Pilate was surprised when Joseph of Arimathea appeared before him with the request for permission to take the body of Jesus (Mark 15:43-45). Although Jesus had spent about six hours on the cross (Mark 15:25 and 34), Pilate was amazed that death had come so quickly.

The reaction of Pilate to the news brought by Joseph is very interesting. And this is why…

Crucifixion is an invention of the perverted human mind. The death, which was the aim of crucifixion, came torturously slowly. In fact so long that after many hours on the cross the one being crucified was usually "helped" to die by breaking their legs.

Thomas, refusing to believe in Jesus' resurrection requires the opportunity to see the wounds from the nails on the hands of the living Lord. (John 20:25)
In this way, Scripture clearly witnesses that the hands of the one being crucified were nailed to the cross.

History presents evidence that the feet of the one sentenced to death were also nailed to the cross. In June 1968 in the area surrounding Jerusalem, archaeologist V. Tsaferisom found a cave with many remains of corpses. Doctor Haas of the anatomy department of the Jewish Jerusalem University and Medical Institute "Hadassa" investigated these remains.

Describing the results of the tests on one of the bodies, Doctor Haas comments: "The feet were linked together so they were almost parallel and both were pierced with one nail at the heel, knees bent, the right lying on the left; the torso bent; the upper limbs were stretched out and pierced by nails at the wrist."

Being in such a position on the cross, the criminal had to continually fight against the onset of asphyxiation. Thanks to the nail in the feet which served as support, the person, using his leg muscles and overcoming the pain, could pull himself up to take a breath.

Such a fight with death could go on for hours. In order to quicken the onset of death, the Roman soldiers, on orders from above, would break the legs of the one on the cross. After this death from asphyxiation or heart failure came quickly.

It is written in the Gospel of John that the Jews asked Pilate to break the legs and take the bodies down in order to not leave them on the cross on the Sabbath. The soldiers come to the place of execution and break the legs of the criminals who were crucified next to Jesus.

After this, Joseph of Arimathea comes to Pilate with the request for permission to take the body of Jesus (John 19:38). As Mark witnesses, Pilate was surprised: surprised that so little time had passed from the moment of the order to break the legs until Joseph's appearance with the news of Jesus' death.
This period of time was obviously, in his experience, not long enough for the person to die.

In this case, Jesus must have died from a different cause from others who die on a cross.

And what if the sufferings and beatings that Jesus endured before His crucifixion were the reason of such a "quick" death?

Maybe He was already so close to death that the sufferings on the cross were the last drop?

Examining such a possibility, it is necessary to consider the following.

First. Pilate, as we noted earlier, was surprised. He could never have expected that someone could die so quickly from crucifixion. And of all people he was experienced in such matters.

Second. Jesus spends about six hours on the cross and it is necessary to be fairly strong for that. Apart from that, while on the cross He is not only overcoming physical torture, but He has the strength to pray (Luke 23:34), think about and care for others (John 19:26,27) and talk with the others who are crucified next to Him (Luke 23:39-43).

Third. There are grounds to believe that He was not the only one of those being crucified who was beaten beforehand. Ancient historians Flavius Josephus and Levi record many times that whipping and beating preceded beheading, burning and crucifixion of those sentenced to death. This was the normal practice in the Roman legal system.

John in his testimony turns the reader's attention to some interesting facts, revealed by a Roman soldier.

Many medics in their arguments tend towards the fact that such an effect is observed on the rupturing of the heart.

Josh McDowell in his book "The Historical Reality of Christianity" quotes Samuel Hafton, a famous physiologist from Dublin University, "I am completely convinced that a rupture of the heart took place."

Verse 21 of Psalm 69 is, without doubt, a prophecy of Christ's sufferings.

In all four gospels it is recorded how this prophecy was fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth.

However, verse 20 of the same Psalm is of no less interest in the light of Christ's sufferings.

Here David says something interesting about the heart of the Sufferer. The word "broken" appears 144 times in the Old Testament. In the overwhelming majority of cases, it is used to describe the complete destruction of something, resulting in the impossibility of using it again in its former usage. The stone tablets that Moses received on Sinai were broken, zealous Jews broke the altars of false gods and unclean vessels were broken.

A Jewish doctor in ancient times, witnessing a death by the rupture of the heart, could probably not have chosen a better word to describe it, than "broken". The complete destruction, resulting in the impossibility of using it in it's former usage.

According to Psalm 69 the reason for the broken heart is disgrace and shame (that is what the word "reproach" really means) and the absence of sympathy and comfort which the Sufferer experiences.

Reading the scenes at Golgotha in the Gospels, we become witnesses of the disgrace and shame that the Holy and Righteous One endured. Matthew writes,

However, what Mark writes is even more tragic.

Jesus not only did not find comfort and compassion from people, but even the Father abandoned Him in the hour before death. The One who had not sinned became sin and the Father poured out His wrath on Him.

That is what broke Jesus' heart. He found no support or comfort from the One Who had always been with Him. If anybody throughout history has ever experienced genuine loneliness, it is Jesus.

Not one of us has ever experienced anything like this. Not one of those who is in Christ Jesus will ever experience anything like this.

But Scripture clearly speaks about what awaits those who deny Jesus: eternal separation from God. Jesus' heart ruptured when He experienced separation from the Father. The heart of the one who denies Jesus will be eternally broken.
It is impossible to imagine this.

When something terrible and unbearable happens in a person's life, when there seems to be no hope, there is always at least some comfort: it will, sometime, come to an end. The one who is separated from God for eternity will be denied of even this comfort.

Eternal shame, disgrace and the absence of comfort. The eternal rupture of the heart.

Glory to Christ! He is our justification! He is the propitiation for our sins!