Rome Made the Time Right
The events surrounding the death of Archduke Franz Ferdinand were certainly influential. His assassination, by a young member of a terrorist organization, was, in reality, only loosely connected to the issues behind WWI. Yet, it remains one of the most well-known deaths in history because of it’s impeccable timing to heighten tensions in Europe for the first World War. Christians know of another important death: that of the savior Jesus Christ. His death, unlike Ferdinand’s, had everything to do with the spiritual war between sin and grace. But He too needed to die at the right time: during the era of the Romans. Pilate, the Roman crucifixion process, and burial traditions in Roman times helped to make the …show more content…
This gruesome execution method draws important parallels with the consequences of sin. Crucifixion was dubbed “the most cruel and hideous of tortures” by the Roman politician Cicero (Durant 572). Although many civilizations before Rome had used crucifixion to execute criminals, the Romans really perfected their crucifixion methods. For example, a quaternio, or a group of four men, were assigned to each criminal to ensure that no hint of mercy was shown (O’Reilly 303). After the offending lawbreakers were nailed to the cross, they would undergo up to two or three days of excruciating pain until their hearts stopped or until the quaternio finished them off (Durant 572). God chose a time when crucifixion was regularly used to kill criminals because the torture and humiliation experienced through this death is the strongest example in history. Just as Rome’s theme seems to be, “Rome is all-powerful. Violate its law and you will die a grisly death” (O’Reilly 305), God’s message is “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Yet, whatever pain Jesus experienced through crucifixion doesn’t hold a candle to the utter abandonment and despair he felt as God forsook him. The utter inhumanity and cruel reality of crucifixion pertains to God’s just consequences of
The events surrounding the death of Archduke Franz Ferdinand were certainly influential. His assassination, by a young member of a terrorist organization, was, in reality, only loosely connected to the issues behind WWI. Yet, it remains one of the most well-known deaths in history because of it’s impeccable timing to heighten tensions in Europe for the first World War. Christians know of another important death: that of the savior Jesus Christ. His death, unlike Ferdinand’s, had everything to do with the spiritual war between sin and grace. But He too needed to die at the right time: during the era of the Romans. Pilate, the Roman crucifixion process, and burial traditions in Roman times helped to make the …show more content…
This gruesome execution method draws important parallels with the consequences of sin. Crucifixion was dubbed “the most cruel and hideous of tortures” by the Roman politician Cicero (Durant 572). Although many civilizations before Rome had used crucifixion to execute criminals, the Romans really perfected their crucifixion methods. For example, a quaternio, or a group of four men, were assigned to each criminal to ensure that no hint of mercy was shown (O’Reilly 303). After the offending lawbreakers were nailed to the cross, they would undergo up to two or three days of excruciating pain until their hearts stopped or until the quaternio finished them off (Durant 572). God chose a time when crucifixion was regularly used to kill criminals because the torture and humiliation experienced through this death is the strongest example in history. Just as Rome’s theme seems to be, “Rome is all-powerful. Violate its law and you will die a grisly death” (O’Reilly 305), God’s message is “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Yet, whatever pain Jesus experienced through crucifixion doesn’t hold a candle to the utter abandonment and despair he felt as God forsook him. The utter inhumanity and cruel reality of crucifixion pertains to God’s just consequences of