JESUS IN FRONT OF HEROD AND PILATE

When the priests were finished examining Jesus, they to0k him to Pontius Pilate who was the fifth governor of the Roman province of Judaea, serving under the authority of Emperor Tiberius. 

 Pilate was reluctant to execute Jesus for two reasons. He didn’t see how Jesus was a danger to Rome and he despised the priests.

The Jewish elders continued to ask  Pilate to judge and condemn Jesus, accusing Jesus of making false claims of being a king. While questioning Jesus about the claim of being the King of the Jews,

Pilate realized that Jesus was a Galilean since he was born in Nazareth and therefore Jesus was under King Herod's jurisdiction. Since Herod already happened to be in Jerusalem at that time, Pilate decided to send Jesus to Herod to be tried by him.

Herod Antipas (the same man who had previously ordered the death of John the Baptist) had wanted to see Jesus for a long time, hoping to observe one of the miracles of Jesus. However, Jesus said nothing in response to Herod's questions, or the vehement accusations of the chief priests and the scribes who were present at that moment.

Herod Antipas (the same man who had previously ordered the death of John the Baptist and had wanted to see Jesus for a long time, hoping to observe one of the miracles of Jesus he had previously performed. However, Jesus said nothing in response to Herod's questions, or the vehement accusations of the chief priests and the scribes who were in attendance. 

In the previous article I wrote, I said that Jesus wanted to be crucified so that he and everyone else would know if he was really the Son of God and the expected   messiah if God   actually sent  an   army of angels to rescue him from the cross as per the earlier scriptures.  

Herod and his soldiers mocked Jesus, put a gorgeous red robe on him, as the King of the Jews, and sent him back to Pilate.

Herod did not condemn Jesus, and instead attributeed that conclusion to Pilate who then called together the Jewish elders, and said to them.

"I having examined him before you, found no fault in this man touching those things whereof ye accuse him nor has Herod for he sent him back unto us and I see nothing worthy of death being done to him.”

That infuriated the priests and the crowd that followed them. The chief priest yelled st Pilate  telling him that the emperor would be displeased  when he lesrned that he released a man who claimed that he was the king of all the Jews in the land. The emperor would be displeased iif he learned Jesus claimed that he ws the king  of all the Jews in the land.  Pilate was frightened so he came up with what he believed would solve his problem.

He gave an order to bring up a thief that had already been sentenced  to death  by crucifixion.  His name was Barabbas. He was part  of  fa group of men who killed Roman soldiers during a minor revolt.

 Pilate said to the crowd, “There  is the custom in your Passover in this land that I can spare the life of a condemned man. Who shall I spare and who should be crucified?”

The priests and the rabble behind them screamed repeatedly,  “Crucify Jesus. Crucify Jesus.”

Pilate e had no other choice but to keep his word to the priests and the rabble so he ordered  that  Jesus was to be crucified and the thief was to be set free.  Some sources said that Barabbas took part in another revolt against the Romans, and was killed.

Pilot publically washed his hands as to imply that the death of Jesus was not of his doing but that of the priests.  

It is customary of s0k3  people nowadays to tell people that they are not going  to help them any  more by saying, “I am washing my hands of you.”

THE WHIPPING OF JESUS

Flogging was a legal preliminary to every Roman execution and only women and Roman senators or soldiers (except in cases of desertion) were exempt. The usual instrument was a short whip with several single or braided leather thongs of variable lengths, in which small iron balls or sharp pieces of sheep bones were tied at intervals. For scourging, the man was stripped of his clothing, and his hands were tied to an upright post. The back, buttocks, and legs were flogged either by one or two soldiers.

Jesus was naked when he was secured ro an upright post. I don’t know how long he was whipped but it was the custom in that era that Jews were to be flogged 39 times. When the flogging was over,  he was bleeding all over his back, buttocks and legs.

One of the soldiers made a crown of thorns and pushed the thorns into his scalp.

Then he had to carry the cross-piece of the cross on his shoulders while he dragged the post behind him. He  walked some considerable distance slong the streets of the old city of Jerusalem

Jesus carried his cross however Simon of Cyrene, who was ordered by the soldiers from the crowd to help Jesus drag the post behind him. Jesus’ mother Mary and his disciple Mark were with Jesus as he walked to his death. Veronica.a follower  wiped the face of Jesus. He fell a second time. Jesus met the daughters of Jerusalem  and finally Jesus fell the third time

They walked through an opening in the wall that was next to the hill where the condemned were crucified.

My wife and I visited the place where he was executed. We were confused because the huge church built centuries later was located inside the new wall that surrounded the city.

Later I learned that the original wall was destroyed by the Roman army years later during the Jewish revolt.  

THE CRUCIFIXION OF JESUS 


The assumption of the use of a two-beamed cross does not determine the number of nails used in the crucifixion and some theories suggest three nails while others suggest four nails I am convinced that three nails  were used. I will explain why.

After he was lain on the ground, two nails were banged into his wrists. Then the cross-beam was secured in a notch carved near the top of the beam. When the beam and cross beam were hoisted  upwards and the base dropped in a hole, both of his feet were banged by a single nail onto the lower part of the post.

Jesus was no fool. He knew that condemned prisoners could hang on their crosses for days before they died. But he also knew that anyone crucified on the Friday before the beginning of the Passover took place at four in the afternoon, he would be put to death and removed from the cross.  

Now I want to bring to your attention two vvery  important facts.

You remember that he believed that if he was the Son of God and the expected Messiah. If God dent an army of Angels to rescue him. That would  be proof that he really was the Son of God and the expected Messiah.

While he was suffering on the cross, it became obvious to him that no angels were coming to rescue him. That is when he cried out, “Father. Why have you forsaken me?”

That is when he realized that he was not the Son of God or the expected Messiah. His plan to be crucified and all that suffering he endured to prove this theory was for naught. 

He also knew that at four in the afternoon, the soldiers would break his lower legs with an iron bar so that he wouldn’t be able to continue breathing.

Here is another fascination fact.

In order for the victim on the crossto breathe. he has  to stand up straight which would be would be very  painful to their feet. If they slouched on the cross, they would suffocate. I will explain.

The diaphragm which is in our lower abdomen is shaped like a dome and is at its maximum height when it is relaxed. This shape reduces the volume in the chest cavity. As the diaphragm contracts, the diaphragm moves downward and the intercostal muscles move outward. These actions increase volume in the chest cavity and lower air pressure within the lungs. The lower air pressure in the lungs causes air to be drawn into the lungs through the nasal passages until the pressure differences equalize. When the diaphragm relaxes again, space within the chest cavity decreases and the air is forced out of the lungs.

However if our muscles in our belly press hard on the bottom of  our diaphragm, we cannot  exhale and if we can’t exhale, we can’t breathe in air  ether.

Those who are crucified  would  eventually die when they fell asleep because  they would  be in a slouched  position because their muscles from their upper arm to their diaphragms would  push their diaphragms upwards thereby causing them to fail to exhale and subsequently  fail to breathe in air.

Before Jesus died, he said, “Forgive them Lord for they know not what they do.”

A soldier heard what Jesus had said and concluded that he was really a decent man. For this reason n, he said, “Surely this man is a son of God.” That expression was often used by the Jews about decent men who care for others.

he moment finally arrived when he would purposely put himself to death by suffocation. It was a better death that having his legs broken first.

His final words were. “It is finished”.  Then he purposely suffocated  himself.

One of of the soldiers thrust the tip of his spear into Jesus’ chest. His blood didn’t squirt out because his heart had stopped beating. Jesus was now dead.