Good Friday

And so it is Good Friday. It's about two in the afternoon in these parts. By Mark's account, Jesus has been on the cross for about five hours, since 9 AM. The entire earth was plunged into darkness about two hours ago. In about an hour, Jesus' life will end with a loud cry. Crucified on the third hour; the world goes dark on the sixth hour; Jesus dies on the ninth hour.

To a Jewish audience of that era, those times are significant and symbolic. If the account had said that these events occurred on, say, the first hour, the fourth hour and the seventh hour, the significance would not have been as great. But these events are noted as having occurred on the third, the sixth and the ninth hours, and this would have been flashing lights and clanging bells to a Jewish readership. Those were the Jewish hours of prayer. It's not coincidence that the writers of the Gospels - Jews all - would have emphasized those hours.

It's two hours since the earth has gone black. I can't imagine how terrifying that would have been. Sure, everyone knew about solar eclipses, but no solar eclipse lasts for two hours. We can imagine the fear in Jerusalem, while on the near outskirts of town, on a hill called Golgotha, three convicted criminals hang on crosses. The end is near.

Crucifixion is one of the cruelest, most painful forms of execution that the human mind has conceived. The nails through the palms thing wouldn't work; the nails would work their way through a part of your hand where there aro no bones to support the weight of a human body. The nails may be hammered through the palms, but rope would also be used to tie the wrists. There would be a foot support there, but this was not for comfort. It was to prolong the agony. Crucifixion puts the body into such a contorted position that the only way the victim could exhale would be to push down on his or her feet. Thus, the foot support just to be sure you could continue to exhale.

Crucifixion was not a Jewish form of execution. It was Roman, although it seems the Persians thought of it first. The Romans rarely, if ever, inflicted crucifixion on Roman citizens. Paul, being a Roman citizen, was executed by beheading. Peter, not a citizen, was crucified. Crucified upside down, as legend has it.

Three crosses on a hill. The guy in the middle - Yeshua, or Jesus to English speakers - had gone through considerable suffering before he was crucified. He was scourged, and not everyone survived scourging. He was mocked, and a crown of thorns was placed on his head. Ever get your thumb pricked by one thorn? Then he was made to carry his own cross,  Not light, and at one point the Romans compel a passer-by, Simon, a Cyrenean, to carry Jesus' cross.

Then, finally, Golgotha. The crucifixion. And the miracle.

Jesus dies six hours after crucifixion. Healthy adult males usually didn't expire that soon. Death for the crucified could linger for days. It surely seemed that Jesus himself decided when His work was finished. That just didn't happen at crucifixions.

By Mark's account Jesus died with a loud cry. That didn't happen at crucifixions, either. Suffocation was the usual eventual cause of death, but it was in a race with thirst. Expiration would have occurred silently, or with a very slight gasp. No loud cries.

The Roman guard would have seen hundreds of crucifixions. The Romans were not chintzy with their wood when they thought crucifixions were called for. And the Roman guard would have known that this deciding on your own when you're done, this dying with a loud cry, this darkness covering the earth as though God Himself didn't want to see this - there was a lot about THIS crucifixion that just wasn't normal.

Then the veil of the temple was torn in two, top to bottom. THAT just didn't happen either. Yes, this was very unusual.

Hemingway wrote a story centered around a character who was a member of the Roman cohort. It was set years later, and a theme was that this hardened guard who had participated in a lot of executionas never got over this one. Never got past asking, "Who was this? What did we do?"

Have we answered, even yet?

So, Jesus dies on the ninth hour of Good Friday. Despite all the odd stuff, he is dead. Obviously, dead. Joseph of Arimathea went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Pilate knew that death by crucifixion wasn't usually that quick, so he wondered, but he ascertained that Jesus was dead. And he granted Joseph the body. The body was buried, and those who buried it noted the place where they buried it.

Jesus was dead. Gone. This person who comforted the afflicted and afflicted the comfortable was no longer a thorn in the side of Roman or Pharisee or Sadduccee or Scribe.

Dead. Gone. Finis.