John 19:31-37 (NIV)
Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jews did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken,” and, as another scripture says, “They will look on the one they have pierced.”
The religious leaders, who in the previous twenty-four hours had broken several of God’s moral commandments without batting an eye, were still very careful to keep the regulatory and ceremonial commandments to the letter. The law Deuteronomy 21:22-23) commanded that no one who was hanged should remain on the tree after sunset. They were especially mindful of this since the Sabbath of Passover week started at sunset. So, they asked Pilate to speed up the deaths of those who had been crucified so that they could be buried before the next day began with the setting sun.
In addition to the incredible pain that crucifixion caused by having spikes driven through nerve centers in the wrists and ankles, being suspended with all the body’s weight on the arms caused spasming of the chest muscles resulting in an inability to breathe out. This caused a sensation of suffocating. The crucified person could relieve this sensation temporarily by pushing themselves up on the spikes through their ankles, easing the spasm. But soon they would sink back down due to pain and exhaustion until a renewal of the spasming caused them to repeat the process. This bobbing up and down, which shortened in duration and quickened in tempo as the day wore on, was called by the soldiers “the death dance.”
If the death needed to be accelerated, the soldiers would take the heavy hammer that had been used to drive the spikes, and us it to break the legs of the condemned near the knee. Then they could no longer push themselves up to relieve the pressure, the muscles of the chest would spasm completely, fluid would fill the chest cavity, and death by suffocation would come in very short order.
The soldiers broke the legs of the robbers on either side of Jesus, but when they came to Him, they found that He had already died. So, they didn’t break His legs. But to ensure that He really was dead, one soldier shoved a spear through His side and into His heart. As he pulled the spear out, water flowed out of the wound from where it had gathered in the pericardium. This was followed by a flow of partially clotted blood from the heart itself, all of which proved conclusively that death had occurred at some time before.
John, still standing near the cross with the women, saw in these events a fulfillment of Psalm 34:20, where David states that God will not allow the bones of the righteous to be broken, as well as a fulfillment of the imagery of the Passover lamb in Exodus 12:46, where the law required that no bone of the sacrifice was to be broken. He also saw a fulfillment of Zechariah’s prophecy (12:10), often considered messianic, that the people would look on God Himself, whom they had pierced, and would mourn greatly.
Father, it is clear that in this whole crucifixion event You were fulfilling many things that You had foreknown and foretold through the prophets, so that Your people would have no doubt that Jesus really was the Messiah, and that He really did die to redeem the people of the world. But only those who had eyes to see, both then and now, can understand the significance of all these things. Thank You for opening my eyes and helping me to see all these things. Amen.
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