Dying on the cross was reserved for criminals and enemies of the state because it was considered one of the most tortuous and humiliating ways to die. The crucifix often depicts the nails going through Jesus’ hands. This is not historically accurate. The hands were not rugged enough to support the weight of the body. The nails went through the wrists, where several major nerves are located. So if you can recall the extreme pain of hitting your funny bone gently on a wall (that’s because of a nerve), imagine what it feels like when a nail is driven through it. Another horrifying feature of dying on a cross is that you perish, on top of the traumatic injuries, through slow-motion suffocation. Because of the compression of the lungs caused by the awkward position, victims had to press onto their feet, into the nails and the injury there, temporarily lifting the body, creating enough momentarily relief to inhale and exhale. Eventually exhaustion would set in over the course of hours, and this movement became impossible. There are a few important things to note about the crucifixion. 1. Nothing about it makes rational sense. It does not make sense that God would murder his son. It does not make sense that his son was somehow paying the ultimate penalty in humanity’s place. The whole affair is fundamentally beyond our understanding. By the same token, Christians believe the moment altered the fabric of reality. This was a cosmic event. Because of what happened 2,000 years ago, *somehow* I am now free. 2. Other than the mysterious aspects of this, there are some practical earthly ways in which it is true. Christ’s sacrifice and resurrection became the best story ever told. It traveled across the ancient world with such virality that, just 20 years later, it had reached Caesar’s palace in Rome. Within 300, it was the Roman Empire’s official religion. The Western conception of morality — the one we all now take for granted — transformed, organizing around the inherent worth of every single human being instead of status, honor, social hierarchy, and brute strength. 3. Christ lived and died as a model of love. Whatever the practical earthly consequences, whatever the supernatural implications, the crucifixion is something to aspire to every single day of our short lives. It’s no easy feat to sacrifice yourself for another being. We have the opportunity 100 times a day, and we fail to take it, sometimes, literally all 100 of those times. The challenge and opportunity of dying on the cross is not purely a hypothetical one. What cross do you shoulder? How much pain will you accept for the benefit of another being, even and especially when they don’t deserve it? Even and especially when it isn’t rational to do so?