Some people–Christians and non-Christians alike–simply shake their heads when they hear the assertion that Jesus bore the worst physical pain any human being has ever experienced when he was crucified on that old rugged cross.
Their sentiment, however, is not exactly misled.
For example, the cruel method of crucifixion was not just something the Romans developed for Jesus specifically, but was a practice they frequently used to punish criminals in general. In fact, in Jesus’ very own crucifixion, two other criminals hung beside him on their own respective crosses, receiving the same physical torment. In other words, because crucifixion was the popular punishment of choice in that day, that means it’s highly likely that many others experienced the same degree of physical pain that Jesus did, too. Also, while crucifixion has been historically regarded as the most painful form of torture, who’s to say that at least someone has not experienced a worse physical torture than that of the crucifixion?
So, if the physical torment of Jesus’ crucifixion was indeed on par with the physical torment of others who have been executed in human history–and maybe even less intense than a few of those tortured and killed–why is the event of Jesus’ passion particularly projected as drastically worse or more significant than others who have physically suffered in equal or maybe greater proportions?
Theologian J. I. Packer approaches this legitimate question by explaining that the uniqueness, significance, and degree of pain to Jesus’ torment was not primarily physical (however great!), but instead, primarily spiritual and mental. Packer says,
“On the cross Jesus lost all the good that he had before: all sense of his Fathers presence and love, all sense of physical, mental and spiritual well-being, all enjoyment of God and of created things, all ease and solace of friendship, were taken from him, and in their place was nothing but loneliness, pain, a killing sense of human malice and callousness, and a horror of great spiritual darkness. The physical pain, though great (for crucifixion remains the cruelest form of judicial execution that the world has ever known), was yet only a small part of the story; Jesus’ chief sufferings were mental and spiritual, and what was packed into less than four hundred minutes was an eternity of agony—agony such that each minute was an eternity in itself, as mental sufferers know that individual minutes can be.”†
Indeed, the dimension of Jesus’ torment exceeded the physical realm and absorbed an eternity of spiritual torment for our deserved sins. His physical death, the crucifixion, was certainly not without pain–but it was only the small, visible tip of an exceedingly larger, invisible torment underneath, which was spiritual and mental in nature. Truly, several hours of brutal physical pain was a mere taste of the eternity of spiritual pain he would take unto himself.
Thus, the objections are not misled: what is 8 hours of physical pain to an eternal, infinite God? 8 hours of pain is nothing for a being who has existed for over 800 trillion years! Correct!… kinda. But in order to truly understand his suffering, you must now talk of his spiritual and mental suffering, which accounted for experiencing the infinite degree and eternal decree of sin’s spiritual punishment. His suffering–however only 8 hours or so–was nothing short of experiencing the full weight of spiritual agony of hell for eternity.
The implications, while vast, are startling: if He suffered that much for us, then how much does He love us? And how much then, is He worthy of our surrender and adoration?
Knowing the degree of how much someone will suffer to get something truly shows the degree of how precious that something is to that Person. Jesus makes it clear how far he went for us in order to make clear how much he loves us.
Ever doubt God’s love for you?
Look at his scarred, pierced hands.
Even unto an eternity of hell, it’s proof that he wasn’t going to let go of you.
“For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” –Romans 5:7-11
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† J. I. Packer, Knowing God. iBooks, p. 529
