March 31
“Then Pilate took Jesus and scourged Him. And the soldiers twisted a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and they put on Him a purple robe. Then they said, ‘Hail, king of the Jews!’ And they struck Him with their hands,” John 19:1-3.
The one word, “then,” refers to the fact that Pilate’s previous efforts to move the multitude to quit crying out for Jesus’ crucifixion had failed. Simply declaring publicly that Jesus was innocent did not touch the cold and hard hearts of the religious leaders or the mocking multitude. What else could he do to touch their consciences and to silence their merciless cries for a crucifixion?
“Pilate took Jesus and scourged Him.” It was the custom of the Romans to scourge a prisoner before he was crucified. In essence, by this action Pilate was saying that he would take the next step and permit Jesus to be crucified. However, maybe, just maybe, the horrible sight of Jesus’ scourged body would move the mob to show some compassion.
According to the custom of the Romans, the hands of the victim were tied to a post. His chest and back were bared. The soldiers took turns whipping the bare back of the victim with the scourge. The scourge was a leather whip with leather strings, to which were attached pieces of wire and little balls of lead! Blow upon blow was struck upon the bare back of Jesus. The psalmist wrote about scourging a thousand years earlier, “The plowers plowed on my back!” Psalm 129:3. The words written by the prophet Isaiah 700 years earlier were being fulfilled: “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed,” Isaiah 53:5.
Yes, Jesus was scourged for you and me, so that we will not suffer the pain of scourging for our sins in eternity! His stripes from scourging have scourged away our sins!
The soldiers added to Jesus’ intense suffering by weaving a crown of thorns and pushing it onto His head! Then they hit Him, knelt in mockery before Him, and said, “Hail, King of the Jews!” What a price Jesus paid to redeem us from all the sins of inhumanity! The sins that show the lack of love for God and our neighbor!
All this Jesus endured so that you and I and all others might hear the message, “God’s love was manifested in sending His Son to be our Savior! Believe in Him. Trust Him!”
“O dearest Jesus, what law hast Thou broken,
That such sharp sentence should on Thee be spoken?
O what great crime hast Thou to make confession –
What dark transgression?
They crown Thy head with thorns, they smite, they scourge Thee,
With cruel mockings to the cross they urge Thee;
They give Thee gall to drink, they still decry Thee;
They crucify Thee.
And when, dear Lord, before Thy throne in heaven,
To me the crown of joy at last is given;
Where sweetest hymns Thy saints forever raise Thee,
I, too, shall praise Thee.” Amen.