seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
John 19:1 Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. 2 The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe 3 and went up to him again and again, saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” And they slapped him in the face.
4 Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews gathered there, “Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him.” 5 When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!”
6 As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!”
But Pilate answered, “You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him.”
7 The Jewish leaders insisted, “We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God.”
8 When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, 9 and he went back inside the palace. “Where do you come from?” he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer. 10 “Do you refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?”
11 Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.”
12 From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jewish leaders kept shouting, “If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.”
13 When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge’s seat at a place known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic is Gabbatha). 14 It was the day of Preparation of the Passover; it was about noon.
“Here is your king,” Pilate said to the Jews.
15 But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!”
“Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked.
“We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered.
16 Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified.
Yesterday, Pilate sent Jesus to be beaten. The idea was, I guess, if they beat Him into submission, the priests would agree to let Him go. Or maybe they thought He would admit to a crime they could execute Him for "legally". This morning, Pilate paraded the beaten Jesus, clothed in a robe and wearing a crown, hoping the people would have pity on Him. That didn't go so well. The priests were adamant. They wanted Him hung! A mob.... an angry hanging mob... Jesus was arrested during the evening on Thursday. Now it's Friday, about noon. Apparently, there is some discussion about the time of day too. Mark [you know the kid Gospel writer who is going to be a thorn] said it was mid-morning. I'll bet Jesus has been up for at least 24 hours.
When I woke up this morning, I thought about the guard who smacked Jesus. I wonder if Jesus had ever been hit! I wonder if Mary ever gave Jesus at smack on the butt and told Him to "get on outside". I wonder if the class bully ever smacked Jesus for His lunch money.
Now that I see this in writing... I wonder if Jesus was ever accused of doing anything wrong growing up.... aside for staying back in the Temple when His family traveled home, only to realize He wasn't with the family. I wonder if Jesus ever cried to get His diaper changed or to get a bottle [breast]. Did He just adjust Mary's brain to get her to do it?
If Jesus could get everyone to ignore Him as He walked past them to avoid being thrown off a cliff, couldn't He have avoided this whole beating part?
The answer [I believe] is no. Jesus, the Son of God, would not use this tactic here and now. This was the Mission. Jesus had to die on the Cross, at the pleading of the corrupt priests, in just a few hours. He had to be in the tomb before dusk. It was the Sabbath coming up. Good Jewish boys don't hang on the cross after dark. It's too much work. Those Priests wanted everyone [but them] to "rest" on the Sabbath. The beatings helped that along. Jesus had a perfect body... it was going to take a lot of beating and hanging to make it die.
On top of that... according to verse 14, they were preparing for the Passover Sabbath. Passover, the remembrance of when the final curse hit Egypt, killing the first born of men and beasts. It was Passover, the remembrance of when they had to smear the blood of the lamb over the door post to signify, they were Believers, God's children. They had to get home before dusk.... the Passover lamb's blood had to be shed and smeared.
How sick does a man have to be to nail someone to a cross and watch them die? How sick does a man have to be to abuse little boys and little girls? How sick does a man have to be to lay a purple robe on bloody purple open wounds to stick? When they pull that robe off of His bloody wounds, it will pull them to bleed again. Jesus had to shed blood, not just from the thorns of the crown, but from the bloody robe as well.
Finally, Pilate stopped trying to stop the priests from murdering Jesus.
Sentenced: "He will be hung on a cross until dead"
