But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.
Isaiah 53:5
During Easter, we often concentrate on the specific episode of Jesus being crucified. No doubt that it is perhaps the most brutal part of Jesus’ final day. However, Jesus went through a lot before the spikes were driven through His hands and feet. Let’s look at what physically happened to Jesus from the time of His arrest to His crucifixion, starting in Matthew 26:67.
After Jesus’ arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane, He was spit upon, struck with fists, slapped, and then flogged. Perhaps most of you have seen the movie, The Passion of the Christ. If you did, you will no doubt remember one of the most gruesome moments of the movie. One of the Roman soldiers whipped Jesus to the point where some of the metal pieces at the end of the flogging strips caught on His skin. The soldier waited a moment, and then yanked it, ripping His skin to shreds. I cringed when I saw this. After watching this accurate depiction of what flogging does to human flesh, the gruesome torture of Jesus suddenly became very real to me.
After the flogging, the soldiers stripped Jesus naked and mocked Him by jamming a “crown” made of long thorns on His head. They placed a robe around His body and pretended to worship Him. The soldiers spit on Him again and beat Him in the head with a staff over and over.
They stripped Jesus once again and crucified Him by driving spikes through His hands and feet. The priests and people mocked Him continuously until He breathed His last breath. The Gospel of John mentioned that they were about to break Jesus’ legs to speed up His death. People who are crucified live longer by trying to stay erect as long as possible. With broken legs, the crucified would have to slump down, and thus die of asphyxiation (being unable to breathe). Since Jesus was already dead, the soldier speared Him in the side instead.
Jesus endured a brutal torture and death. But even this did not compare to bearing the weight of humanity’s sins on His shoulders. He did this so that we would not have to endure a torturous eternity separated from Him. We cannot fathom what Jesus went through for us.
Express your gratitude to Him right now. He was martyred for you.