Jesus’ Crucifixion Details in the Christian Bible
All four accounts of Jesus (Gospels) in the Christian Bible describe his crucifixion (critical details in boldface):
Gospel of Matthew, chapter 27
And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” …
So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. … And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. …
When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!” …
He [Joseph of Arimathea] went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut in the rock. And he rolled a great stone to the entrance of the tomb and went away. (27:28-29, 41-42, 50, 54, 58-60)
The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate and said, “Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise.’ Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last fraud will be worse than the first.” Pilate said to them, “You have a guard of soldiers. Go, make it as secure as you can.” So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard.
(27:62-66)
Gospel of Mark, chapter 15
And the soldiers led him away inside the palace (that is, the governor's headquarters), and they called together the whole battalion. And they clothed him in a purple cloak, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on him. …
And it was the third hour [from sunrise] when they crucified him. …
And when he [Pilate] learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the corpse to Joseph. And Joseph bought a linen shroud, and taking him down, wrapped him in the linen shroud and laid him in a tomb that had been cut out of the rock. And he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was laid.
(15:16-17, 25, 45-48)
Gospel of Luke, chapter 23
And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. …
It was now about the sixth hour [after sunrise], and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour [after sunrise], …
Then he [Joseph, from the Jewish town of Arimathea] took it [the body of Jesus] down and wrapped it in a linen shroud and laid him in a tomb cut in stone, where no one had ever yet been laid.
(23:33, 44, 53)
Gospel of John, chapter 19
Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. …
So they took Jesus, and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them. …
So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who had been crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. …
After these things Joseph of Arimathea… asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took away his body. Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight. So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews.
(19:1,17-18; 32-34, 38-40)
Account of Jesus’ Burial Shroud
Does the Christian Bible mention any burial cloth for Jesus Christ? Yes, at least two.
All four New Testament Gospels (Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24, and John 20) describe the resurrection of Jesus (totally unexpected by his followers). So too, the evangelist Paul writes about it (1 Corinthians 15). Matthew and Mark mention a burial shroud without any details, but Luke briefly states what happened on the following Sunday:
But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened. (24:11).
The account by John is more informative:
Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight. So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. (John 19:39-40)
(The original Greek “100 litras” is translated as 75 pounds above.)
Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead. (John 20:6-9)
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So, the material was linen. The disciple Peter left the Jesus’ tomb “marveling at what had happened” because of whatever he saw. For the “other disciple” (John), the “cloths”, which presumably covered the body, were “lying there” in such an arrangement that “he saw and believed”. What else than how Jesus’ shroud remained undisturbed but with no body? If somebody had stolen the body, the shroud surely would have been taken with the body or left thrown aside in a way that would not have caused Peter and John to react as they did. An image like the Shroud’s, if any, would have been on the inner side of the linen.
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Are “the cloths” of the Gospel accounts the Shroud of Turin?
The question this Web site asks is this: Is the Shroud of Turin the same as the “linen cloths” that Peter and John saw?
(Note: The plural, “cloths” is puzzling. It could refer to the top and bottom of a shroud. However, elsewhere herein, a potential, additional cloth is discussed—a band under the chin to hold the mouth shut.)
Surely, these “cloths” would not have simply been discarded by Jesus’ disciples. They would have been revered and preserved by Jesus’ followers.
Is the “face cloth” the Sudarium?
A related question is this: Is the Sudarium of Ovieto “the face cloth, which had been on Jesus’ head”? This head cloth also would surely have been treasured, not forgotten. See §Sudarium elsewhere in this compendium.
Very significantly, the blood pattern (and blood type) on the Sudarium matches the blood pattern around the image’s head on the Shroud. Because the Shroud and the Sudarium traveled over divergent routes over the centuries with different histories, this is confirmation that the Shroud and Sudarium were wrapped around the same crucified body. Both their histories claim that the body inside was Jesus’.
New Testament Times
Is there any reference to Jesus’ burial cloths after the Gospel accounts? Larry Stalley [2021] thinks there may be veiled references elsewhere in the New Testament. The reason for the indirect references would be to protect the extremely valuable burial cloths from enemies of the faith, of which there were plenty.
Earthquake(s) in 33 A.D.
An earthquake has no obvious relationship to the Shroud, except that Matthew 27:54 and 28:2 in the New Testament include earthquakes among the descriptions of both Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection. So, independent corroboration of the reported earthquake and aftershock(?), enhances the credibility of Matthew’s account.
Indeed, there was at least one earthquake in 33 AD [Austin 2012]. Earthquake activity is apparent in the irregular, disturbed laminar Dead Sea sediment. The year was calculated by counting the sediment layers forward from 31 BC, when a previous earthquake occurred, which the 1st-century Jewish historian Josephus described and dated.
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