy 21:23, Galatians 3:13
4. Numbers 5;1-4
5. Deuteronomy 23:9-14
6. Leviticus 13
7. Mark 1:41
8. Mark 15:23
9. John 19:20
10. Deuteronomy 21:22-23, John 19:31
11. John 19:22
12. Psalm 34:20, John 19:33
13. Zechariah 12:10, John 19:37
14. Matthew 26:56, Mark 14:50
15. John 16:32
16. John 20:19
17. Mark 15:43, Luke 23:50-51
18. John 19:7-8
19. John 19:38-40
20. John 19:41
21. Luke 13:31
22. John 12:23
