Jesus of Nazareth: What He Wanted, Who He Was

The hill on which Jesus was executed bore the name “Golgotha,” simply translated “skull [hill]” (Mark 15:22), not because the skulls of people previously executed were lying around—something that would have been unthinkable in a place subject to Jewish laws of purity—but because the hill had the form of a skull. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre stands today on the place where Jesus died. As soundings in the area in 1961 have shown, there was in the time of Jesus an abandoned quarry from the royal period on the site, and to the west of this former quarry some private graves had been cut into the layers of stone. Eastward, in the direction of the city, a remaining part of the cliff arose; this was the “skull.” Between the two were gardens (cf. John 19:41; 20:15). This makes it clear that we have to imagine the cliffs of Golgotha and their surroundings as lying outside the city walls as they were at that time. Excavations beneath the Church of the Redeemer have clarified the course of the walls. There was only a small valley between the western wall of Jerusalem and the height of Golgotha. Jesus’ walk with the cross from the praetorium to the city wall, and from there to the place of execution, was not very long, assuming, of course, that the shortest way was chosen.

According to Mark the execution squad arrived at Golgotha in the forenoon; at about the third hour—that is, around nine o’clock—they nailed Jesus to the cross there. The gospels do not describe the crucifixion, with its misery and fearful suffering. The tact and stylistic feelings of the early church forbade it. Mark writes soberly and with extreme brevity: “and they crucified him” (15:24). Immediately before this Jesus was offered wine mixed with myrrh (Mark 15:23). This was an anesthetizing drink that, by Jewish custom, was given to condemned people before their execution.¹⁶ The wine, with strong herbs mixed in, was supposed to make the pain of execution somewhat more bearable. But Jesus refused the wine.

This must be distinguished from a later event, when Jesus was already hanging on the cross and in his death struggle. At that point one of the bystanders tried to give Jesus something to drink by impaling a sponge on the end of a rod, soaking the sponge with sour wine, and holding it to Jesus’ mouth (Mark 15:36). We can no longer be certain whether that person acted out of pity for Jesus or only wanted to refresh him in order to extend his death agony. But the incident clearly shows that Jesus was nailed to a high cross; the upright must have been tall and strong and was probably anchored firmly in the ground for long-term use.

After Jesus was nailed to the cross, the soldiers divided his clothing among themselves (Mark 15:24). One of the unwritten rules for execution squads was that they were permitted to take for themselves the property a condemned person wore to execution. In Jesus’ case that would have been his outer and inner garments, his belt, sandals, and perhaps a headcloth.

While hanging on the cross Jesus was derided by passersby—the city wall was not far away—and by spectators who had gathered at the place of execution. As in the court of the praetorium, the scoffing was primarily about his messianic assertion, incorporated in the titulus, “the King of the Jews.” Thus, for example, some said, “Let the Messiah, the King of Israel, come down from the cross now, so that we may see and believe!” (Mark 15:32). The background of this mockery was the idea that Jesus’ crucifixion was the tangible refutation of his claim. The true messiah would never hang on a cross and suffer; he would destroy his opponents.

According to Mark, Jesus prayed the beginning of Psalm 22 at the ninth hour (that is, about three in the afternoon) in a loud voice: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Some of the bystanders misunderstood this prayer as a call for Elijah. It was probably already the case at that time that Elijah was seen as an aid at the hour of death. Because Jesus cried out the beginning of Psalm 22 in Aramaic (“Eloi, eloi”) there must have been some kind of twisting of his cry; the mockery of Jesus continues.