The Mocking of Jesus

Mark 15:16-26

Mark does not get into the physical abuse of Jesus as others have in their reporting, but he shows what the mocking of the Roman Military did to the King of Kings.   Mark’s account in verses 16-20,  ^“And the soldiers led him away inside the palace (that is, the governor's headquarters), and they called together the whole battalion.  And they clothed him in a purple cloak, and twisting together a crown of thorns; they put it on him.  And they began to salute him, “Hail, King of the Jews!”  And they were striking his head with a reed and spitting on him and kneeling down in homage to him.  And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. And they led him out to crucify him.”

As a dad, it is impossible with my finite mind to grasp how a Father would allow such a thing to take place when all He had to do was say enough; none of them are worth the pain, the humiliation of My Son, my only Son.  Yes, Michael was ready to kill all who mocked his God, his Creator, as was each angel in heaven, but the Father was silent.  It is simple but beyond the understanding of us mere men, but the apostle John gives us these words Jesus spoke, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Isaiah seven hundred years earlier gave us this insight; “But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds, we are healed.   All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”  (Isaiah 53:5-6)  At the time of Isaiah, each year a family had to bring a pure lamb, with no spot or blemish to the priest and then it was killed, and its blood covered their sin for that year, Jesus is the Lamb God promised to cover our sin, a pure lamb and without sin. 

So why do men still reject, still mock Him, you will find that answer in John’s Gospel; “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.” (John 3:19)

From the Back Porch,

 Bob Rice