The Night Before the Crucifixion

We saw yesterday that scourging definitely weakened the victim before he was crucified. While this was agonizing, it did speed up the whole process...The worse the scourging, the weaker the victim, the faster the death once hung on the cross. But, Jesus was in a relatively weakened state even BEFORE He was scourged.

After the Last Supper, Jesus and His disciples walked a little over a mile to the Garden of Gethsemane. There, He stayed awake to pray. The Bible tells us that He was in agony. _{Luke 22:44}. He did not want to go through what He knew He was about to. _{Luke 22:42}. He was so emotionally tormented, that His "sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground". _{Luke 22:44}. There is actually a medical entity called hemohidrosis [or hematidrosis], which means bloody sweat. It is a rare condition that occurs in those under severe emotional stress and in those with bleeding disorders. The blood vessels around the sweat glands rupture and bleed into them. The blood then mixes with the sweat and makes its way to the surface of the skin. While there usually is not a large amount of blood lost, it does make the skin more sensitive. Thus, we are told not only with words, but with a physiologic response that Jesus was extremely emotionally burdened. He had not slept. And, the beating had begun.

Shortly after midnight, Jesus was arrested and taken before members of the Sanhedrin. He was tried throughout the night and found guilty of blasphemy. Although in Jewish culture, blasphemy was punishable by death, an order for execution had to come from the Roman governance. Thus, Jesus as then turned over to Roman officials, Pontius Pilate and Herod, between whom He was walked back and forth undergoing additional trials. Although the Romans made no legal charge against Jesus, Pilate had Him scourged. This was not enough for the Jewish religious leaders, and they and others demanded that Jesus be crucified.

In the 12 hours preceding His scourging and crucifixion, Jesus suffered severe emotional stress, had a sleepless night, walked over 2.5 miles to and from all His trials and was beaten and mocked. He was, therefore, especially vulnerable to what was about to happen...

-In Christ

Reference:

Edwards, WD. On the Physical Death of Jesus. Journal of the American Medical Association. Vol 256. March, 1986.