Eleventh Station of the Cross
Jesus is nailed to the cross and crucified
There are a series of pictures representing certain aspects in the Passion of Christ, and each one corresponds to a particular incident.
This series is known as The Way of the Cross and this page introduces the Eleventh Station.
Eleventh Station
The soldiers prepare Jesus for crucifixion
The mosaics of the Eleventh Station are just a few steps further down the nave in the Holy Sepulchre,
It reminds us of when Jesus was laid on the cross beam and the soldiers drove the rough nails through his limbs. They would have known precisely where to position the nails: If they didn't get the nail behind a suitable bone, then when the victim was hung, the body's weight would tear the nails through the flesh and he would fall off the cross. Nevertheless, these soldiers were not orthopædic surgeons. The space between the bones was narrow and the nails were large. Undoubtedly bones would have been fractured causing even more pain.
Ropes hoisted the beam up so the victim was now vertical; gravity pulling down and maintaining the intensity of the pain at each nail position. Straining the shoulder blades and pulling at the chest making breathing barely possible, Jesus was crucified.
The agony of such constant, physical torture is impossible for us to imagine. Every part of his body must have hurt and his mind scream for it to stop. Jesus suffered this for us.