by Allen Dvorak
A recent television program detailed the practice of people being crucified in imitation of Jesus. The camera panned men tied to crosses with large nails driven through their hands. The narrator commented that each person spent only a few minutes on the cross and that no one had died from these mock crucifixions despite the limited medical care provided after the ordeal. He noted that those who had been crucified blended into the crowd after being taken down from the cross.
I purposefully used the phrase “mock crucifixion”. In the time of Jesus, crucifixion was not just a means of torturing an individual, it was a method of execution! It was common for a man to be scourged or beaten prior to crucifixion in order to weaken him, but crucifixion was designed to be a relatively slow, lingering death. Death by crucifixion was often the result of slow asphyxiation. The victim was nailed on a cross in such a fashion that he must push against the nails in his feet and/or pull against the nails in his wrists to be able to breathe. As his muscles tired and cramped, his respiration became more difficult and shallow. According to historians, such a death could take days, depending upon circumstances (physical strength, type of cross, severity of scourging, etc.). Jesus wasn’t simply tied to a cross and carefully nailed so that He could be taken off of the cross a few minutes later after He had suffered some pain.
Jesus said that anyone who desired to be His disciple should take up his cross and follow Him (Matthew 16:24; Luke 14:27). He was not referring to the “mock crucifixion” which I have described. He meant that a man had to put to death his own sinful desires, i.e. die to himself. Paul described such a death: “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).
We must crucify “the flesh with its passions and desires” (Galatians 5:24). When a person submits to the will of Christ, allowing the Word of God to regulate his life completely, only then has he denied himself, i.e., crucified self (Mark 8:34). This is the death that Jesus wants, rather than some brief show of bravado in front of a crowd.
It may seem a greater sign of commitment to have nails driven through one’s hands, but the truth is that such “dedication” need only last a few minutes and then the nails are removed and the hands bandaged (according to the television program). Crucifying self involves the transformation of one’s life. It is easier to suffer pain of being nailed for a few moments than to live one’s entire life in righteous service to Jesus! Those who crucify self will stand out from the world.
~via Gospel Power, Vol. 12, No. 27, July 3, 2005