Where Did Jesus Die? — Page 75
Chapter Six—Modern Medical Opinion 75 is meant that he died. The centurion thought the same; otherwise he would have broken his bones. People can die from a mere apparent nothing. They can die of fright and shock. But few people died through crucifixion. Eusebius has related scenes from the prosecution of Diocletianus, and he says that crucified persons died after several days from exhaustion, hunger, or attacks by birds of prey or other wild animals. The robbers who were crucified with Jesus were alive in the evening, and the soldiers had to club them. When Joseph told Pilate that Jesus was dead, he did not believe it. He questioned the centurion, as Pilate had experience in these things. Jesus could have died from exhaustion and haemorrhage, but it is not likely that he did. If Jesus had been dead no blood would have come. John who relates this incident, knew perhaps, the impor- tance of this phenomenon. Those who understood it later on dared not speak of it. Jesus had been scourged in the morning. We know that a strong irritation of the skin can provoke oedema and blisters. There is a watery exudate which penetrates the skin and forms small or big blisters. This is called: Epanchments Traumatiques de serosite. De coloment de la peau. One of the soldiers saw the blisters and scratched one of them, perhaps out of mischief, per- haps a bit unwary, so that he wounded Jesus, and blood and water came out. Now Jesus was apparently dead, unconscious. Poor ignorant men did not understand that Jesus was not dead. They seem to have buried him in a temporary tomb, ‘here they laid him because the grave