27 Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole Roman cohort around Him. 28 They stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him. 29 And after twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand; and they knelt down before Him and mocked Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 30 They spat on Him, and took the reed and began to beat Him on the head. 31 After they had mocked Him, they took the scarlet robe off Him and put His own garments back on Him, and led Him away to crucify Him.
What happened next was unthinkable. As William MacDonald observes, “The Creator and Sustainer of the universe suffered unspeakable indignities from cruel, vulgar soldiers—His unworthy, sinful creatures.” They stripped Him, which by itself was enough. But then they mocked Him as a clown king, placing a crude crown on His head, clothing Him with a scarlet robe imitating royal attire, giving Him a reed imitating a ruling scepter, kneeling before Him and giving Him sarcastic praise as “King of the Jews.” One can almost see and hear the exaggerated mimicry taking place.
The abuse turned physical, as they began to spit on Him and beat Him about the head, which would have been exacerbated by the ring of thorny branches comprising the “crown.” Finally, when the soldiers tired of their “fun,” they put His own clothes back on Him and brought Him to the execution site.
It is a curious thing why the soldiers treated Him this way in light of Pilate’s declaration of His being innocent of any charges. The condemnation had been declared and execution was ordered—what did it matter that the soldiers abused their Prisoner? He would be dead shortly anyway. In Roman times, a condemned individual lost all rights, there was no Geneva Convention, no political action committee to guarantee the “proper,” humane treatment of criminals. Jesus was at the mercy of His guards—and in such situations the more base nature of humanity comes to the fore. They did it because they could!
In reality, the soldiers gave visible manifestation to the attitude of the Jews to their Messiah. Mocking and rejection are simply two sides of one coin. The insolence of creatures toward their Creator is as ancient as the serpent in the garden when he said, “Has God really said …?” The mocking can be read like this, “Give me a break. You don’t mean to tell me God has actually forbidden you to eat from that tree. That’s ridiculous. He’s trying to pull a fast one on you.” Yet, despite the opposition of sin and sinners against God, His Messiah remained on mission, namely to die as a perfect sacrifice for sins.
Lord, as the old hymn says, “Mocking shame and scoffing rude, in my place condemned He stood. Hallelujah, what a Savior.” Thank You.
0 Comments