Now the men who were holding Jesus in custody were mocking him as they beat him. - Luke 22:63
As we read through the sufferings of Christ, we find that he was ‘scourged’ or ‘flogged’ under the orders of Pilate. The practice of flogging was a legal preliminary to every Roman execution because it weakened the victim through shock and blood loss.
When flogged, the Roman soldiers used an instrument that was like a short whip with several leather thongs of varying lengths, in which small iron balls or sharp pieces of sheep bones were tied at intervals. Jesus would have endured these blows while tied to a post in a bent position and unlike Jewish laws that only allowed 39 lashes (13 on the chest and 13 on each shoulder) there were no limits whatsoever to the number of lashes that could be inflicted by the Romans, nor were they restricted to these areas.
Jesus was cruelly tortured and severely mutilated so you and I could be completely healed and beautifully whole. In order to further ridicule Jesus, the soldiers made a “crown of thorns” and placed it on his head.
They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand. Then they knelt in front of him and mocked him. “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said. They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him. - Matthew 27:28-31
The NET Bible describes it this way:
Traditionally it has been regarded as an additional instrument of torture, but it seems more probable the purpose of the thorns was not necessarily to inflict more physical suffering but to imitate the spikes of the “radiant corona,” a type of crown portrayed on ruler’s heads on many coins of the period; the spikes on this type of crown represented rays of light pointing outward (the best contemporary illustration is the crown on the head of the Statue of Liberty in New York harbor**).
Can you even imagine? The sinless Son of God was being mocked, beaten, and spit upon by those whom he loved so deeply. And yet the people took perverse pleasure in his pain, oblivious to the fact that he was enduring it all for them. The pain of Jesus served a colossal purpose – he purchased our pardon. (Very Christian-ese of me, huh? Our pardon.) But I adore the meaning. The Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary defines pardon as: “Authoritative act reversing a sentence given under a guilty verdict.”
We are indeed guilty. And without Christ, a sentence of death is guaranteed. But Jesus, in effect, walked into the courtroom of our sentencing and said, “I’ll pay the price for her freedom! She is guilty, but punish me instead.” And God did.
“He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” - 1 Peter 2:24
Jesus suffered indescribable pain to rescue you from death. We will experience a certain amount of pain in life. And when we do, it is an opportunity to follow the example of Jesus by bringing glory to the Father. But be on your guard! When we endure hardship, it is a prime opportunity for our adversary, the devil, to creep in and turn us into angry, bitter, unforgiving Spirit-starved people. When we suffer pain, we have a choice to make, just like Jesus did. Will we love others in spite of our suffering, breathing grace into the lives of those we know, and bringing glory to the Father? Or will we turn our thoughts inward, focusing on self (self-pity, self-loathing, self-righteousness, self-destruction, etc.) which brings about the unintended consequence of leading those around us astray?
*Biblical Studies Press. (2006; 2006). The NET Bible First Edition Notes (Jn 19:2). Biblical Studies Press.
**Brand, C., Draper, C., England, A., Bond, S., Clendenen, E. R., Butler, T. C., & Latta, B. (2003).
No comments:
Post a Comment