Day 40 - The Soldiers Mock Jesus - More of Jesus Devotional

The soldiers mock Jesus.

Micah Abeloe

“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.” Matthew 27: 27-31.

This scripture is very troubling to me along with all the rest of the scriptures that talk about the trial and crucifixion of Jesus. This bit talks about the soldiers mocking Jesus. These are Roman soldiers and their job was to disgrace and humiliate people before they hung them on a cross. They had also brought Him before 600 other soldiers as they performed these humiliating acts. Jesus does not try and defend Himself during this. Scripture tells us He is silent as they mock His claims of who He is and what He has come to earth to do. Jesus is left there, bloodied and beaten, mocked and scorned by many. It is hard for me to see the most powerful person in the entire history of the world in this state and not flexing an ounce muscle at all! This is the Creator of all, even the people who are mocking Him! All our hearts scream for justice on Jesus’ behalf! Jesus accepts His fate and does not resist. It is utterly super human. The fact that He is God is the most astonishing factor to me. It begs the question of why He did it?! What does He see in us to endure this amount of humiliation?! This is the Creator of everything being beaten and mocked for doing absolutely nothing wrong! I’m at a loss for words...

Questions:

• -  Jesus was silent through this humiliation. He didn’t speak up for Himself. Maybe in His silence, He was speaking in a language that words cannot convey. In His silence, He was telling of His great love for you. How does that affect you today?
  
  
• -  Knowing all of what you know about Jesus, if you could go back in time and be right there as this is situation is taking place, could you kneel next to Him, look at his bloodied, swollen and marred face, and, thank Him for what He is going through for you? Could you accept, right then and there, that He is going through this for you? Could you hug His battered, bloody body and tell Him you’re thankful that He’s accepting this punishment for you?
  
  
• -  Can you see yourself as Jesus does? Worth dying and going through a ridiculous amount of humiliation for?
  
  
• -  Would you be willing to endure this kind of humiliation or less, for Jesus’ sake?