The Injuries of Jesus from the Biblical text compared to the Shroud of Turin.

‘But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.’ Isaiah 53:5

The purpose of this paper is to look at the Biblical accounts that reference the crucifixion of Jesus, including the prophesies of Psalm 22, Isaiah and Zachariah and compare them with the injuries that are evident on the Shroud of Turin. The injuries are described historically starting with the first known example - beating of the face. 1. Facial Injuries ‘One of the officials (of the high priest) near by struck him in the face.’ John 18: 22 ‘Again and again the Roman Soldiers struck him on the head with a staff and spat on him.’ Mark 15: 19

Facial injuries The Man on the Shroud has an area of swelling to his right cheek, just below the eye. This appears on the left as you look at the black and white negative. There is also a swelling in the shape of a half moon just above the moustache on the left on the photographic negative. It is possible that there are swellings above the eyebrows. Certainly his face shows signs of significant assault.

2. Deviated Septum of the nose. The bridge of the nose is very swollen and the nasal septum has deviated away from the central line. One nostril has become wider than the other.

Shroud images ©1978 Barrie M. Schwortz Collection, STERA, Inc.

1 3. Crown of Thorns ‘The soldiers led Jesus away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium) and called together the whole company of soldiers. They put a purple robe on him, then twisted a crown of thorns and set it on him. And they began to all out to him, “Hail, king of the Jews!”’ Mark 15:16-19

The Crown of Thorns The Man on the Shroud was wearing something around his head which was sharp enough to cause bleeding at the front and the back of the head. The central blood stain, shaped like an inverted number three, very realistically follows the curves that are made by a furrowed brow.

The Swiss criminologist Max Frei pressed selotape firmly on to the Shroud and identified many pollens. He found a density of pollen around the head of the Man from a plant called Gundelia Tournifortii.1 It is a form of thistle, with a very vicious thorn.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gundelia 2 4. Flogging

‘Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged’: John 19:1.

Flogging

There are hundreds of dumbbell shaped marks on the body of the Man on the Shroud, particularly down the back. They cover the body from the shoulders right down to the backs of the calves. There are similar bruises on the front, but they are less numerous and distinct. There is even evidence of a lash mark across one eye. These wounds are consistent with the damage done by the replica Roman flagrum you can see here. We have used this flagrum on wood and produced identical markings.

Some of the lashes show two ball like wounds joined by a bar (see below). Medical experts who have examined the Shroud suggest that the severity of the beating may have contributed to death from shock.

3 5. Carrying the cross

‘So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha)’. John 19: 16-17

‘As the soldiers led him away, they seized Simon from Cyrene, who was on his way in from the country, and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus.’ Luke 23: 26 The Road to the Cross

If you look carefully at the Shroud you notice that the marks of the flagrum are smudged across the shoulders suggesting the Man’s shoulders rubbed repeatedly on something or he was carrying something heavy.

6. Falling

The New Testament does not tell us that Jesus fell on the road to the cross but it is implied: Simon of Cyrene was commanded to carry the cross. It is difficult to see, but the knees appear swollen.

4 Crucifixion

‘When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him, along with the criminals – one on his right, the other on his left.’ Luke 23:33. ‘It was the third hour when they crucified him. The written notice of the charge against him read: ‘The King of the Jews.’’ Mark 15: 25-26 ‘Dogs surround me, a pack of villains encircles me; they pierce my hands and my feet. All my bones are on display; people stare and gloat over me.’ Psalm 22: 16-17

‘They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son.’ Zachariah 12:10.

7. The Wounds in the Hands

The Man on the Shroud has obviously been crucified. He has wounds through the base of the hand and through the ankle area. Artists almost always depict crucifixion through the palms of the hands and through the feet. So why isn’t the Man on the Shroud nailed in that way? The surgeon Pierre Barbet working in the 1930’s realised that the palms of the hands do not hold the weight of a human body. A nail would pull straight through.2 Notice also the size of the haematoma on the back of the hand, seen in the three-dimensional image of the VP8 image Analyzer.

8. Causalgia (Complex Reginal Pain Syndrome)

If you nail someone in the area of the hands suggested by the Shroud, you press on the median nerve causing peripheral nerve pain. The level of pain can be very intense. Damage to the median nerve and the flexor pollicis longus tendons3 causes the thumbs to retract into the palms. You cannot see thumbs on the Shroud.

5 9. The Wounds in the Feet

On the right foot, which is most visible, there are two major pools of blood: in the ball of the foot and at the heel. In the same way that the spaces between the metacarpal bones of the hands do not hold the weight of a human body it is likely that the space between the metatarsals is insufficient. The heels probably supported the body weight in crucifixion with the nail going sideways through the heel. This is consistent with an archaeological discovery of the remains of a crucified man in June 1968. The ossuary box said his name was Jehohanan.4 The nail was still in his heel bone (see right).

The nails

The nail in Jehohanan was estimated to be 4.5 inches (11.5 cm). The first century nail marked below approximately demonstrates that size. The size of the nail is gruesome, but it needed be substantial to go through the heel bone and into wood.

4.5 inch nail: First Century Roman nails from a collection donated by Peter and Janet Coleman

6 10. Spear Wound

‘Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water.’ John 19:33-34.

The Blood flow from the Side

On the left hand side of the Man on the Shroud, (the right side as you look at the picture) there is a flow of blood, suggestive of a large stabbing wound. The blood flows down from this wound right across the back of the Man. At the corner of the mouth there is a droplet of blood.

If you look carefully at the back you can see that the blood appears to be a mixture of red blood and clear, plasma like fluid. The spear you can see was based on archaeological evidence of a Roman Lancea. Its dimensions are consistent with the nature of the wound.

Breaking the legs of a crucified person was the surest way to kill them. Once a person could not raise themselves up to breathe, they soon suffocated. When the soldiers came to Jesus they saw that he was already dead, and did not break his legs. There is no evidence of broken legs on the Shroud image.

Clear fluid Blood 7 11. Dislocation

‘I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted within me.’ Psalm 22: 14

The passage from Psalm 22, prophesies crucifixion. David describes bones ‘out of joint.’ If you look at the shoulders of the Man on the Shroud, you can see that they are at different heights. The shoulder on the right as you look at the image is dislocated.

The research team of scientists: Bevilacqua M, Fanti G, D'Arienzo M, De Caro R, argue convincingly that this shoulder injury is an ‘under glenoidal dislocation of the humerus.’5 The arrows on the image demonstrate the dislocation.

12. Dehydration ‘My mouth is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; ’ Psalm 22:15 ‘Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, ‘I am thirsty.’ A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. When he had received the drink, Jesus said, ‘It is finished.’ John 19: 28-30

The eyes of the Man on the Shroud appear sunken, a classic sign of dehydration.

8 Other injuries

There are many more traumas to the body of the Man on the Shroud than these 12 highlighted injuries. For example the paper by Bevilacqua M, Fanti G, D'Arienzo M, De Caro R identifies the right eye is more sunken than the left (enophthalmos - see below); the hands are rigid and fixed (injury to lower brachial plexus).6 They conclude “All the evidence is in favour of the hypothesis that the TS (Turin Shroud) Man is Jesus of Nazareth.”7 The extent and complexity of these injuries makes the evaluation that the Shroud is the work of a medieval artist difficult to believe.

The signs of death ‘When he had received the drink, Jesus said, ‘It is finished.’ With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away...Taking Jesus’ body, [they] wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen... At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was near by, they laid Jesus there.’ John 19: 30-42 There are signs of death for example the closed eyes. As Pope Francis said at the 2013 exposition: “This face has eyes that are closed, it is the face of one who is dead, and yet mysteriously he is watching us, and in silence he speaks to us.”8

Conclusion Some of the injuries shown in this paper are not as well known as others, even in the Christian community. In 12 years of asking audiences to name the injuries of Christ I rarely find a group of Christians that can name more than seven. The similarity of the injuries of the Man on the Shroud of Turin with the Biblical record is extraordinary. The injuries are accurate anatomically and archaeologically. They far surpass artistic depictions of the crucifixion. Is this because the Shroud of Turin is actually the burial cloth of Jesus Christ? ‘The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God..For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the Face of Christ.’ 2 Corinthians 4:4-6 “Neither will I hide my face any more from them: for I have poured out my Spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord God.” Ezekiel 39:29 © Pam Moon My thanks to Professor Giulio Fanti, Dr Andrew Silverman and the researchers of the Shroud Science Group for the revision of this paper. All Bible quotes NIV except Ezekiel 39:29 King James Version All Shroud images: ©1978 Barrie M. Schwortz Collection, STERA, Inc. Spear Image © Nick Davies 1. Ian Wilson The Blood and the Shroud, Weidenfeld and Nicolson 1998 pg 98 ff 2. Ian Wilson The Blood and the Shroud, Weidenfeld and Nicolson 1998 pg 35 3. Bevilacqua M1, Fanti G2, D'Arienzo M3, De Caro R4. Do we really need new medical information about the Turin Shroud? Available online: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24135252 4. Ian Wilson The Blood and the Shroud, Weidenfeld and Nicolson 1998 pg 46-47 5. Bevilacqua M1, Fanti G2, D'Arienzo M3, De Caro R4. Do we really need new medical information about the Turin Shroud? Available online: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24135252 6. Bevilacqua M1, Fanti G2, D'Arienzo M3, De Caro R4. Do we really need new medical information about the Turin Shroud? Available online: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24135252 7. Bevilacqua M1, Fanti G2, D'Arienzo M3, De Caro R4. Do we really need new medical information about the Turin Shroud? Available online: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24135252 8. Catholic News Service available online at : http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1301465.htm