Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for the Bible Recap.

Today's reading has a lot in common with yesterday's reading. We covered the first half yesterday, so today we'll recap the last half.

And it may not be suitable for little ears, so

use your own discretion. When we left off, Jesus had just gone through six trials and was ultimately handed over by Pilot for crucifixion. At this point, he's been mocked and beaten, had a crown of thorns put on his head, and I'm guessing they didn't do that gently. Then on his way to the cross, Pilot either personally flogs him or orders him to be flogged. The Jews have a rule that they didn't do that gently. Then on his way to the cross, Pilot either personally flogs him or

orders him to be flogged. The Jews have a rule that they can't flog a person more than 39 times,

but Pilot is a Roman governor, and the Romans have a reputation for being more cruel than other governments.

They want to strike fear in the hearts of the insurrectionists with public beatings and

visible crucifixions, so we don't know how many times Jesus was beaten. We just know from the prophecy of Isaiah 5214

that he seems to be beaten beyond human recognition. This is not the image we often see of him on the cross with a few cuts and a trickle of blood.

That feels like a mockery to what he actually endured. This beating is a total undoing of his body.

In fact, he's so weak that they have to get someone else to carry the cross for him.

They pull in a man named Simon who has likely come to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover.

He's from the town of Cyrene, which is in modern-day Libya. It's about 1100 miles away,

making it about a six-week journey.

As soon as he arrives, they pull him in to help Jesus as he stumbles toward his death.

By the way, most historians indicate that Jesus would have been carrying just the crossbeam,

the part that goes behind the arms, because wood was scarce in Israel,

so the Romans would often use a fixed upright over and over, and it was possibly

just a bare tree trunk that they would nail the cross beam to. The Romans often crucified people

on the main roads going into the city for a few reasons. First, they would only execute people

outside the cities, and second, these criminals would serve as a warning sign to incoming visitors.

So Jesus is probably crucified on a main road leading out of the city on a tree trunk. And he was probably crucified at street level, eye to eye with the people walking past,

...