April 6
On Friday night, one of the Doc's from the Basic Aid Station (BAS)- Major Burns (don't go there MASH fans) gave a presentation/lecture on how people died physically on the cross. It was interesting to hear that the cause of death was ususally suffication. The position of the hands and feet caused the chest to be pulled tight thus making it hard to fully inhale and exhale. If the individuals being crucified took too long to die this way, they would help them along by breaking their legs causing massive blood loss in the lower extremities. This was not the case with Our Lord because he was already dead when they went to check. However, the two convicts next to him suffered this fate. To ensure Jesus was dead, they stabbed him in his side causing blood and water to escape from his wounds. Physically this is what you would see if say the staff penetrated the stomach or gallbladder.
One of the RPs made a bet with the Padre that if he could hang from the cross for 5 minutes, then the Padre would make him a real steak dinner. The doc had made a wooden cross out of 4x4s and nailed spikes probably very similiar to what was used back then to it. The RP had to grip the spikes with his hands and use his bare feet to balance on one spike below and literally hang from the spikes. The spikes were hard for him to grip because he was nervous and his hands were sweating. So we let him use some towels to help him along. You could see the sweat building up on his brow and the discomfort he was going through. He did make it the 5 minutes but he stated his entire arm muscles were extremely sore and his feet hurt from balancing on the spike. Imaging having your hands and feet nailed in place and hanging up there for 3 hours.
No comments:
Post a Comment