The Crucifixion

Chapter V: The Crucifixion

John xix. 16-22; Matt. xxvii. 31-34, 37, 38; Mark xv. 20-23, 25-27; Luke xxiii. 26-34, 38.

The long road, hallowed by the veneration of centuries as the Via Dolorosa, now opened before Jesus.  But is it possible, in our day, to still discover any footprints of the condemned God, or to retrace step by step that Way of the Cross now followed daily by so many Christians?  No, we think not; however, the criticisms which have been levelled against the traditional Stations have not succeeded in overthrowing them altogether.  The Praetorium, rising just north of the Temple, unquestionably marks the beginning of the Via Dolorosa; the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, whose walls enclose Calvary, indicates its end; so that at all events these were the two furthest points between which stretched the road trodden by Jesus on His weary journey to execution and death.

Via Dolorosa. Fouard.

Now precisely this line is the one in fact followed by the Via Dolorosa.  Undoubtedly heaps upon heaps of ruins have accumulated within this city, where, one after another, Romans, Persians, and Mussulmans have burned and levelled at everything down to the ground. Sixty, sometimes even eighty, feet of ashes and rubbish now conceal the original surface over which Jesus dragged His bleeding feet.  But though it would be childish to expect to find Jerusalem wearing the same features today as in the time of the Saviour, yet neither must we forget that the East treasures the memory of names and places with wonderful fidelity.  Even out of these same ruins it could reconstruct the Sanctuary, the sacred Tomb, all the overturned and shattered monuments.  These long-cherished recollections of the Via Dolorosa, therefore, have a real value, and they indicate, if not the precise spots, at least that quarter of the town wherein we must locate the scenes of the Passion.

This road descended from the Praetorium into Tyropæon Valley, and trending eastwards climbed a steep hillside.  Almost along the summit ran the city walls, and further afield, hemmed about by gardens and houses, lay the place of execution, Golgotha.  This name, meaning a skull, doubtless in those days designated some bald and lonely rock, rising from out the earth underlying skull-like upon this waste stretch of open.  Certain Jewish traditions declared that the head of Adam had been interred in this place, thus giving it its name; and this legend heightened the dread with which it was surrounded in the popular imagination. Golgotha must have been but a short distance beyond the walls of Jerusalem, for both the Greeks and Romans were wont to execute convicted criminals just at the gates of the towns, and near some thoroughfare sufficiently frequented to make the spectacle serve as the public example.

According to Saint John's narrative, after His condemnation Jesus passed into the hands of the Jews: "Pilate," he tells us, " delivered Jesus to them to be crucified; then they took Him and led Him forth to death." However, we need only completes this evidence by comparing it with that of the Synoptic writers to feel sure that some of the Roman soldiers, with a centurion in command, acted as the executioners of a sentence never in use among the Jews.  The High-Priests were content to merely countenance the proceedings by their presence.

The execution followed immediately upon the sentence.  This was Roman usage, while the Jews were in haste to see everything finished, for fear lest the body should be left upon the cross, and thereby profane the sanctity of their festival.  Accordingly the procession was formed forthwith; at its head rode a centurion on horseback, behind him walked four soldiers surrounding Jesus, and the two criminals sent with Him to their death.  The Saviour no longer wore the red robe; His executioners had taken it from Him, and again covered Him with His own garments.  But His head still bore the crown of thorns, and about His neck they had hung a tablet, whereon was written His condemnation.

Christ bearing His Cross. J-J Tissot.

The instrument of torture was now or produced; its form, as preserved by Tradition, is known to us by the name of the Latin Cross,— a long wooden post intersected near the top by a shorter cross beam, intended to hold the hands, while the upper part was intended to bear the legal inscription.  Although this Cross had not the dimensions often given it by Christian images, yet it weighed heavily upon the Lord's lacerated shoulders.  Condemned criminals dragged their own gibbets to the place of execution, and however cruel might have been the whipping so recently suffered by them, ordinarily enough strength was spared them to support this load; it was not so with the Saviour, now altogether exhausted, after the Agony of Gethsemane, the sweat of blood, and the lashes at the hands of the lictors.

All was ready; the procession marched rapidly toward Golgotha.  Stared at by an insolent crowd of sightseers, Jesus dragged that heavy badge of infamy across the rough streets of Jerusalem, and up the road which climbs Calvarywards.  He was all but reaching the gates when His powers failed Him, no jibes and curses, no blows from pike and the javelin, were spared to spur up such unfortunates as fell under their burden; but they soon saw that violence would be useless here,— that their Victim was incapable of carrying His Cross any further.

Simon the Cyrenean. J-J Tissot.

Just at this juncture a man happened to be entering the town; he was a Cyrenean Jew, returning from the country.  From his dress and the provisions he had with him in readiness for the Pasch the soldiers saw at a glance that he was a stranger employed at servile labour; to their minds this was ample excuse for obliging him to perform one of those forced services which the caprice of the legionaries was continually imposing upon provincial inhabitants.  They therefore compelled him to carry the Cross after Jesus.

This compulsory service rendered to the Saviour has sufficed to preserve the name of Simon the Cyrenean from oblivion.  Was he a disciple of the Christ? The Gospel does not say so, but Saint Mark recalls that Simon was father of Alexander and and Rufus, names known among the early Christians as belonging to brethren in the faith.

But for Jesus, the soldiers must needs help Him to rise, and even keep Him up along the way as far as Calvary.  At sight of the Man of Sorrows dragged to execution a shudder of pity swept through the throng, and a group of women who were close to Jesus lifted up their voices in cries of lamentations, wailing and beating their breasts.  The Law did indeed forbid them to render any such tokens of sympathy and regret to those about to die, but the compassion to which they gave utterance upon beholding the Christ was one of those movements which no ordinances can crush out altogether.

Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not over Me. J-J Tissot.

Moved by the great grief of these women, Jesus turned towards them, saying,—

" Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not over Me; but weep for yourselves and for your children; for soon the days shall come when they will say:'And blessed are the barren!  Blessed are the wombs which have not borne, and the breasts which have not given suck!' Then shall they begin to say to the mountains: 'Fall upon us!' And to the hills: 'Cover us!' For if men deal thus with the green wood, what shall be done in the dry?"

This response could not fail to surprise the women of Jerusalem,— its tone, so grave, so solemn, and well nigh severe, savouring not so much of gratitude for their tears, but sounding rather like an exhortation to penitence.  Thus indeed Jesus displays greater anxiety for them than for Himself; for to these or any women the Prophetic Voice had once uttered those strange words of Osee the son of Beeri:—

"Give unto them, Lord!  But what wilt thou give them?  Give unto them childless wombs and dry breasts....  And they shall say to the mountains,'Cover us;'and to the hills,'Fall upon us.'"

Forty years later the same maidens who now heard the words of Jesus were to be enveloped in the desolation of Jerusalem.  These young mothers were to behold the sword and a torch consume the flower of the harvest in Israel; the underground causeways of the city incapable of shielding their children against the insatiable rage of their conquerors; the corpses of the citizens heaped therein by thousands; while in the delirium of famine they themselves would actually devour the offspring of their wombs.  Need we marvel, then, that, at beholding the swift approach of such mighty woes, the Saviour trembled for these women, beseeching them to do penance?

And that He might make them more fully realise the need thereof He borrows from the Holy Books that example of the evergreen tree, symbol of virtue in its integrity, whereof He, the Just One, is the perfect Archetype.  Bidding them mark His torn and wounded body, and the brand which pierced his brow,—

"If men deal thus with the green tree," He exclaimed, "what will they do with the dry wood?"

Bereft of His strength and powerless, Jesus at last reached the place of execution.  The soldiers offered Him wine mingled with myrrh and poppy, which the Jews were accustomed to give to condemned criminals, thereby producing a sort of lethargy, and so lightening their sufferings.  Charitable ladies of noble rank were wont to prepare this themselves and carry it to the prisoners.  So, complying with the Jewish usage, the soldiers presented this beverage to the Saviour.

The soldiers offered Him wine mingled with myrrh. J-J Tissot.

Jesus, having tasted of it, would not drink, but steeled Himself to accept all the bitterness and hardships of His execution; His gaze was riveted upon the necessary preliminaries:— the Cross driven into the ground, hammers and then nails got ready, ladders raised aloft, cords knotted and prepared.  And so, at the nearness of His hour of torment, though a shudder may have shaken His limbs, His soul stood steadfast waiting the approach of death.

Jesus is stripped of His garments, J-J Tissot.

Finally the executioners seized Him and stripped Him of His garments; the Crucified Captive must hang naked upon the gibbet.  The cords, when pulled up by the soldiers dragged His body up to the spike protruding from the middle of the Cross.  This piece of wood, which passed under the legs of the condemned, was strong enough to hold him and prevent the weight of the body from tearing the hands from the iron nails.  Transfixed upon this stool of torture Jesus stretched out His arms.  

The first nail. J-J Tissot.

Doubtless it was necessary to bind the limbs to the cross-pieces, in order to keep the feet and hands from slipping off the nails with which they were pierced.  First the hands were fastened, the iron being driven through the palm, or wrist. Sometimes the feet were only bound with cords, but usually the executioner nailed them to the post, and this was what was done with Jesus; for after the Resurrection we see Him showing His disciples His feet pierced even as His hands, while Tradition, with one accord has applied to Him the Psalmist's Prophecy:—

"And they have pierced My feet My Hands."

In that same hour was accomplished the oracle of Isaias:-

" He was numbered with transgressors."

Two crosses had now been set up one on the right, the other on the left of Jesus, bearing two thieves condemned to death with Him.

It only remained for the soldiers to affix, above the head of the Christ, the inscription dictated by Pilate.  There on were to be read, in Hebrew, in Greek, and in Latin, these words:—

" And this is Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews."

The Title on the Cross. J-J Tissot.

At this derisive title, and that site of the two convicts ranged about the Christ, as though forming His rightful court and His true people, the Jews at once comprehended the satire last leveled against them.  Two week, indeed, to uphold his authority against the excited multitude, Pilate had regained at last and limb of courage, and immediately cast about for some occasion to avenge himself; so when he was handed the tablets designed to publish the crime of which Jesus was found guilty, he wrote a thereon this insult to the Jews, and, that it might be better understood, he employed not only Latin, the official language, but Greek as well, since that was more familiar to the Jews of the Dispersion, and also the Aramean dialect, because generally understood by the populace.  And furthermore, as if he thought that the outrage might still not be obvious enough to all by holders, he commanded that, on either side of Jesus, to robbers should be conducted and crucified with Him,— thereby showing the Jews plainly in what contempt he held both their nation and their dreams of royalty.

During the anxiety and rapidity of the march this is so prescription had not to be noticed; but hardly was it affixed to the Cross before the up front with well understood.  Soon the whole city was aware of it; four Golgotha lay at the gates of Jerusalem, and crowds all day he passed before the gibbet.  Straightway the cats high-Priests, laying aside their preparations for the Pasch, active again as the people's spokesman and went in search of the Governor.

They demanded that he should change the superscript shown and right, not: "Behold the King of the Jews!" But "Behold him who called himself the King of the Jews!"

" And that which is written is written," responded Pilate.

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.