For Me

Good Friday. One of the most significant of all Christian Holy Days. Today in church, the reality hit me once again.... the reality of what Christ endured for me. For me. Knowing that if I was the only one in the whole world who would need a Saviour, he still would have died that brutal death, For me. He did not have to die. He chose to die.

It brought me back to my high school years. We were on a retreat, having a communion service. One of the older girls in the group got up and read a medical account of what Christ went through. Now being in the medical field, that means so much more to me.

The stress he endured was so great, that he suffered from hematohidrosis... he sweat drops of blood. The mental anguish must have been unbearable. He suffered temptation. He suffered from sin - my sin! He suffered from rejection - His Father turned His face away!

He was beaten. He suffered hours of torture. His body was covered in lacerations - open, bloody wounds. Wounds that were so deep that His bones were exposed. The skin on His back was shredded. A crown of thorns was not placed, but rather pushed on to his head. The pain must have been excruciating! He was severely dehydrated... both from the blood loss and from the profuse sweating. He was likely in or near a state we call shock. That alone was enough to kill Him. That was before He was crucified! Then He had to carry His cross!

According to medical experts, the position of the nails in his hands and feet would have pierced the medial nerve...that would cause excruciating pain and burning to shoot though His spinal column. His hands would have become paralyzed.The weight of His body was held on the nails in His hands. He would have shifted His weight with His feet to relieve the pain in his hands and arms... it would only cause Him more pain in the wounds in His feet, as well as to his skinless back as it rubbed against the rough timber. Not to mention the muscle cramps from having His arms extended for so long. As His legs gave out, His shoulders would have become dislocated.

Experts also say that the way a body is positioned on a cross makes it incredibly difficult to breathe. When your weight is being carried by your arms, your pectoral and intercostal muscles become useless... making breathing very difficult. His breaths would have been short... gasping... as carbon dioxide began to build up in His system. His lungs would fill with fluid. His heart would give out.

What Christ experienced is too horrible to even think about. It is sobering. It is painful. It brings me to my knees, humbled. "One doctor has called it “a symphony of pain” produced by every movement, with every breath; even a slight breeze on his skin could bring screaming pain at this point."

For me. For me. He did this for me.