“You Are the Christ”

Peter’s response to Jesus’ question about his identity occurs in the middle of Mark’s Gospel. This confession serves as the first time a human arrives at the right conclusion about who Jesus is. However, things quickly unravel from there as Jesus proceeds to tell his disciples what must happen to him as a result. He must suffer, be rejected, be killed, and rise again after three days. This was so incredulous to Peter that he responded by rebuking Jesus! If Peter came to the right conclusion about Jesus, then why was he so at odds with what Jesus said was clearly going to happen to him? The ESV Archaeology Study Bible has two sidebars that can perhaps shed some light on how a suffering Christ was something Peter could just not wrap his head around.

Messianism in First-Century Judaism

The word messiah (Heb. mashiakh, Gk. christos, “anointed one”) had several OT uses, but it came to refer primarily to a person like David, who was anointed to rule God’s people in righteousness and justice. By the late OT period, the concept of messiah began to take on an eschatological, or end times, role, in which a worthy anointed man would bring about the final political and religious deliverance of Israel.

In the centuries between the Testaments, hope for a righteous king and/or priest began to be expressed as opposition to Greek or Roman rule or as opposition to the Hasmonean high priesthood. The misuse of royal and temple authority by the Herodian family only fanned these hopes. The Dead Sea Scrolls speak of two messiahs, one “of David” (who would restore the kingdom to Israel) and another “of Aaron” (who would turn the Jewish hearts back to God).

“Messiahs” in the New Testament

During the NT period, several people claimed to be God’s messiah (or to be acting on the messiah’s behalf). Whenever they gained a following among the masses, they typically attempted revolt against Rome. Three such messiahs are referenced in Acts (Theudas, Judas the Galilean, and the Egyptian; Acts 5:36–37; 21:38). In addition to these, Josephus mentions Achiab, the cousin of Herod; Judas, the son of a brigand chief named Ezekias; Simon, a slave of Herod; Athronges and his brothers; Theudas (probably different from the one above); “a man from Egypt who declared himself to be a prophet” (probably the same as the Egyptian); and “a certain imposter who promised salvation and rest from troubles if anyone chose to follow him into the wilderness.” Josephus labels others of the same ilk with the terms brigand, imposter, deceiver, or assassin.

All such messianic movements were invariably crushed by Roman authorities. Jesus’ claims to be the Messiah stand in stark contrast to these individuals, even though most people he encountered, and even Pontius Pilate, must have understood his claims through the actions of these political messiahs (cf. Acts 1:6).

Crucifixion

There is some evidence that crucifixion derived from the Assyrian practice of impaling rebels and captives on long stakes. In contrast, the reference to being hung on a tree in Deut. 21:22 seems to be an act of public humiliation after the condemned had already been executed (cf. 1 Sam. 31:10). Crucifixion was adopted by the Greeks (including Alexander the Great) and the Phoenicians and was also used by some Jews to execute rebels and political opponents.

The Romans mastered the practice of crucifixion, employing it to execute non-citizens, slaves, and (on occasion) even citizens who had run afoul of the empire. It was reserved especially for robbers, traitors, and persons condemned for insurrection. For instance, 2,000 Jews who had revolted against Rome at the death of Herod the Great were crucified, and mass crucifixions, with bodies in grotesque shapes, filled the perimeter of Jerusalem during the Roman siege in AD 70. Josephus called crucifixion “the most miserable of deaths.”

The act of crucifixion typically included four stages:

1. The condemned was scourged.
2. He was forced to carry his crossbar (Lat. patibulum) to the site of execution.
3. He was fastened to the crossbar by nails.
4. Finally, his crossbar was affixed to an upright beam that was already set into the ground.

A great deal of variation was possible, much of which was intended to increase the suffering or humiliation of the condemned. Nails were driven through the hands or, more likely, the wrists, and also through the ankles. Sometimes ropes were used in place of nails. Josephus mentions one instance in which three people were removed while still clearly alive on the cross, and all received significant medical care; two died anyway, testifying to the intensity of the suffering involved.

Persons could be crucified upright or upside down, with limbs outstretched in a variety of positions. Usually the person crucified was naked, though a loincloth was at times allowed. Crosses were often low to the ground to allow passersby to add to the agony. Animals and insects were drawn to the blood. Death was often drawn out, and certainly agonizing. The cause of death was likely due to a variety of factors, including asphyxiation, shock, loss of blood, and perhaps heart failure. A victim’s legs could be broken so that he would be unable to push himself up to take a breath, hastening death (John 19:31).

An excavated burial cave from Givat Hamivtar north of Jerusalem contained an ossuary (bone box) with bones of a man who had a nail, 5–6 inches (12.7–15.2 cm) long, driven through his heel bone. Wood attached to the bone indicates that the upright of his cross was from an olive tree. Constantine reportedly abolished Roman crucifixion in the fourth century AD.

Conclusion

Both sidebar articles help us see how the gruesome practice of crucifixion was incompatible with Peter’s understanding of the glorious Christ. This doesn’t excuse Peter’s error, which Jesus attributes to Satan (!), but it does help us make sense of it from a human perspective. Thankfully, we can see that Peter eventually came to see the cross as central to Jesus’ role as the Christ. After preaching of how Jesus fulfills the Scriptures in his death and resurrection, Peter concludes, “Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified” (Acts 2:36).  

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