John 19:33–34 (NKJV)
But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break His legs. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.
Time out, athletes pass out from dehydration all the time. It’s not unheard of for a doctor to stick an IV into an athlete on the sidelines.
Right. They stick an IV in because it’s a medical emergency, but Jesus didn’t get an IV; He got a spear in his side. That finished Him off for sure—and the swoon theory along with Him. John 19:34 says,
But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. (NKJV)
Wait. You bleed when you’re stabbed. What’s up with the water?
In pages 137–143 of Zugibe’s book, he explains that the “water” is actually pleural effusion from the pleura sac surrounding one of Jesus’s lungs. Not being modern doctors, Jesus’s followers couldn’t possibly have known this unless they saw it.
Couldn’t the emission of blood and water have been common knowledge because popping the corpse in the side with a spear was normal.
That doesn’t make sense. There’s absolutely no historical evidence to support it either.
It doesn’t fit with what we know about the Roman practice of crucifixion. Rome wasn’t in a hurry to get people down off the cross. Remember, the purpose of crucifixion was deterrence.
Why not just leave them up there for a while? An empty cross doesn’t have the visual impact of one with a person on it, even a lifeless one.
Thus, leaving them up increases the deterrent effect, especially after a few days. Like Martha said to Jesus about her brother Lazarus after he’d been dead for a few days (John 11:39, King James translation),
He stinketh.
I’ve heard that’s the worst smell on earth. It’s why cops can bring cigars to some scenes—to cover up the smell.
Any Roman soldier given the task of removing a corpse from a cross wouldn’t want to turn it into a wet slimy one by poking holes in it.
This made Joseph of Arimathea’s job that much worse. It was gross enough without that, and this was just as depression was setting in among Jesus’s followers. They did not yet understand the plan. To them, it looked like the whole enterprise had just unraveled.
Yeah. I get that they were depressed. Who wouldn’t be?
But what about the mistaken identity theory—that the Romans crucified the wrong guy.
That doesn’t fit what happened next in countless ways, most obviously this incident.
Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord.”
So he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.”
And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!” Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.”
And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” — John 20:24–28 (NKJV)
So?
The point is that without the holes in Jesus’s body, his appearance wouldn’t have had the shock value needed to overcome everyone’s depression. Jesus claimed to be God, and God can’t die. They didn’t understand incarnation yet—how He could die.
So, when Jesus died, the whole movement pretty much died with him. Everyone was just sitting around stone-faced wondering how they could have been so wrong.
Only a “holey Jesus” (pun intended) could reverse this. Only that could move them to a level of commitment that prepared them for martyrdom.
There’s just no way that the Romans crucified somebody else. Then Jesus wouldn’t have had the holes to show to His followers.
That’s all well and good, but it still doesn’t compare with the absurdity of someone being raised from the dead.
You’re right. As long as your mind isn’t open to that possibility, nothing I say can change that.
Still, let’s keep going.
See you tomorrow.
