For me ... the Cross

April 11th, 2025

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16 NKJV). Today's blog, by Alyssa Glander, gives us a glimpse into the great love with which He loves us and the reality of that cost.

The Crucifixion of Jesus: A Medical Perspective on the Suffering and Death of Christ

Easter is approaching, and I always try to revisit and review the medical aspects of what Jesus experienced during this time. I think we can easily become desensitized to the agony our Savior endured and even numb to His sacrifice. Unpacking His journey in this way helps me recenter myself in gratitude and praise.

The crucifixion of Jesus is not only a cornerstone of Christian theology but also one of the most brutal forms of capital punishment ever devised. When viewed through a modern medical lens, the physical suffering endured by Jesus reveals an intense and calculated cruelty orchestrated by those in power.

The Scourging: Before Death

According to the Gospels, Jesus was scourged before being crucified (Mark 15:15; John 19:1). Roman scourging involved a whip called a flagrum, made of leather strips embedded with sharp objects such as sheep bone and lead. Each lash from the whip would rip into the flesh, causing deep lacerations and significant blood loss. It wasn’t just a sting or a welt, Jesus was being torn to shreds. ( … for me… )

As Dr. William D. Edwards and his team noted in their study published in The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), the scourging “would produce quivering ribbons of bleeding flesh” and was often enough to kill a man on its own (Edwards et al., 1986). “This trauma likely led Jesus into a state of hypovolemic shock, marked by low blood pressure, rapid heartbeat, and extreme thirst—all symptoms that are suggested in the Gospel narratives (John 19:28).”

The Weight of the Cross

After the scourging, Jesus was forced to carry His cross to Golgotha (John 19:17). However, the Gospels indicate that He collapsed under the weight, prompting the Romans soldiers to compel Simon of Cyrene to help (Luke 23:26). This is consistent with someone suffering from early stages of shock, blood loss, and physical exhaustion.

The entire cross all together may have weighed over 300 pounds, but most scholars believe Jesus carried only the horizontal beam, which weighed around, 75–125 pounds.
I couldn’t carry myself after torture like that, much less and giant plank of solid wood! But He did it. ( … for me … )

The Mechanics of Crucifixion

Crucifixion was a death engineered to maximize pain and prolong suffering. Jesus was likely nailed to the cross through His wrists, not the palms, like many images would have you believe. The truth is, the palms could not support the weight of the body and would immediately tear, freeing the hands from the cross. But pounding the nails through the wrist would have crushed or damaged the median nerve, causing excruciating pain radiating through both arms (Zugibe, 2005).

The feet were most likely nailed through the top or sides, with the knees slightly bent. Once raised upright, the person on the cross would hang by his arms, making it incredibly difficult to breathe. To exhale, Jesus would have had to push up on His nailed feet to lift His chest, leading to searing pain with every breath.

As Dr. Frederick Zugibe, a forensic pathologist and expert on crucifixion, explains: “Exhalation becomes extremely difficult and eventually impossible, leading to slow asphyxiation unless the victim pushes up repeatedly to breathe” (Zugibe, 2005).

Can you believe Jesus knowingly went through with this? Can you even wrap your mind around the knowledge that such sacrificial love can exist in this world? Can you believe He did this for me? For you?

The Final Moments and Cause of Death

The Gospels report that Jesus cried out and then died suddenly (Matthew 27:50; John 19:30). Some scholars propose that Jesus died from asphyxiation, while others suggest cardiac rupture or fatal arrhythmia brought on by trauma and exhaustion.

A key medical clue comes from John 19:34, where a Roman soldier pierces Jesus’ side and “blood and water” pour out. This description likely reflects pericardial effusion—fluid buildup around the heart—or pleural effusion, fluid around the lungs, which can result from severe trauma and suffocation. Either of these scenarios supports the theory that Jesus died of hypovolemic shock combined with asphyxia, with the spear confirming death by releasing accumulated fluid in the chest cavity (Edwards et al., 1986).

Conclusion

From a medical standpoint, Jesus’s crucifixion was an event marked by extraordinary physical suffering. The scourging, the HEAVY burden of the cross, the nailing, and the slow suffocation together produced a level of agony that I can’t even begin to imagine or detail.
Understanding the crucifixion in medical terms deepens our spiritual under of it. It reveals the profound human suffering that Jesus willingly endured for the price of our salvation.

And the most amazing part? He rose again.

References:
Edwards, W. D., Gabel, W. J., & Hosmer, F. E. (1986). On the Physical Death of Jesus Christ. JAMA, 255(11), 1455–1463. doi:10.1001/jama.1986.03370110077025
Zugibe, F. T. (2005). The Crucifixion of Jesus: A Forensic Inquiry. M. Evans & Company.

Author Bio:
Walking with the Lord since she was about 17, Alyssa Glander has known since then that Christ has shouldered her all the way! She is a Content and Social Media Manager, an integral part of our EQUIP Retreat team, and the second-youngest member of Reasons for Hope!

On the digital side of her job, Alyssa schedules media content and observes what grabs our audience’s attention. She supports our online presence by coordinating content for both our social media pages and our free RforH App. During the summers, she travels from state to state with her family to attend and serve at our EQUIP Retreats! She leads the Praise & Worship time, sometimes helps with the Q&A sessions, and forms bonds with our campers.

Happily married to her amazing husband Marc since 2018, they reside in Georgia with their beautiful baby girl, Genesis, and their certifiably insane (but sweet) Boston Terrier, Axel!

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