Just a Subordinate Clause

Leon Morris on Matthew's phrase "after they crucified him" in Matthew 27:35.

It is noteworthy that Matthew dismisses in a single word one of the most dreadful ways of dying people have ever devised and that word is a participle forming a subordinate clause. In this he is doing the same as the writers of other Gospels; as we noticed earlier, none of them tries to harrow the feelings of his readers by going into detail about "what pains he had to bear." Popular Christian piety through the ages has not followed this example, and many have attempted to bring out what we owe to our Savior by dwelling on his sufferings for us. But what mattered for the New Testament writers was that in his death Jesus dealt with our sins; they try to bring out the meaning of his death and leave their readers to work our for themselves that crucifixion was such a painful way of dying.