It is indeed significant that our English word excruciating comes from the Latin excruciatus, “out of the cross.” That, and much more, is what our Savior endured for all those of us who have and will believe the Gospel.

37 Ὁ φιλῶν πατέρα ἢ μητέρα ὑπὲρ ἐμὲ οὐκ ἔστιν μου ἄξιος, καὶ ὁ φιλῶν υἱὸν ἢ θυγατέρα ὑπὲρ ἐμὲ οὐκ ἔστιν μου ἄξιος· 38 καὶ ὃς οὐ λαμβάνει τὸν σταυρὸν αὐτοῦ καὶ ἀκολουθεῖ ὀπίσω μου, οὐκ ἔστιν μου ἄξιος. 39 ὁ εὑρὼν τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ ἀπολέσει αὐτήν, καὶ ὁ ἀπολέσας τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ ἕνεκεν ἐμοῦ εὑρήσει αὐτήν. Matthew 10:37-39 (NA28)

37 The one who  loves a father or mother more than Me is not worthy of me and the one loving a son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 And the one who does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. 39 The one who has found his life will lose it and the one who has lost lost his life because of me will find it. Matthew 10:37-39 (translated from the NA28 Greek text)

When we say, “The Cross,” we state the very focal point of history. The Old Testament points to it, the New Testament presents it, and the Christian proclaims it. It is the cross that is our salvation, not religion. A study of the cross as used in crucifixion is a sobering exercise. Several years ago my wife and I took our small group, made up of young singles, to Mel Gibson’s new movie “The Passion of Christ.” I believe that was in either 2004 or 2005. In any case, the way the movie presented how our Lord was treated all through his arrest, trial and crucifixion was one of the most brutal things I have ever seen. I was not the only person weeping throughout that movie.

Crucifixion was, without question, the cruelest, the most disgraceful, barbaric, and excruciating execution ever devised by a depraved mind. It was probably invented by the Persians, who used it because it would not defile the ground, which they consecrated to their god Ormuzd. Alexander the Great introduced it to Egypt and Carthage, and the Romans seem to have picked it from the Carthaginians and “perfected” it. It was reserved for slaves, foreigners, revolutionaries, and the vilest of criminals.

While practices varied in specific cultures, archaeology indicates that the Romans preferred the “low Tau” cross. Unlike the traditional shape, this cross looked like a “capital T,” with the upright post called the “stipes” and the crossbar called the “patibulum.” The patibulum alone, which our Lord was forced to carry in his already weakened state, weighed from seventy-five to one hundred pounds.

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