They mocked Him, beat Him, and Spit upon His Face
Three times Jesus had to endure the humiliation of the mockery, and the cruelty of the various beatings:
The chief priests and elders:
Mark 14:63-65. “Then the high priest rent his clothes, and saith, What need we of any further witnesses?
Ye have heard the blasphemy: what think ye? And they all condemned Him to be guilty of death.
And some began to spit on Him, and to cover His face, and to buffet Him, and say unto Him, Prophesy: and the servants did strike Him with the palms of their hands.”
They first spit on Him, covering His face with their spit.
They struck Him and said, “Tell us who hit you?” “Tell us which hand hit you, left or right?”
But notice it is the servants of these priests and elders which do the striking. The chief priests and elders would not get their hands bloody, so they could say they were “clean” when it came to His blood.
(How they fooled themselves!)
Then they led Him away, so they could get Rome to kill Him.
Herod and His soldiers:
Luke 23:11 “And Herod with his men of war set Him at nought, and mocked Him, and arrayed Him in a gorgeous robe, and sent Him again to Pilate.”
Herod did the least, but mocked Him in his court.
He made Him contemptible in front of his soldiers, by putting a robe on Him. Then they bowed, and called Him king. Laughing at the sight of Jesus with such a beautiful robe.
But Jesus was a king.
The King of kings: as He said later, “My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence…..To this cause I was born….that I should bear witness of the truth. Everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice.” (John 18:36-37)
Pilate and His soldiers:
John 19:1 “And Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged Him.”
The scourge was made of the sinews of oxen. Sharp bones were intertwined in places, so that every time the lash came down, these small bones would tear into the flesh of the prisoner.
Though Pilate knew that Jesus was innocent, yet he commanded Him to be scourged.
The cruelty of this is seen in Pilate washing his hands; saying he is innocent of Jesus’s blood.
Matthew 27:27-31. “Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered unto Him the whole band of soldiers.
They stripped Him, put on Him a scarlet robe.
And when they had pleated a crown of thorns, they put it upon His head, and a reed in His right hand: and they bowed the knee before Him, and mocked Him, saying, Hail, king of the Jews!
And they spit upon Him, and took the reed, and smote Him on the head.
And after that they had mocked Him, they took the robe off from Him, and put His own raiment on Him, and led Him away to crucify Him.”
First they beat Him with out mercy with the scourge. Tearing into His flesh, and making the blood run.
But that was not enough sport: They stripped Him naked, giving only a scarlet robe and a crown of thorns to wear. They gave Him a reed as a scepter, but there was a cruel reason.
Bowing and mocking, first. Then taking the reed the whole band of soldiers beat Him on the head with it.
Isaiah 52:14 “As many were astonished at Thee; His visage was so marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men:”
(This was the prophesy concerning the beatings. His face was so beaten, they could not tell it was the face of a man.)
Jesus was beaten in cruel mockings. But He endured all of this for us.
Isaiah 53:5 “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed.”
[Sometimes we are “beaten up” in our social life, cruel things happen.
Sometimes we are in troubles from finances, or “pressed down” under circumstances which seem without a solution.
Sometimes we are depressed, in darkness, because of the past, present, or what we see as a hopeless future.
Life is very hard at times…..impossible for us….alone.
Let me remind you, here, that the Lord never belittles our pain, or our anxieties.
On the contrary, the Bible says:
Hebrews 4:14-15 “Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.
For we have not a high priest which can not be touched with the feelings of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.”
He knows how we feel. He knows pain and darkness…and trusted in the only One who could bring Him through it, to do so.
And God, the Father, did. He is our God, and Father, too.
And that is not all. Because Jesus went through this, we now can go through these things, too. He has gone before us, and had the victory over them already….so we can.
But He also goes with us….
God, the Father, is our Father….
Jesus is our Mediator, and Counselor….
The Holy Spirit is our inner light……Hold on to Him, and He will not fail you.
He knows, and since He knows, He is already working in us, and for us, to bring us through.
Hebrews 4:16 “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”
Mercy is God’s kindness (spiritual and temporal) to sinners; And grace is His unmerited favor of power (ability to do).]
Imagine, He did all of this for us, for me.
Hallelujah, What a Savior!
Preaching, Teaching, and Notes 