Crucifixion, the method that the Romans used to execute criminals and revolutionaries, was a slow painful death as the body collapsed on itself and the person slowly suffocated to death… sometimes taking days. We forget that the Romans not only executed Jesus, but thousands of people. Sometimes dozens of people were slowly dying on those crosses en masse.
Often times, to add to the brutality of the crucifixion, they whipped people so that the splintered wood would exacerbate the torture of dying and put iron pegs into the hands and feet instead of only tying them with rope, again to increase the pain… as it is recorded that they did with Jesus. It was a horrid way to die.
It was also horrific to see your loved ones die that way. Mothers - like Mary - stood there and watched helplessly as their children died. Friends - like the disciples - hid lest they be connected to the criminal or revolutionary and crucified themselves. Can you imagine?
Many of the crucified bodies were dumped in mass graves. Jesus’s body was taken down, anointed with perfumes and tears, lovingly wrapped in burial cloths and quickly placed in a tomb that was donated to the family by someone who loved Jesus.
Many Nicaraguans care for their dead in almost the same way. Their families lovingly clean and dress the body. They buy a wooden casket and bury the body within 24 hours in a plot that is often donated to the family.
Carmen, one of our staff, told Becca about the cholera epidemic in Nicaragua in the 1990s. Families were not permitted to take the bodies, instead the bodies were buried in mass graves.
Burying bodies in mass graves is happening worldwide with the ever-increasing deaths from COVID-19. No wakes. No gathering of grievers and supporters. No caring for bodies. And families standing apart helplessly.
As Mary and all Jesus’ friends and followers needed support and love during and after his death, so do all the families and friends who are losing their loved ones. Helplessness with worry and grief are torturous feelings.
If we are spared, let us not forget those who have not been spared. Jesus said, “Let the dead bury the dead, but you go and proclaim the Kingdom of God.”* Jesus also explained that in the Kingdom of God, those who mourn are comforted”.** Those of us who choose to follow Jesus of Nazareth have many mourners to comfort, and many more to come. We are not helpless.
-Kathleen
*Luke 9
**Matthew 5
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