The Pain of Mockery
“Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole Roman cohort (around 300-600 soldiers) around Him. And they stripped Him, and put a scarlet robe on Him. And after weaving a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand; and they kneeled before Him and mocked Him, saying, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’”
Matthew 27:27-29 [Also Read Matthew 27;27-44].
The preliminaries Jesus faced prior to His crucifixion on a Roman cross were excruciating! Not only had Jesus’ face been stricken earlier as He stood before Annas and then Caiaphas and the Jewish Supreme Court called the Sanhedrin, He now stood before a great number of Roman soldiers and others positioned at Pilate’s governor’s mansion near the temple site in Jerusalem. And during this time the mockery He received both spoken and physically applied, is more than you and I could imagine!
Think of the mockery the Jewish religious leaders (Jesus’ own people), and the Gentiles (through particularly the soldiers) inflicted upon Jesus mind, emotions, spirit, and body. Matthew tells us how Jesus was victim to a very cruel game the Roman soldiers used to play with those condemned to die. They would dress them up as a mock King, bow down to them, and then, treat them in a terrible way, after which they would remove their mock-kingly clothing and send them off to die (Note the items of mockery in today’s Scripture: the scarlet robe, crown of thorns, and reed (staff) placed in the right hand, which represented the place of authority for an earthly king).
The Bible tells us that Jesus took the sin-disease of the world upon Himself on the cross. This means that Jesus took the awful atrocity of mockery upon Himself as well. Perhaps you have been the subject of mockery. Perhaps someone has made sport with you, at your expense, as the soldiers did with Jesus. The Good News is that whether victim or perpetrator, you can find forgiveness and healing at the cross of the One who took the blows of mockery for you and for me on the tree called Calvary! With every sneer, Jesus still loved us with the Father’s love! (See Luke 23:34) Pastor Louie