The Humiliation and Scourging of Jesus
We are continuing in our meditation of what Jesus endured to win our salvation as our substitute for sin. Jesus was brought by the elders of Israel before Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor. Pilate knew instinctively that there was something different about Jesus. Christ answered Pilate's questions replying that He was a king (John 18:37), an extraordinary statement to a man in a position of authority under Caesar. There could not be two kings in the Roman Empire. It took extreme bravery to say such a thing to Pilate.
It was the governor’s custom at the Feast of Passover to release a criminal. Pilate assumed that, if he gave the people a choice between Jesus and Barabbas, a man found guilty of insurrection and murder, then they would choose Jesus. He was wrong. The chief priests and the elders went through the crowd and persuaded them to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus crucified (Matthew 27:20). It is normal to trust our spiritual leaders, so the people followed their dictates.
I can only imagine the horror of the disciples and His mother, Mary, in the crowd that morning as the religious leadership walked among them, telling people to shout for Barabbas rather than Jesus. In my mind I picture Mary screaming at the top of her voice, hoping for the name of Jesus to rise above the shouts of Barabbas, but it was the name of Barabbas heard the loudest from the mob. It is interesting to note that Jesus was never declared guilty by Pontius Pilate. The Lord was delivered over to them with Pilate washing his hands of the affair, thinking that he could absolve himself before God of his responsibility.After the release of Barabbas, Pilate had Jesus scourged.
Luke does not comment about the scourging, so to get a full picture of the beatings and humiliation, we draw our information from the other Gospels. In his book, The Day Christ Died, author Jim Bishop has this to say about scourging;
Roman scourging was called the “halfway death” because it was supposed to stop this side of death, and never administered in addition to another punishment. The two "thieves" who would die on this day were not scourged. And the Jewish law—Mithah Arikhta—forbade any manner of prolonged death for condemned criminals, and exempted any who were to die from the shame of being scourged.” The Roman lictor used a circular piece of wood, to which were attached several strips of leather. At the end of each strip, he sewed a chunk of bone or a small piece of iron chain. This instrument was called a flagellum.[1]
The flagellum had anywhere from three to nine strips of leather. Shards of glass, broken pottery, bone splinters or nails, and other metal items were attached to the end of each strip. Most victims of scourging were stripped naked and beaten by one or possibly two soldiers as the victim was tied to a post with his back towards the Roman soldiers. The flagellum would have torn chunks of flesh off his back, laying it open. It was common for the wounds to cut deep into the kidneys. Some victims died from extreme shock.
This was the cost of payment for our sin. God did not minimize the judgment of sin for His Son, Jesus. Jesus took all the hatred and punishment of demonized depraved humanity as they ripped apart His flesh. Oh God, thank you for Jesus and what He has done for us. Keith
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