Today we are proud to publish the first post by new Far Above Rubies writer, Janet Gant. Thank you, Janet!
Birth (with the exceptions of Adam and Eve), Life and Death (with the exceptions of Enoch and Elijah) - the trio is a constant for man since the time he was banished from Eden. Yet, while the first two events may be cause for joy and celebration, the last may be cause for despair or at the very least some sort of distress and sadness. When Death comes knocking at our door, even at the end of a long and successful life, most people are not ready to answer the unsettling call. Much more so, when death is not only premature but cruel and violent, does it demand our acknowledgment and attention. Throughout human history, intentional abuse of a human resulting in death infuriates our sense of justice and cries out for compassion. With this sense of justice and compassion we look into the history of man to examine for ourselves the cruelest forms of death.
The ancient world had many forms of punishment and torture that resulted in death. The “summa supplicia” (or the ultimate punishments in ancient Rome) lists crucifixion, exposure to wild beasts and burning alive as their top three, of these crucifixion tops the chart as ‘the cruelest of deaths’.
Crucifixion was a public spectacle and meant to inflict “the most pain”, it was also considered the most debasing as “the condemned man was stripped naked and left exposed in his agony” while all the world look on. For exemplary effect, crucifixion was held at well-travelled public road to strike fear to passersby and to cause humiliation to the one hung on the cross.
This was not a thing that even the ancient world would want to ponder upon. Therefore it was not publicized in their writings or their historical records. From the few lines sprinkled here and there in their ancient literature, in the writings of play writers, poets, philosophers, orators and historians, we gather that crucifixion was widely practiced.
Yet acts so horrific and so numerous could be so easily swept under the proverbial rug of time and forgotten in the 21st century as not anything new if not for the weekly reminder of the cross of Christ in the Christian celebration of the Lord’s Supper. But, today the Christian is not any more shocked with the thought of the cross nor is the image of the cross an instrument of the cruelty looked upon with disdain. In fact, we embrace it as part of our religion. Have we softened the view of the cross to where it is no longer an instrument of death, pain, shame, humiliation and is it any longer remembered as an act of cruelty and inhumanity of man to man?
In fact the ancient Greeks and the Romans spoke of crucifixion as a practice among barbarians -Indians, Phoenicians, Persians, Assyrians, Sclythians, Celts, Taurians and Thracians. Neither would claim responsibility or culpability but downplay their own use of this form of execution.
But in fact, both Greeks and Romans practiced it shamelessly. Even though Rome did not invent this form of torture when they adopted it, they used it with vengeance and refined it to an art.
According to Theological Archaeological Review, “Before being crucified, the victim was stripped and bound to a column and scourged with a stick or flagellum, a Roman instrument with a short handle to which several long, thick thongs had been attached. On the ends of the leather thongs were lead or bone tips. Following the severe beating the horizontal beam was placed upon the condemned man’s shoulders and he began the long grueling march to the execution site. A soldier at the head of the procession carried the titulus, an inscription written on wood, which stated the defendant’s name and the crime for which he had been condemned. When the procession arrived at the execution site, a vertical stake was fixed into the ground. The victim’s feet were then nailed down against this vertical stake.”
“Without any supplementary body support, the victim would die from muscular spasms and asphyxia in a very short time, certainly within two or three hours. Shortly after being raised on the cross, breathing would become difficult, to get his breath, the victim would attempt to draw himself up on his arms. In order to prolong the agony, Roman executioners devised instruments that would keep the victims alive on the cross for extended periods of time.” One, such instrument known as the “sedile, was a small seat attached to the front of the cross, about halfway down” to allow the victim to support himself to get a breath. “To increase the victim’s suffering, the sedile was pointed, thus inflecting horrible pain.” Jesus agonized on the cross for 6 hours before he died.
In 315 AD, under Constantine
, crucifixion was abolished in the Roman Empire. Hanging on the gallows gradually took the place of crucifixion and was essentially a more humane punishment.
Seneca
, a Roman philosopher who lived during the time of Christ wrote in his Epistle 101 to Lucilius, “Can anyone be found who would prefer wasting away in pain dying limb by limb, or letting out his life drop by drop, rather than expiring once for all? Can any man be found willing to be fastened to the accursed tree, long sickly, already deformed, swelling with ugly weal on shoulders and chest, and drawing the breath of life amid long-drawn-out agony? He would have many excuses for dying even before mounting the cross.”
If you had a choice of death would you ever prefer crucifixion? How could God select such a death for Jesus? So if Jesus had to die for our sins why choose the cruelest form of all deaths? Would hanging not suffice the wrath of God? Would any form of death do? It is a no wonder that Jesus asked the Father if it were possible for “this cup to pass”, in the Garden of Gethsemane.
In our day and time when a criminal is sentenced to death, we try to administer it in the most humane way. The criminal may earn the right to die but not the added punishment of pain and suffering. So why did Christ have to suffer such a humiliating, painful and agonizing death?
Maybe in God’s eye the punishment had to fit the crime. Imagine a punishment that does not fit the crime - a person sentenced to 20 years in prison when he murdered and tortured countless people. Sometimes even when a person is sentenced to death, that punishment is still not equal to the atrocities committed. Just a painless death by injection sometimes does not do much for our sense of justice. If he had to suffer and feel the pain and agony of his victims, the punishment might better fit the crime.
Maybe death on the cross is God’s way of telling us how grievous sin is in His sight. Can we understand how horrible sin is to God? The punishment had to fit the sins we committed to satisfy the justice of God. How can we understand it unless God spoke to us in a language we can understand? Death by crucifixion is the punishment that befits the crimes we committed in our lives; it is just how horrible our sin is viewed by God. The action of Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross speaks louder to us than a thousand words. Yes, our sin is just that bad!
Also, the stark contrast to the darkness of the sins of humanity is the overwhelming, all consuming depth of God’s love. This contrast is why we are so profoundly inspired, touched, moved, and humbled. Not only because of guilt over our sinful nature but even more so because of the magnitude of God’s love and grace for humanity.
Each week as we celebrate the Lord’s Supper can we look at the cross for what it is - an instrument of death, pain and agony, humiliation and shame. Then, can we look past it to see the hideousness of our sins that warranted such a death for Christ? 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner!' (Luke 18:13). The punishment fits the crime but praise be to God for his immeasurable love, we do not have to pay for it.
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