Where Did Jesus Die? — Page 221
Appendix to Sixth Edition 221 coming Sabbath so they asked Pilate to have them taken down. The soldiers accordingly came to the first of his fellow victims and to the second, and broke their legs; but when they came to Jesus, they found that he was already dead, so they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers stabbed his side with a lance, and at once there was a flow of blood and water. Sympathetic The soldiers were acting under Pilate’s orders, and presumably would have forthwith taken down the bodies. (The centurion, sympathetic to Jesus, would probably have seen that it was done promptly). Renan says that when Joseph asked Pilate for Jesus’ body, it had already been taken down. It is certain that the soldiers did not break his legs—the usual method of applying the coup- de-grace to victims. Next, how did it happen that blood flowed from the wound? In a dead body, blood will ooze from cut veins, but there is not the flow of blood suggested by St. John’s description. (In operating for cardiac arrest, a flow would rightly be taken as evidence that the heart was still beating, and the surgeon would not proceed to open the chest. ) In fainting, this is just what would be expected, with the small muscle arteries dilated. The lance could hardly have failed to pierce muscle, and the wound was probably well below heart level, where blood pressure would be appreciable even in a faint. Apart from the likeness of the faint to death, death is not always easily diagnosed: mistakes are made even today. I know