him!’” Pilate knew his efforts weren’t getting him anywhere. Rather they were causing the crowd to get excited. “He took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. ‘I am innocent of this man’s blood,’ he said. ‘It is your responsibility!’” Everyone responded, “Let his blood be on us and on our children!” Barabbas was set free to the crowd, and Jesus was “flogged” and “crucified”. Flogging was a punishment well known in Roman execution. The instrument most commonly used was a whip, short in length with several single or braided leather thongs varying in length that contained sharp pieces of sheep bones or tiny iron balls. For this punishment, the man was stripped naked and tied by the hand to an upright post. Two soldiers, or one who alternated positions, would flog the back, buttocks and legs of their prisoner. Depending on the character of the soldiers the severity of the flogging could vary. The purpose of flogging was to weaken the victim to the point where they were just about to collapse or die. Often times after the flogging, the soldiers would jeer at the victim . By custom the condemned man was forced to carry his cross, after being flogged, to the place of crucifixion. In Matthew 27: 32-34 it says, “As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross.” Jesus was probably so severely beaten that he could not carry his own cross. “They came to a place called Golgotha (which means The place of the skull). There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed will gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it.” Once the victim reaches the place of crucifixion- in Jesus case it was Golgotha- he is given a drink of wine mixed with myrrh, also known as gall. Gall is considered a mild analgesic. Jesus’ hands and feet were nailed to the cross. It to...
