(Text and Audio)
Title: The Mocking of a King
“he released Barabbas to them…”
I think of the early 90’s and the L.A. riots after the trial of the L.A. police officers for the Rodney King beating…
But here is there is no outrage, there is no riot. In fact, it is highly likely that releasing the guilty and crucifying the innocent is what prevented a riot.
“scourged”
Packer: The Roman scourge was a multi-stranded whip to the ends of which bits of bone were tied. Prisoners often died from this punishment.
(pictures) The Passion of the Christ
“gathered the whole garrison around Him”
-What was about to happen was designed to send at least two messages:
- This is what happens to “Kings” who don’t bow down to Rome, to those who dare to defy the authority of Caesar
- To the Soldiers: “This is your job” Part of defending the honor of Rome is not just punishment, but the utter humility and embarrassment of those who dishonor her.
“Scarlet Robe?”
Both Luke and Mark describe the robe as purple, so which was it?
From Eric Lyons M. Min on Apologetics Press
The garment placed upon Jesus after his brutal scourging likely was similar to the faded football uniforms mentioned above, but in His case we read of “a scarlet robe…faded to resemble purple” (The Wycliffe Bible Commentary). [It is difficult to imagine Pilate arraying Jesus’ bloody body with a new robe. More likely it was one that had been worn and cast off as useless (Barnes).] According to A.T. Robertson, there were various shades of purple and scarlet in the first century and it was not easy to distinguish the colors or tints (1997). In fact, the ancients (especially the Romans) used the term purple when speaking of various shades of red (McGarvey, 1875, p. 361; Barnes, 1997). Consequently, these different colors sometimes would be called by the same name.
As one can see, there is no discrepancy in the Gospel narratives concerning the color of the robe Jesus wore. Just like others of their day, the Gospel writers simply used the terms scarlet and purple interchangeably.
From PB:
Remember that this is PROOF that each of the Gospel writers was writing from their own unique perspective, and that there was NOT collusion amongst the authors to try to “harmonize” their accounts.
In other words, the difficulty between the accounts lends validity to their authenticity.
The (No So Subtle) Symbols
The Robe: Majesty and Splendor
The Crown: Authority and Birthright
The Reed: Power and Might
The Bended Knee: Respect and Recognition
The Proclamation: Allegiance and Submission
THEN (v30) The “joke” is over.
They spit on him, to this day, the ultimate sign of disrespect. (This isn’t “he tore his clothes”) If someone tore his clothes in disgust you would be confused. If they spat on you, you’d bet the message.
They took the reed and hit him on the head with it. They are demonstrating that any power Jesus thought he had, any power his followers thought he had was a illusion. Rome has the power. Rome grants power and takes it away. (This is one of the things that Pilate feared.)
They took the Robe off of him, and put his own clothes back on, demonstrating that his is no king, he is, in fact, nothing more than a Judean peasant.
But…they (mockingly? mistakenly) leave the crown on him…
Close:
And just what did this peasant accomplish? I would ask you to consider a strange source for the answer to that might question…consider the words of Napoleon on his deathbed.
I die before my time. My body is to be given over and eaten by worms. I marvel that whereas the ambitious dreams of my self, Caesar, and Alexander should have vanished into thin air, a Judean peasant—Jesus—should be able to stretch His hands across the centuries and control the destinies of men and nations.