And They Mocked Him: Matt. 27:27-31

"Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor's headquarters, and they gathered the whole battalion before him. And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, 'Hail, King of the Jews!' And they spit on him and took the reed and struck him on the head. And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him and led him away to crucify him."

Injustice!

Corrupt officials, false accusations, torture, illegal sentencing...Jesus' trial had it all.

One reads the account of the mockings, the tortuous beatings, and the brutal treatment of the sinless Son of God and a sense of outrage surfaces.

It's easy to feel superior to the 'ancient' Romans. You know, those primitive, less-advanced, uncivilized people of the ancient world...

But upon studying Roman law, you find that there was nothing uncivilized or uncouth about these people; rather, they were very advanced with an extremely sophisticated legal system (by the way, did you know that Scottish law is based on Roman law and is still upheld to the present day?)

So what happened to justice? Why was Jesus, after being declared innocent by Pontius Pilate, handed over to the entire Praetorium guard to be beaten almost to death and cruelly mocked and belittled, ultimately to be crucified?

Christians look to Scripture passages such as Isaiah 53, Galatians 3, and Acts 13(among many others) to understand why Jesus came to die. We understand the big picture, but sometimes it is difficult to understand why real historical figures did what they did--what was going through their minds?

Pilate watched out for his own interest. The Praetorium guard committed exceedingly wicked deeds without fear of judgment. And the crowd rejected God in the name of God (the ultimate irony!). Is this not exemplary of every society since the beginning? When confronted with God, human nature (since the Fall) rebels.

It avails us nothing to be affected by the ill-treatment of Christ or to condemn the people involved if we see not ourselves fashioning that thorny crown and laying the fiercest blows upon the Savior's cheek!

What our Savior endured for sinners!!!!!!!!!!

May we never ever cease to be humbled and amazed at the boundless love of Christ.

by Robin Lawrence