“Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole Roman cohort around Him. And they stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him. And after weaving a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand; and they kneeled down before Him and mocked Him, saying, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’ And they spat on Him and took the reed and began to beat Him on the head. And after they had mocked Him, they took His robe off and put His garments on Him and led Him away to crucify Him.”
Much of mocking is to get other people to laugh at someone else's expense. Putting down others in some psychological way may make some feel more important.
Sarcasm was partly motivated from racism. The Roman soldiers were hostile toward the Jews. They felt they were the superior race. They wanted to make fun of the weakness of Jewish rulers and leaders. Since Jesus was seen to be worthy of respect and honor, it was their delight to humor themselves by using sarcasm and ridicule. They laughed at how He looked. They play acted by paying Him mock homage. They were vulgar no doubt in their comments to Him, as He stood naked and bleeding. Mockingly they bowed down saying, “Hail King of the Jews” and kept hitting with fists and rods.
Any part we have in making fun of others because of nationality, education, language, or color involves us in mockery due to prejudice. Jesus knew what it meant to be laughed at and cruelly treated just because of His Jewish race.
Some mocking came from jealousy by those from His own race. Jealousy can result in humiliating another in part because of their successes, attention, accomplishments, or riches. More importantly, Jesus made the people face their sin. People don’t like to feel guilty. They can either get rid of guilt by finding forgiveness in Christ or attack the who made them feel guilty.
There is an old Spiritual that is sung this time of the year - “Were You There when they crucified my Lord?” The answer, I’m sorry to say, is Yes. I was there in the mockery and in the humiliation. Perhaps not so much in the words and actions, but in prejudice, jealousy, indifference, in mocking others, and making fun of them. If you been made fun of or have been the brunt of a cruel joke, then remember Jesus understands.
Knowing the truth, Jesus kept silent and went through this so that we might be saved.
Pilate showed Him off to the crowds by saying “Here is the man. Behold him, see what I have done to him.” He thought if the people could see this it would satisfy their desire to have Him killed. It would be enough.
The crowd was not satisfied. They did not want only to see blood. They wanted Jesus dead. Yes, all of this was prophesied; all of this was pre-planned. All of this was indeed in God’s hands, but let’s not dismiss the actions or miss man’s part in the crucifixion of Christ. He was humiliated for our sins and He was hated, not just rejected. not just ignored, but hated by many. The Jewish leaders could take it no more when they heard Jesus was innocent. They didn’t want to deal with Him anymore.
Application: Would I have been a part of the mocking crowd had I been there? Would I have been blinded by my traditions and religion from seeing the revelation of Jesus, my savior, before me.
Prayer: Lord, keep my eyes and thoughts always turned toward You. Help me to always look at Your Word through fresh eyes so that I do not miss any revelation that you have for me. Remove any preconceived ideas I may have so that I can be led by your Holy Spirit, who will "guide me into all truth" John 16:13 Remove all my prejudice, jealousy, indifference and anything else that stands in my way of obedience.
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