Jesus is Essential
John 19:1–4: So then Pilate took Jesus and scourged Him. And the soldiers twisted a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and they put on Him a purple robe. Then they said, “Hail, King of the Jews!” And they struck Him with their hands. Pilate then went out again, and said to them, “Behold, I am bringing Him out to you, that you may know that I find no fault in Him.”
Here the symbolism is plain. Jesus said, “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up.” He knew he had to bear man’s sin, which began through the serpent in the Garden of Eden. Now Jesus received a crown of thorns and briars, which Genesis specifically associates with the curse of the Fall. Even the Roman soldiers conform to an awful symbolism. It was a terrible coronation, yet Christ remained in control.
The gruesome carnival continued as the soldiers “clothed him in a purple robe,” probably using a ragged soldier’s robe that had faded from crimson to purple. Matthew and Mark tell us the soldiers also made Christ hold a reed scepter, then repeatedly took it from his hand and beat him about the face. Because the prophetic scriptures describe this in the extreme, we infer that the soldiers must have gotten carried away. 1
Walking with Jesus
If we reject His Word, we reject Him. If we do not feed on His Word, we will feed on the world. If we do not stand up for Him and live for Him, how are we any different from the behavior of Pilate and the soldiers?
He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Isaiah 53:3
The rejection of Christ continues. In our current culture, He is still despised.
Praying
Lord, teach me how to experience the fellowship of suffering with greater joy.
1. Hughes, R. K. (1999). John: that you may believe. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.
