In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Silence. I was worried that it might be awkward. But how else do you respond to a Scripture that begins with Jesus being scourged?
“Then Pilate took Jesus and had him scourged. And the soldiers, having made a crown out of thorns, put it on his head, and they threw a purple robe around him. And they came to him and said, ‘Hail, King of the Judeans!’”
Reading a Scripture like today’s is troubling. These aren’t the backgrounds to this morning’s songs. They aren't the images of the Psalms – trees planted by streams, green pastures, and banquet tables. They aren’t even the images of Job – storehouses of hail and roaring lions. These images are real, and brutal. Pilate turns Jesus over to be scourged. When the Jews whipped someone as punishment, they were restricted to 39 lashings. They gave 40 lashes minus 1 because 40 lashes could kill a person. But these are not Jewish officials whipping Jesus. These are Roman soldiers who are scourging him. The Romans had braided cords into a whip and embedded pieces of metal inside of it. These whips were designed to tear the skin off of your back. And this is scourging. This is what the soldiers inflicted upon Jesus.
And the soldiers, mocking Jesus, made a wreath out of thorns and put it on Jesus’ head. Then they took a purple garment and threw it over his shoulders. Purple, the color of royalty. And the soldiers threw it over the shoulders of an exhausted bloody man. Then they mocked him. As the soldiers hit Jesus; they mocked, “Hail, King of the Judeans!
For a visual person like myself, these pictures are excruciating. I see a broken man, being whipped mercilessly, his back torn apart by shards of metal, clinging to life. (Picture 1 – Pacher - Flagellation) And I see the blood dripping down his face as the thorns puncture his brow. (Picture 2 – Holbein Younger - Passion) And I see him fall as he receives blow after blow from the soldier’s fists. He is a pitiful, broken, powerless man. (Picture 3 – Passion – Crown Thorns))
My reaction, more than anything else, is STOP! Stop beating this man. Can’t you see that he isn’t a threat to you any longer? ||
I do understand the soldiers’ reactions. I know that the scourgings and crucifixions weren’t designed to be painful (although they were) as much as they were designed to shame you. The soldiers’ mocking words provide us with a clue about why Jesus was before the Roman authorities to begin with. Jesus was dangerous because he was introducing sedition, rebellion, into the
But we are only three verses into this passage.
“And Pilate came out again, and he said to them, ‘Behold, I bring him out to you, in order that you might know that I have found no crime in him.’ Then Jesus came out, wearing the thorny crown and the purple robe. And he said to them, ‘Behold the man.’”
It isn’t enough that Jesus was beaten and mocked by the soldiers. Now he is paraded before the crowds. While I wouldn’t put it past a man of Pilate’s reputation to have an innocent man scourged because he felt like it, I doubt he would have taken all of this time if he truly believed Jesus was innocent. He’s parading Jesus before the Judeans, before the people who are supposed to be his followers, proving to them that Jesus is not their king, but is really a pitiful, powerless man. (Picture 4 – Durer Ecco Homo) And we know that Pilate believes that the Judeans see Jesus as a king because he tells us so. Pilate brings Jesus out before the crowd again and says, “Behold your king.” He even asks, “Shall I crucify your king?”
What becomes abundantly apparent throughout this dialogue is that Pilate and the high priests are speaking the truth without even knowing it. Jesus really is the King.
So Pilate has brought Jesus out and paraded him before the Judeans. And “When the high priests and attendants saw him, they shouted, saying, ‘Crucify! Crucify!’ Pilate said to them, ‘you take him and crucify him, for I have found no charge in him.’ The Judeans answered him, ‘We have a law, and according to the law he should die, because he made himself a Son of God.’”
I suppose that I understand the high priests’ response too, although I never quite get how they can care so much about details of the law without caring about the people or the major points of the law. There IS a law against blasphemy after all. We are not supposed to use the Lord’s name in vain or make anything or anyone, ourselves included, into gods. So the high priests think that they are doing right. They are condemning Jesus for setting himself up to be God. The problem is, they never stop to ask whether Jesus might actually be God. It wouldn’t be the first time God had done something unusual. Jesus’ trial is even happening on the day of preparation of the Passover. Talk about one of God’s surprising events. Frogs, flies, water turning into blood, escaping through the
Ironically, they kill an innocent man, in violation of the command against murder, and they neglect the preparation of the Passover, which they have been commanded to keep each year. And they do it all because of the same Torah. Not realizing that they speak truth. Jesus really is the Son of God.
When Pilate hears the high priests’ charge, he is afraid. “When Pilate heard this word, he was greatly afraid. And he came again into the praetorium [(or governor’s house)], and he said to Jesus, ‘From where do you come?’ but Jesus did not give answer to him. Therefore Pilate said to him, ‘Do you not speak to me? Do you not know that I have the power to release you and the power to crucify you?’ Jesus answered him, ‘You do not have any power over me except what was given to you from above. Because of this, the one who handed me over to you has the greater sin.’”
Pilate is afraid that he might be trying a son of the gods. Not an unreasonable fear for an educated Roman man who knows the stories of the Roman gods and goddesses and how they walk among humans in human form. He wants to be absolutely sure that he is not crucifying one of the gods, so he asks Jesus directly, “From where do you come?” It is here that Jesus becomes mute. This is his chance to vindicate himself, to proclaim the truth that he is Immanuel, God with us. But Jesus is silent, fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah 53 (7). “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before his shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.”
Jesus does not need to answer Pilate’s question because he knows that God is the one in control. All power is God’s. Our power comes only as God gives it to us. We may use it for good or for evil, to serve God or to serve ourselves, but power is bestowed by God. Jesus does not need to answer Pilate because he knows that ultimately Pilate is not in control. God is. And Jesus serves his Father.
Still, one of my friends says that Jesus’ silence used to make her mad. Why wouldn’t he talk? Jesus does not answer from where he comes. In fact, he never does. The question has shown up from the beginning, in chapter 1, when John the Baptist and the disciples are first meeting Jesus. But Jesus doesn’t answer it there either. It seems that his life is the witness of his origins, and God must reveal the meaning of these signs to us.
But there in chapter 1 also, Jesus is called the lamb of God, like in Isaiah 53. And John is careful to tell us that it is noon on the preparation of the Passover. The Preparation of the Passover is to rid the house of yeast, make unleavened bread, and slaughter the lambs. Slaughter the lambs, one for each family or couple of families, perfect and without blemish of any kind. Slaughter the lambs, in remembrance of that first Passover, when the blood of those lambs, spread on the doorframes of the houses caused death to pass over those households. Jesus is sacrificed as the Passover Lamb.
That is pretty amazing. The plague of the firstborn is what allowed the Israelites to leave captivity in
It is an amazing story. The King is mocked, scourged, and beaten by his subjects, those he could destroy if he so desired. The Son of God is handed over by the very priests who should know him. The Lamb of God is slaughtered by the captives to save those who are in captivity. It is a painful story, and yet it is good news. We traditionally remember the crucifixion on GOOD Friday. We proclaim that this story of death is GOOD news. And it is good news. It is the revealing of the King of Israel. It is the story of Immanuel, God with us. It is the release of the captives, and our escape from death and bondage. Good news. The most painful, heart-wrenching good news ever told. Take a moment to reflect on this good news, and on our King, Immanuel, Lamb of God. Amen.
(Play How Deep the Father’s Love for Us)
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