What Really Killed Jesus? Mark 15 Redux

XTALK, the historical Jesus and early Christianity discussion group, has been discussing a recent article in the Jerusalem Post....Jim West originally posted the link:

>A clot on the lung, not blood loss.
>
> the JP has the story
>
>

> Jim

KILMON: Normally crucifixion was a long agonizing death, often taking days and prolongation by offering liquid was part of the process. That Jesus died within a few hours while those crucified with him required crurifragium is certainly indicative of some acute pathology resulting from the severity of Jesus' "special handling." A pulmonary embolism is, of course, very likely. My opinion, however, leans toward hemothorax caused by the intense concussive assault of the flagrum.

The Crucifixion scene of Jesus is a Markan fiction, a composition tinkered with by the other presenters of the writer's brilliant story. The idea that one could derive such detailed medical knowledge from the fictional construction of the writer of Mark is absurd.

Let's take a look again at the structure of the Crucifixion (blogged earlier here). The Crucifixion scene, as the writer originally presented it, begins, as all Markan structures do, with a scene change.

And they led him out to crucify him. And they compelled a passer-by, Simon of Cyre'ne, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross. And they brought him to the place called Gol'gotha (which means the place of a skull).(RSV)

This is the A bracket of a very large structure. Its complement is Mk 15:40-1.

There were also women looking on from afar, among whom were Mary Mag'dalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salo'me, who, when he was in Galilee, followed him, and ministered to him; and also many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem.

At first glance these do not appear related. Let's break out the parallels:

A: And they led him out to crucify him. And they compelled a passer-by, Simon of Cyre'ne.... the father of Alexander and Rufus,
A': There were also women looking on from afar, among whom were Mary Mag'dalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salo'me,

Here three men oppose three women, and a father of two sons opposes a mother of two sons.

A: who was coming in from the country,
A': when he was in Galilee,

Here country is opposed to Galilee. Simon functions as another double of Jesus, coming in from the country to Jerusalem.

A: to carry his cross.
A': followed him, and ministered to him;

Basically, whoever wants to follow Jesus should take up his cross, and the parallel is perfect here.

A: And they brought him to the place called Gol'gotha (which means the place of a skull).
A': and also many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem.

Golgotha opposes Jerusalem. The writer of Mark does not make Golgotha a hill, though that can be deduced from the meaning of the word. If one thinks of Golgotha as a mount of some kind, we have the common ANE theme of the Cosmic Mountain opposing the City of Zion. But that is probably pushing it too far.

Now we have our A and A' brackets.

A....And they led him out to crucify him. And they compelled a passer-by, Simon of Cyre'ne, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross.And they brought him to the place called Gol'gotha (which means the place of a skull).

A'...There were also women looking on from afar, among whom were Mary Mag'dalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salo'me, who, when he was in Galilee, followed him, and ministered to him; and also many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem.

The B and B' brackets are similarly constructed of opposing elements. While the A-A' set consists of personal names that are most probably fictional, the elements in B-B' appear to be fictions created out of the OT.

B And they offered him wine mingled with myrrh; but he did not take it. And they crucified him, and divided his garments among them, casting lots for them, to decide what each should take

B' And some of the bystanders hearing it said, "Behold, he is calling Eli'jah."And one ran and, filling a sponge full of vinegar, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, "Wait, let us see whether Eli'jah will come to take him down." And Jesus uttered a loud cry, and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that he thus breathed his last, he said, "Truly this man was the Son of God!"

These two brackets roll in ABCD and roll out DCBA. They actually pair off like this.

And they offered him wine mingled with myrrh; but he did not take it.
And some of the bystanders hearing it said, "Behold, he is calling Eli'jah."And one ran and, filling a sponge full of vinegar, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, "Wait, let us see whether Eli'jah will come to take him down."

And they crucified him,
And Jesus uttered a loud cry, and breathed his last.

and divided his garments among them, casting lots for them, to decide what each should take
And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.

[verse missing, probably resembled Matthew 27:36. See previous blog entry on this]
And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that he thus breathed his last, he said, "Truly this man was the Son of God!"

Nothing can be deduced from these details, medically or historically, because the writer has drawn them from the OT.

Our structure now looks like this:

A....And they led him out to crucify him. And they compelled a passer-by, Simon of Cyre'ne, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross.And they brought him to the place called Gol'gotha (which means the place of a skull).

.....B..A...And they offered him wine mingled with myrrh; but he did not take it.
..........B...And they crucified him,
..........C...and divided his garments among them, casting lots for them, to decide what each should take
..........D...[then they sat down and kept watch over him there]

.....B'.A.. And some of the bystanders hearing it said, "Behold, he is calling Eli'jah."And one ran and, filling a sponge full of vinegar, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, "Wait, let us see whether Eli'jah will come to take him down."
..........B...And Jesus uttered a loud cry, and breathed his last.
..........C...And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.
..........D...And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that he thus breathed his last, he said, "Truly this man was the Son of God!"

A'...There were also women looking on from afar, among whom were Mary Mag'dalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salo'me, who, when he was in Galilee, followed him, and ministered to him; and also many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem.

The next two brackets (for the rules for forming brackets, see the excursus at the end of Chapter 1 of my Commentary on Mark)

...............C...And it was the third hour, when they crucified him.

...............C'..And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, "E'lo-i, E'lo-i, la'ma sabach-tha'ni?" which means, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"

The oppositions are strongly thematic. Our accumulating structure looks like this now:

A....And they led him out to crucify him. And they compelled a passer-by, Simon of Cyre'ne, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross.And they brought him to the place called Gol'gotha (which means the place of a skull).

.....B..A...And they offered him wine mingled with myrrh; but he did not take it.
..........B...And they crucified him,
..........C...and divided his garments among them, casting lots for them, to decide what each should take
..........D...[then they sat down and kept watch over him there]

...............C...And it was the third hour, when they crucified him.

...............C'..And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, "E'lo-i, E'lo-i, la'ma sabach-tha'ni?" which means, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"

.....B'.A.. And some of the bystanders hearing it said, "Behold, he is calling Eli'jah."And one ran and, filling a sponge full of vinegar, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, "Wait, let us see whether Eli'jah will come to take him down."
..........B...And Jesus uttered a loud cry, and breathed his last.
..........C...And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.
..........D...And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that he thus breathed his last, he said, "Truly this man was the Son of God!"

A'...There were also women looking on from afar, among whom were Mary Mag'dalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salo'me, who, when he was in Galilee, followed him, and ministered to him; and also many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem.

The next set of brackets is also related, but not as clearly as the last pair.

..................D...And the inscription of the charge against him read, "The King of the Jews."

..................D'..And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.

Here first men acknowledge Jesus King, and then the Heavens acknowledge his royal/divine nature.


A....And they led him out to crucify him. And they compelled a passer-by, Simon of Cyre'ne, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross.And they brought him to the place called Gol'gotha (which means the place of a skull).
.....B..A...And they offered him wine mingled with myrrh; but he did not take it.
..........B...And they crucified him,
..........C...and divided his garments among them, casting lots for them, to decide what each should take
..........D...[then they sat down and kept watch over him there]

...............C...And it was the third hour, when they crucified him.

....................D...And the inscription of the charge against him read, "The King of the Jews."

....................D'..And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.

...............C'..And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, "E'lo-i, E'lo-i, la'ma sabach-tha'ni?" which means, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"

.....B'.A.. And some of the bystanders hearing it said, "Behold, he is calling Eli'jah."And one ran and, filling a sponge full of vinegar, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, "Wait, let us see whether Eli'jah will come to take him down."
..........B...And Jesus uttered a loud cry, and breathed his last.
..........C...And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.
..........D...And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that he thus breathed his last, he said, "Truly this man was the Son of God!"

A'...There were also women looking on from afar, among whom were Mary Mag'dalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salo'me, who, when he was in Galilee, followed him, and ministered to him; and also many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem.

Like many Markan structures, this one has a very complex twinned center with an ABBA structure, a common one. It was studying this one that enabled me to grasp the rules dictating how the writer had structured each scene in his Gospel. The center consists of paired oppositions that are easy to grasp:

......................E...A And with him they crucified two robbers, one on his right and one on his left.

................................B And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads, and saying, "Aha! You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself, and come down from the cross!"

......................E'.......B So also the chief priests mocked him to one another with the scribes, saying, "He saved others; he cannot save himself. Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe."
...........................A Those who were crucified with him also reviled him.

The A brackets refer to the thieves, the B brackets to others who mocked him. Here again the details are drawn from the Psalms and elsewhere in the OT. The complete structure looks like this:

A....And they led him out to crucify him. And they compelled a passer-by, Simon of Cyre'ne, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross.And they brought him to the place called Gol'gotha (which means the place of a skull).

.....B..A...And they offered him wine mingled with myrrh; but he did not take it.
..........B...And they crucified him,
..........C...and divided his garments among them, casting lots for them, to decide what each should take
..........D...[then they sat down and kept watch over him there]

...............C...And it was the third hour, when they crucified him.

....................D...And the inscription of the charge against him read, "The King of the Jews."

.........................E...A. And with him they crucified two robbers, one on his right and one on his left.

...................................B And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads, and saying, "Aha! You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself, and come down from the cross!"

.........................E'.......B So also the chief priests mocked him to one another with the scribes, saying, "He saved others; he cannot save himself. Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe."
...........................A. Those who were crucified with him also reviled him.

....................D'..And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.

...............C'..And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, "E'lo-i, E'lo-i, la'ma sabach-tha'ni?" which means, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"

.....B'.A.. And some of the bystanders hearing it said, "Behold, he is calling Eli'jah."And one ran and, filling a sponge full of vinegar, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, "Wait, let us see whether Eli'jah will come to take him down."
..........B...And Jesus uttered a loud cry, and breathed his last.
..........C...And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.
..........D...And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that he thus breathed his last, he said, "Truly this man was the Son of God!"

A'...There were also women looking on from afar, among whom were Mary Mag'dalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salo'me, who, when he was in Galilee, followed him, and ministered to him; and also many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem.

There can be no question that this is fiction. Its structure is clearly contrived, and the origin of its details lies in the Old Testament. Any claim that anything like medical or historical accuracy can be deduced from this structure is indefensible.