Mark 15:24

‘And they crucify him and part his clothes among them, casting lots on them what each should take.'

‘They crucify Him.' When they had reached the site they took the crosspiece and nailed Jesus hands to it. The crosspiece was then attached to the upright post and the feet loosely bound, and sometimes nailed. A young crucified man whose body was discovered near Jerusalem at Ras el-Masaref was found to have been nailed by his arms and had a nail driven through his feet. A ledge of wood called the saddle projected beneath the body which helped to partly support the weight so that the nails did not tear the hands free. The legs would be bent double. The cross was next raised and lowered into a hole prepared for it, and the crucified man was then left hanging there, totally naked, until He died.

John only mentions the nailing of the hands (arms?) but in the light of Luke 24:39 it may be that Jesus' feet were also nailed, although Luke does not actually mention nail prints. It may be that He points to His hands and feet, the exposed parts, to prove that He is flesh and blood, not necessarily in order to indicate nail prints. However Psalms 22:16 does speak of hands and feet being pierced.

It is noteworthy that apart from saying that he was crucified Mark draws no attention to His suffering. The emphasis is on Who Jesus is and men's reaction to Him. But all who read his words would have witnessed a crucifixion and would understand precisely what He was suffering.

‘And part His clothes among them.' These would probably consist of the sandals, the girdle, the turban, the inner robe and the outer robe. These were perquisites for the soldiers and they would cast lots to decide who received what. Each having received one item the large outer robe would be left, and again they decided who received this by casting lots (John 19:23). John drew attention in this context to the Scripture, ‘they parted my clothes among them, and on my vesture did they cast lots' (Psalms 22:18), found in the same Psalm as Jesus quotes on the cross later (Mark 15:34). Jesus saw Himself, and was seen by others, as fulfilling the destiny described by the Psalmist.