Day 43
Matthew 27:15-31
This section of Matthew contains the fourth, fifth and sixth stages of Jesus’ suffering, which primarily involves Jesus’ trial before Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea, for the crime of treason and not for the crime of “blasphemy”, which was the crime for which the religious leaders wanted Jesus to be tried and executed. This first section begins in Matthew 27:15 and runs through Matthew 27:26, which says:
Now at the feast the governor was accustomed to release for the crowd any one prisoner whom they wanted. And they had then a notorious prisoner called Barabbas. So when they had gathered, Pilate said to them, “Whom do you want me to release for you: Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?” For he knew that it was out of envy that they had delivered him up. Besides, while he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent word to him, “Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have suffered much because of him today in a dream.” Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. The governor again said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?” And they said, “Barabbas.” Pilate said to them, “Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” They all said, “Let him be crucified!” And he said, “Why? What evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Let him be crucified!” So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves.” And all the people answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!” Then he released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, delivered him to be crucified.
The first thing we should notice here is that Jesus, as has already been stated, was put on trial for treason and not “blasphemy”, because treason was the only crime that the religious leaders could legally seek to have Jesus executed. And the second thing we see is that Pilate’s greatest sin was compromising what he knew to be true and right to gain the favor of the crowd and to protect his own reputation. Which does not mean that Pilate was weak or wishy-washy, because if he was either of those things then he would not have been a governor of a Roman province. However, it does mean that Pilate took the easy way out by ordering Jesus’ execution even though he knew that Jesus was guilty of disturbing the peace, at the most, and not the crime of treason. Then why did Pilate find Jesus guilty of treason even though there was absolutely no evidence for Pilate to reach this conclusion? Simply because Pilate was trying to save his job and more importantly to him his life. And the whole point of all this is to show that exercising a ritual, such as washing one’s hands, cannot excuse that person from their guilt when they have done wrong. Which very simply means that we must back up our beliefs with bold and proper actions.
This section of Matthew ends with these words, “Then he released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, delivered him to be crucified” (Matthew 27:26). Before we go any further I must warn you this section is going to be at times graphic, because in order to truly understand what is happening at the end of this section of Matthew and what is happening in the next section of Matthew the events have to be described in all their graphic detail. The “scourging” of “flogging” that occurred here was the fourth stage of Christ’s suffering, leading up to his crucifixion.
The Roman flogging consisted of the victim being stripped of his garments and stretched against a pillar or bent over a low post with his hands tied. The instrument of torture was a short wooden handle that had several strips of leather attached to it, with bits of iron or bones interwoven into the pieces of leather and this instrument was called a flagrum. Two men usually whipped the victim, one lashing the victim from one side, one from the other side. This resulted in the flesh being cut so severely that veins, arteries and sometimes even inner organs were exposed and sometimes victims died during the flogging.
To those of you who know anything about 18th and 19th century history this punishment/form of torture should sound familiar. Flogging was used in both the military and Naval forces of both the United States and the United Kingdom through the early to middle parts of the 19th century. This ugly and vulgar form of punishment was outlawed for the simple reason that it was consider to be too harsh even by the 19th century standards. In fact Charles Oman, the historian of the Peninsular War, wrote this about the punishment of flogging:
If anything was calculated to brutalize an army it was the wicked cruelty of the British military punishment code, which Wellington to the end of his life supported. There is plenty of authority for the fact that the man who had once received his 500 lashes for a fault which was small, or which involved no moral guilt, was often turned thereby from a good soldier into a bad soldier, by losing his self-respect and having his sense of justice seared out. Good officers knew this well enough, and did their best to avoid the cat o’ nine tails, and to try more rational means—more often than not with success.
Oman’s quote gives the whole purpose of having someone flogged, which was not to punish but rather was to inflict humiliation on the person being flogged, and we will talk more about that later.
As we have seen flogging was a brutal form of torture and the severe flogging that Jesus endured was surely the greatest physical reason that he was unable to carry his own cross all the way to Golgotha. However, we must remember these words from prophet Isaiah, “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.”
This next section of Matthew deals with the fifth and sixth stages of Christ’s sufferings on his way to the cross, and this section says:
Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor’s headquarters, and they gathered the whole battalion before him. And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” And they spit on him and took the reed and struck him on the head. And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him and led him away to crucify him. Matthew 27:27-31
Matthew 27:27-31 is describing the fifth stage of Christ’s suffering, which says this:
Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor’s headquarters, and they gathered the whole battalion before him. And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” And they spit on him and took the reed and struck him on the head. And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him
In this fifth stage Jesus is untied and placed in the middle of a group of Roman soldiers, probably about 600 men, who put a robe across his shoulders, place a stick in his hand and press a circle of branches covered with long thorns on his head. The soldiers make fun of him as the hit him across the face and head, driving the thorns deeper into his scalp. Now we must remember that this all occurred after Jesus has already been flogged, which means that the robe that was placed across shoulders and probably over his back would have been placed over open and untreated wounds. This ultimately means that when they ripped this robe off Jesus they were tearing away more flesh and causing more pain and humiliation, which we must remember was the whole point of this particular style of execution in the Roman mind.
And the very last part of Matthew 27:31 and Matthew 27:32 tells of the sixth stage of Christ’s sufferings, which says, “And led him away to crucify him. As they went out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. They compelled this man to carry his cross.”
In this the sixth stage of Christ’s sufferings a heavy wooden cross beam is tied to Jesus’ shoulder, bearing in mind the abuse that Jesus’ shoulders and back have already taken. It is at this point in time that Jesus begins his slow journey to Golgotha, sometimes referred to as Cavalry, (the hill on which Jesus would be crucified). It is the weight of this wooden cross beam, combined with sheer physical exhaustion, from everything that has happened to this point in time that causes Jesus to fall. Jesus attempts to continue this death march, but is unable to because of the damage that has already been inflicted on his body. It is at this point in time that a man named Simon is then forced to carry Jesus cross the rest of the way.
Now, to put this in perspective for you. Most of you who will be either reading this or listening to this live in English countries, who have direct ties back to England. And you are thinking thank God that we live in a civilized society that does not inflict such torture on people accused of crimes as the Romans did. As we have already seen flogging was a common punishment for petty things in both the Untied States and the United Kingdom. But the point that I am trying to make here is that the traditional and for a long time statutory penalty for high treason, which is what Jesus was convicted of and executed for, in England was to be hanged, drawn and quartered. When we say drawn, that means the convicted traitor was fastened to a hurdle, or wooden panel, and drawn by horse to the place of execution. The convicted traitor was then hanged (almost to the point of death), emasculated, disemboweled, beheaded and then quartered (chopped into four pieces). The convicted traitor’s remains would then often be displayed in prominent places across the country. All of this should sound familiar because it is very similar to what Jesus endured for you and for me. For you see our unforgiven sins make us in essence traitors to God, because in our unforgiven sins we have rebelled against God and taken sides with Satan. The prophet Isaiah describes Jesus death in this way:
Behold, my servant shall act wisely;
he shall be high and lifted up,
and shall be exalted.
As many were astonished at you—
his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance,
and his form beyond that of the children of mankind—
so shall he sprinkle many nations.
Kings shall shut their mouths because of him,
for that which has not been told them they see,
and that which they have not heard they understand.
Who has believed what he has heard from us?
And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
For he grew up before him like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
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.
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he opened not his mouth.
By oppression and judgment he was taken away;
and as for his generation, who considered
that he was cut off out of the land of the living,
stricken for the transgression of my people?
And they made his grave with the wicked
and with a rich man in his death,
although he had done no violence,
and there was no deceit in his mouth.
Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him;
he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;
by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
make many to be accounted righteous,
and he shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,
and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,
because he poured out his soul to death
and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many,
and makes intercession for the transgressors. Isaiah 52:13-53:12
And we will see how this all works tomorrow as we deal with the final four stages of Christ’s sufferings and what his death in this horrible manner truly means for us.
Tomorrow’s Bible Readings:
Exodus 35:10-36:38, Matthew 27:32-66, Psalm 34:1-10, Proverbs 9:7-8