This week I received my tenth chemo treatment out of the prescribed twelve. Although the potency of the drugs was not increased again, it still devastated me physically. When I came back into the doctor's office to be disconnected from the chemo, the doctor immediately admitted me to the hospital again. I was so sick and weak, I could hardly walk. After two days in the hospital with IV fluids and potent IV nausea medicine, I was discharged yesterday feeling much better. As I get toward the end of my chemo regimen, I am all the more reminded of the other phrase in Hebrews 12:2 which we did not cover last time: "...enduring the cross..."
As we go through life, we are told to focus on Jesus, who endured excruciating (this word for extreme pain actually comes from two words that mean "from the cross") pain. Many have described the pain of the cross but none so well as a couple of Medical Doctors in a JAMA (The Journal of the American Medical Association) article in the 80's. They studied a wealth of archeological and historical evidence about Roman crucifixion and with medical accuracy detailed what a human body went through during such a crucifixion to expound on what Christ endured that day. This week we will only look at what Jesus endured before even being placed on the cross. I warn you that the truth of what Jesus actually went through that day is gruesome and these blog updates will contain violent and graphic details. Read at your own risk!
The Roman flogging Jesus received was brutal and merciless. Typically, soldiers were permitted to beat the prisoner as much as they wished and in fact many prisoners died during the beating. They would have stripped Jesus and hand-cuff him to a post about as wide as a typical telephone pole in the middle of the Praetatorium (the place where Romans punished prisoners and where townspeople could watch and be reminded not to rebel against Roman authority and law). Two soldiers would have stood on each side of Jesus, each with a weapon of torture referred to as a "cat of nine tails." This was a leather whip with nine straps interlaced with sharpened animal bones and rock fragments shaped like little dumbbells. The bone fragments were intended to cut the flesh of the prisoner and the rock fragments were placed at the end of each strap to give weight to the strap so that it would wrap around the body. Each soldier would take turns whipping the prisoner by wrapping his straps around any part of the body, allowing the bone fragments to firmly set into the flesh then pulling the straps across the body in order to cause as many deep lacerations as possible. One historian recounted an instance where a prisoner was so badly beaten and lacerated that his organs were inadvertently removed and he died attached to the post. The scene of Jesus' flogging would have been absolutely barbaric, gruesome and horrific!
Some believe we have the actual burial cloth of Jesus. The Shroud of Turin is an actual burial cloth of someone who was crucified in Palestine during the time of Christ and some claim it to be the cloth Jesus was wrapped in after his death and before his burial and resurrection. Whether or not it is actually Christ's burial cloth, it gives us incredible evidence and insight into Roman crucifixion. Guess what? Scientists have intensely studied the Shroud of Turin with the aid of technology and have identified that the person buried in the Shroud of Turin had lacerations over his entire body (from head to ankles) and even small bruises in the shape of dumbbells. Jesus would have been barely recognizable as he carried his cross to Calvary. Roman soldiers were used to calling someone out from the crowd to carry the cross of the prisoner because the flogging often took so much from them. Our precious Savior had already endured more than any of us before the first nail was even hammered!
I sometimes feel like my life is not fair. I'm young to have stage four metastatic colon cancer. I've got a wife and kids to provide for. I've sought to honor God with my life and serve Him full time as a pastor. I don't smoke. I don't even drink alcohol. Life is not fair! Then I recall life is not meant to be fair, Jonathan! Jesus never even sinned! All He did was travel through the countryside proclaiming grace and forgiveness, healing the disabled and sick, offering love and acceptance to those who had been cast away by society! He did not deserve that beating! He willingly submitted to it because it was part of saving my soul! If He could endure that, I can easily endure stage four metastatic colon cancer! If He could endure the unfairness of the flogging on that day, I can endure some chemotherapy! Life isn't meant to be fair...it's meant to make us more like Christ! Next time you are surprised by your life being unfair "Look unto Jesus the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross..."
I love you guys! Thanks for joining me on this road trip! Keep running! In fact let's just focus on Christ and run in a pack together!
