St. Paul says: "Jews look for signs, Greeks look for wisdom, but I proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles."
The crucifixion was not a way to put someone to death quickly. The are other more efficient ways. The crucifixion, however, was meant to prolong pain and suffering. It was designed to inflict the maximum amount of pain upon the individual before taking the life. A person who is crucified could hang on the cross for many days. As long as they had strength in their legs to hold up their body, they could still breathe. That is why, to hasten the death, the soldiers broke the legs of the two people that were crucified with Christ.
Also, the crucifixion was not done in private. It was done in public for everyone to see. It was meant to publicly humiliate the individual. When someone is crucified, a subtle message of fear was sent to all. Everyone walking by, can see the person on the cross. So crucifixion was to torture a person physically, and shame them publicly. Using the fear tactic, crucifixion controlled the crowds to prevent any kinds of rebellion. It was a violent way to control people.
I remember when I was visiting a parishioner in Mt Vernon Wa. He and his family had a small farm. He shared with me that Blue Jays were eating his crops. So to prevent them from coming, he put out a trap and caught one of them. He killed it and hung it upside down near the farm. After that the Blue Jays never came to harm his crops. It solved his problem. This story reminded me of the crucifixion.
Overtime, the crucifixion became something different than it was originally intended. It became a symbol of God's love. St. John says: "For God so love the world, that he gave his only beloved Son so that all who believe in him may not perish but may have eternal life."
Christ died at the Divine Mercy hour which is 3pm on Friday afternoon. He hung upon the cross for about three hours. After his death, the soldiers broke the legs of the other two, but when he came to Christ, he noticed that Christ had already died. Instead of breaking the legs, he took a spear and thrust it into his heart.
It was St. Faustina that spoke about this horrific act. She described that this is action is worse than the crucifixion itself. It's like the saying, you don't kick a person when they're already down. Christ was already dead, but in order to ensure his death, they thrust a lance into his heart. They had to make sure. It would be sort of like during war time when soldiers were afraid that someone was hiding among the dead bodies, so they would scatter bullets just to make sure.
Blood and water came forth from the sacred heart of Christ. Overtime, reflecting upon the blood and water that emerged from his side, the water signified Baptism. The Blood signified Eucharist. Despite the horrible act, God turned it around, sanctified it, made it holy. It became the source of salvation for the world.
"By the Holy Cross, Christ has redeemed the world."
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