Bellmore United Methodist Church

Central to the Passion of our Lord is the cross.  Before being sent to the cross, Pilate had Jesus scourged with a cat-o-nine-tails and symbolically "washed his hands" of Jesus' blood using a basin.  Mocking Jesus as a king, those guarding him made a crown of thorns and placed it on his head.  Jesus was fastened to the cross with three nails, one through each hand and a third through his feet.  While he was hanging on the cross, the centurions gambled for Jesus' clothes with dice and Jesus was offered a sponge soaked in vinegar attached to a branch of hyssop.  A ladder may have been used to reach Jesus.