Have you ever felt excruciating pain?
The word “excruciating” is an interesting word. Coming from Latin, it literally means “from the cross.” Excruciating pain is literally what Jesus suffered from the cross.
A number of years ago, a doctor researched crucifixion to explain medically what Jesus felt and experienced from the cross. The following is an excerpt from what he wrote about Jesus’ final hours: “As the arms fatigue, cramps sweep through his muscles, knotting them in deep, relentless, throbbing pain. With these cramps comes the inability to push himself upward to breathe. Air can be drawn into the lungs but not exhaled. He fights to raise himself to get even one small breath. Finally, carbon dioxide builds up in the lungs and bloodstream, and the cramps partially subside. Spasmodically, he can push himself upward to exhale and bring in life-giving oxygen. Hours of limitless pain, cycles of twisting, joint-wrenching cramps, intermittent partial asphyxiation, searing pain as tissue is torn from his lacerated back as he moves up and down against rough timber. Then another agony begins: a crushing pain deep in his chest as the pericardium slowly fills with serum and begins to compress the heart. It’s now almost over. The loss of tissue fluids has reached a critical level - the compressed heart is struggling to pump heavy, thick, sluggish blood into the tissues, and the tortured lungs are making frantic efforts to gasp in small gulps of air.” As Jesus slowly choked to death under the weight of his own body, he suffered excruciating pain that few people in the history of the world could ever comprehend.
