Hammer and Cross

A hammer is a tool used to drive nails or to break things up. You might use a hammer to knock out a dent in your car, or attach a poster to a tree, like the titulus attached to the cross when Jesus was crucified.

We've all gagged in the dentist chair, as the water spray from the turbine drill trickles down our throat. Very unpleasant, but until laser dentistry becomes the norm, we know we won't die from such discomfort.

On the other hand, 'water boarding', infamously used by our security services, is designed to make the victim believe that death is imminent, taking mental pain beyond the edge of tolerance. That is torture.

We've all struck our thumb with a hammer when driving that picture hook into the wall. Very unpleasant, but we know we won't die from blue thumb. However, if a hammer is used to strike a nail through our flesh, this takes physical pain beyond the edge of tolerance. That is torture.

Yet that was only part of the scene when Jesus was crucified. There was more, much more pain which Jesus had to endure. The hammer was one of several implements that make up the Arms of Christ. They all contributed to the agonizing crucifixion, known as The Passion.

Roman soldiers were there to hammer the nails through the limbs of Jesus into the cross. But really, it was mankind's wickedness that wielded those hammers.

Counterintuitively, we, today, caused the agony on the cross two thousand years ago. How can that be? See The Meaning of the Cross.

See also Hammer of Thor and the Axe Cross.