and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered Him to be crucified.
The Soldiers Mock Jesus
27 Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole garrison around Him. 28 And they stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him. 29 When they had twisted a crown of thorns, they put it on 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!” 30 Then they spat on Him, and took the reed and struck Him on the head. 31 And when they had mocked Him, they took the robe off Him, put His own clothes on Him, and led Him away to be crucified. Matthew 27:26-31
1. Jesus was scourged.
Scourging, practiced by the Romans was a cruel punishment that usually preceded crucifixion. The only ones exempted from scourging were women, Roman senators and soldiers except in cases of desertion. Normally there were between one and six trained Roman officer called lictors who were responsible for dispensing the blows to the victims. The lictors chosen to administer the scourging had previously received special medical training. They knew how to wield the whip so as to open bruises which had already formed. The instrument used for scourging is a short whip called a flagrum or flagellum to which was attached several braided leather thongs of variable lengths. Knots were tied in the ends of each thong, and sheep bone or iron balls were inserted into the knots at the end of each thong. This whip is called a flagrum or flagellum.
The person to be scourged is stripped of his clothing and his hands are tied to a post or be was bent over a stump called the "stump of half death".
Many men would die or pass out from the scourging alone. Often the Romans would have a bucket of saltwater to revive the victim.
2. Jesus was spit on.
The bible says the soldiers stripped Jesus and put a scarlet robe on him and mocked Him.
The greek word for robe is "chlamus"- it is not a word for a long flowing robe like you would think, but a short cloak that came only to the elbows.
So imagine Jesus standing literally in army barracks with tough rugged Romans soliders naked from the shoulders down.
The Bible says they "mocked Him". Thankfully the Bible didn't record the words.
Then they spit on Him.
3. Jesus was Shamed.
Crucifixion- It is hard for me to think about Jesus without thinking about the Cross.
Oswald Chambers - “All heaven is interested in the cross of Christ, all hell is terribly afraid of it, while men are the only beings who more or less ignore its meaning.
a. Crucifixion was painful
The Historian Josephus called crucifixion “the most wretched of deaths.”
The philosopher Cicero said, “It is so altogether shameful that good Romans or Greeks should ever mention the cross. It is not fit for good decent people to make mention of it.”
-the word to describe crucifixion is the word
“Excruciating”- out of the cross or from the cross.
This was a word invented to describe the pain and horror of crucifixion.
Most men died by asphyxiation. They would move up and down on the cross to get air.
So, in order to slow down the process, the Romans would build a seat or ledge the man had to rest on so he could not move up and down the cross so he would die slower.
Some men found a way around this so they would nail his privates to the cross so he could not move up and down.
b. Crucifixion was public
This was done publicly in places of heavy traffic.Like at Wal-mart on Sunday mornings. To shame the man.
They wanted to publicly humiliate your family. They would make fun of your naked body hanging on the cross. A crucifixion brought out all the scum of society to watch a person die.
They would spit on you and throw things at you.
-all the while many men would lose control of their bowls and literally use the bathroom all over themselves and their cross. In front of everyone.
They wanted to strip the man of all of his dignity.
This was Jesus on Good Friday.
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