The Passion

Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ, a 2004 movie, received terrible reviews for its violence. Perhaps we have been so sanitized to see how mobs work. Graham Staines, a physician, Philip Staines (age 10), and Timothy Stains (age 6) were sleeping in a car outside a Christians camp, hoping they could drive to their wife/mother and daughter/sister as soon as they woke up. Sadly, a violent Hindu extremist mob attacked them at midnight, set them on fire, and watched them die. The Passion was mild, considering Rome impaled many victims through their private parts.

A physician writes,

The Romans perfected crucifixion for 500 years ... Crucifixion in Roman times was applied mostly to slaves, disgraced soldiers, Christians, and foreigners—only very rarely to Roman citizens. Death, usually after 6 hours—4 days, was due to multifactorial pathology: after-effects of compulsory scourging and maiming, hemorrhage and dehydration causing hypovolemic shock and pain, but the most important factor was progressive asphyxia caused by impairment of respiratory movement. Resultant anoxemia exaggerated hypovolemic shock. Death was probably commonly precipitated by cardiac arrest, caused by vasovagal reflexes, initiated inter alia by severe anoxemia, severe pain, body blows, and breaking of the large bones. The attending Roman guards could only leave the site after the victim had died and were known to precipitate death by means of deliberate fracturing of the tibia and/or fibula, spear stab wounds into the heart, sharp blows to the front of the chest, or a smoking fire built at the foot of the cross to asphyxiate the victim (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14750495/)

Jesus had no sleep, was bound with chains, spat on, struck with people’s fists, and beaten —before arriving at Pilate’s place. After Pilate freed Barabbas, he instructed that Jesus be flogged and handed to be crucified (Mark 15:15).

The Romans used flagellum to whip the criminals. They were short whips made of three or more leather thongs or ropes, made from ox-hide, and connected to a wooden handle. The leather thongs were knotted with small pieces of metal – zinc, iron, or bronze – at various intervals. The purpose is to tear the flesh as the whip hits the flesh, and the soldier yanks it back. The victims were stripped naked and made to lean over a platform while soldiers took turns beating the victims. Rome didn’t have a legal limit to the number of blows. Usually, the soldiers stopped whipping when the victim almost died, or the soldiers were tired.

After thoroughly flogging Jesus, they brought him back to the Praetorium, the soldiers’ headquarters, put a royal robe on him, weaved together thrones as a crown, and placed on his head, while mocking him, saying,

“Rejoice! King of the Judeans!” (Mark 15:18)

They weren’t done yet. They struck his head with a rood and spat on him. Then they mocked again by falling on their knees as if they were paying homage to a king (15:19). When it was all over, they stripped him of the purple robe, put on his clothes, and led him to crucify him (15:20). Their play with Jesus, like cats that torture and play with their prey, was over.

For the Roman soldiers, this was not something new. They tortured and killed people daily, so they became calloused. But for Jesus, one who created everything, including fragile human flesh, this would have been an excruciating time. He bore it to do the Father’s will, setting us an example to suffer well.