The Man, the Mystery, the Meaning, Part 3: He bore their taunts

After Jesus endured the false accusations of the Jewish hierarchy, he stood before Pilate, the feckless Roman governor who hesitated to execute him. Only because the crowd allowed no other outcome did Pilate finally give in and send Jesus to be crucified.

While the cross was being prepared, Jesus waited in the soldiers’ barracks in the governor’s headquarters. According to the commentator William Barclay, likely a whole detachment, perhaps hundreds of soldiers assigned to guarding Pilate, came to see Jesus. It was a pitiful sight, this bloodied man weakened and staggering from the flogging Pilate had ordered..

None of these soldiers were Jews; they had accompanied Pilate from Caesarea when he came to this outpost of the empire. It's easy to believe they spent much of their days bored. There was no enjoyable life for them in this hot and hostile land, and so the chance to have a little sport with a Jewish criminal was too much to pass up.

Barclay suggests we can excuse their horrible behavior because it happened in ignorance. They were not profaning or blaspheming the Son of God, as far as they knew. They were simply making sport of a deluded guy who had called himself a king.

As we hear their taunts, we see why they belong in this series of Eastertime devotions. They didn’t know who they were mocking They had no idea how their horseplay was simply one more act in the drama God had envisioned when he sent his Son to earth. Like so many others, they missed the mystery and the meaning of this man’s life, and now his horrible death.

We who worship Jesus today recoil at this scene, even more at the picture of Jesus nailed to a cross and hanging limp and helpless under an unforgiving sun. This week many of us will devote extra hours to contemplating that day in history and reconsidering its meaning for all humankind as well as our own aching hearts.

As we do so, we can remember again the seriousness of sin and the incomparable measures God took to deal with it. It’s easy to become cavalier about little breaches of ethics. It’s easy to make excuses for our unsavory thoughts, unwholesome language, ungodly attitudes, or untended bad habits.

It’s easy to forget that the suffering of Jesus is more than another tragic story; it’s the very remedy for our shame and hang-ups and failures. As we contemplate the reality of his suffering, we can remember why it happened.

And we can remember something else. Jesus, the Son of God who became man, identifies with us in all our suffering. We can serve the fading person in our lives and realize neither their physical suffering nor our emotional anguish equals the pain Jesus endured. He identifies with our hurting. His was the ultimate example of a life that promised greatness but was punctuated by brokenness. As we grieve the brokenness in our families this week, we can know Jesus understands.  

Read: Matthew 27:27-31
Pray: God, forgive us if we take lightly the suffering of Christ or the seriousness of our sin. Help us keep us from mocking Jesus by failing to make him Lord in all our daily decisions.

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