A Medical Analysis of the Crucifixion

Looking into a detailed account of what Jesus went through, it was literally impossible for any man to go through that & be alive within the time frame Jesus went through all that. But He did that so we all might be redeemed.

He had been beaten 39 times, spat on, stripped naked & nailed to the cross… He did all of this for you & for me. What will be your loss if you accept Him into your life? Nothing. What will be your loss if you don’t? Everything.

⌛1. Sleeplessness & Fatigue

Jesus didn’t sleep for 36 hours from the last time He got up from His last sleep, up till His arrest, beatings, crucifixion & death. He walked the city of Jerusalem, about 2.5 miles to meet Pilate & one-third of a mile after all the beatings on His way to the cross before He collapsed & couldn’t bear the cross anymore.

🩸2. Hematidrosis

This is a very rare medical phenomenon where a person exudes blood from every sweat gland in their body. The capillary surrounding each sweat gland ruptures, so instead of sweat, the person perspires blood. Apart from Jesus, only about 12-14 times has this condition been reported throughout medical history.

Our Lord & Saviour, Jesus, experienced that too. The Bible says Jesus’ sweat became as great drops of blood - Luke 22:44. His agony & temptation to avoid the death was all over Him but He submitted to the will of the Father that you & I might be saved.

⛓️3. Scourging

This was a horrible torture, that even Roman citizens were forbidden to be scourged. Only slaves & traders could be scourged. Typically, the victim is stripped completely naked & tied to a post/wall with the back exposed & then whipped from the back of His arms down to His shoulder and back across his bare buttocks, all the way down to His heels. This was carried out by 2 Roman soldiers.

He bled through all these wounds for you & for me. He bled everywhere with swollen eyes & face. This gives you an idea of the amount of physical trauma He went through, having not slept for hours & also losing some blood through His sweat. How did He survive & didn’t bleed to death? The Cross was indeed the goal. That was where the final blow to the devil would be given.

👑The Crown of Thorns & Pre-Crucifixion State

During Jesus’ trial, a crown of thorns was placed on His head. Each thorn is 1.5-2 inches long & as sharp as an ice pick. The crown was placed on His head & the thorns driven into His skull with a rod by the soldiers. He bled through His head.

Before His crucifixion even began, imagine His face beaten to a pulp, swollen eyes, bloodied nose, with deep-seated wounds all over His body, to His buttocks & the back of His legs. All shredded. This was the shape He was. There was nothing in all of this that described He lost consciousness, or in shock or incoherent. He clearly passed a message each time He spoke on His way to the cross, very succinctly & clearly.

💪4. Physical Stress & Mental State

Everything in the Bible about the life of Jesus was that He was very healthy in His early 30s living a hard life. He was very tough, walked mostly wherever He went; slept outside mostly too. From a medical standpoint, there was nothing weak or puny about Him. He was very strong & stout physically.

He was certainly under stress in the garden of Gethsemane, but nothing He said on the cross gave any indication whatsoever that He was decompensating mentally, even during His gravest hours on the cross.

❤️5. Cardiac Arrhythmia

One of the 1st things that happens when people have Cardiac Arrhythmia is that the heart, even though it beats fast or funny, doesn’t function very well as a pump. Hence, the BP drops & you lose consciousness. Again, nowhere in the gospels do we have an account where Jesus ever lost consciousness until He died.

✝️The Cross & The Nails

The Cross bar alone weighed 125-150 pounds (56.7-68 Kg). The wood was also rough, unplanned & unfinished, with spikes & splinters, & rough places on it. Part of the custom was that the crossbar was tied to the arm of the victim to enable him to carry it to the place of execution. Part of the humiliating process was that the victim had to bear the cross naked through the streets to the point of execution. JESUS WAS HUMILIATED.

Nails would then be driven into their hands through the cross bar. Both feet also nailed together to the upright piece of the cross. You can’t drive a spike through a man’s palm & hang him without it pulling right out between the fingers. It is an accepted medical fact that the muscle in your palm is not strong enough to support your body weight.

🌬️Hanging on the Cross & The Final Words

Breathing in isn’t a difficult thing when on the cross; however, the tough part is breathing out. In order for Jesus to breathe out, He would have had to pull against the spikes with His hands, & push against the spikes with his feet. The pain must have been horribly unbearable. Each time he breathed out, each time he uttered a word, he would have to pull up with his arms & push up with his legs.

This tells you how precious Jesus’s words from the cross were. They were all very significant. Reason he couldn’t say more than 3-4 words at a time. Finally, when He had done all of that, He said IT IS FINISHED. That was the last time he pulled up with his hands & pushed up with his feet; dragging his back against the cross as hung there naked before the city of Jerusalem in total shame & humiliation, convicted & tortured & condemned for something of which he was never guilty of.

The Roman soldiers broke the legs of the 2 thieves so they wouldn’t be able to push up to breathe out, hence killing them slowly. However, Jesus’ bones were not broken, as prophesied in Psalms 34:20. But when the centurion went to Jesus, He was dead already.