This is a paper I did for my class. The subject is something I wanted to share; I was very much affected by it. WARNING: there are some graphic images (after all we're talking about a crucfixion here) and not everyone would like to read it. I've included the references for anyone who would like to see the complete articles (On the Physical Death of Jesus Christ was an article that was part of the course. If anyone would like to read it I would have to email it.)
Crucifixion Implications
Details of the Crucifixion
Hypovolemic Shock
As Hamilton (2009) defines it, "...hypovolemic shock (closely tied to dehydration and loss of blood and producing, among other symptoms, increased agitation and anxiety in the victim)." Somehow I had never tied all the traumas together before. No water while walking back and forth from Garden to the Temple, to Pilate, to Herod, back to Pilate, then to Golgotha. Beatings, bleeding from the flogging, head wounds from the crown of thorns all took their toll. This makes His experience one long painful bloody road. Every step must have been its own torture. All of this, before the actual crucifixion. I cannot imagine being subjected to just this - and all for someone else. Me.
Heart
I had not thought of exactly what His heart must have gone through. Johnson (1996) mentions the strain put on the heart from trying to pump blood above the head but Davis (n.d.) states it graphically: "The loss of tissue fluids has reached a critical level; the compressed heart is struggling to pump heavy, thick, sluggish blood into the tissue; the tortured lungs are making a frantic effort to gasp in small gulps of air." Fluid would have built up in the heart sac, from what I've read; this would be what was compressing the heart. It must have been terrifying to feel the contractions of the heart, struggling as it was. He was defeating death one drop of blood at a time. How could anyone have done this. Voluntarily.
Not alone on the cross
Edwards (n.d.) states flatly, "Not uncommonly, insects would light upon or burrow into the open wounds to the eyes, ears, and nose of the dying and helpless victim, and birds of prey would tear at these sites." This I am almost unable to imagine. Not that it could happen (it makes a very horrible sense) but that it did to Jesus. All our pretty paintings and statues, and not one of them draws this ghastly picture. The other details were amplifications of what I thought might have happened but this, this shocked me. He took creatures crawling and burrowing and eating Him while He was still alive just to save me from my sins. I'm grateful salvation is through grace because I would never be able to earn what He went through.
Offensiveness of the Cross and Sin
That it took all those hours of blood and torture, ending with dying while already being eaten, colors sin with a new offensiveness. What seemed like a "little" sin (or venial, if you're Catholic) suddenly becomes distasteful. This sin, this thing that I do, or don't do, or say, was paid for with bloody strips of flesh and screaming agony. I lied and a bird ripped flesh from His side. I gossiped and a bug burrowed in His ear. The cross is a great equalizer: all sin is wrong, all are offensive.
References
Davis, C. T., M.D. (n.d.). A Physician's View of the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Retrieved September 24, 2015, from www.cbn.com/spirituallife/onlinediscipleship/easter/a_physician's_view_of_the_crucifixion_of_ jesus_christ.aspx
Edwards, W. D., M.D., Gabel, W. J., M.Div., & Hosmer, F. E., A.M.I. (n.d.). On the Physical Death of Jesus Christ.
Hamilton, A. (2004). 24 Hours That Changed the World. Nashville TN: Abingdon Press.
Johnson, K. O., Ph.D. (1996). The Rosary. Dallas TX: Pangaeus Press.