“Scenes from the passion” devotion for Saturday, March 20, 2021. Original art by Susan Zendt (c) 2001.
And the soldiers led him away inside the palace (that is, the governor’s headquarters), and they called together the whole battalion. And they clothed him in a purple cloak, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on him. And they began to salute him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” And they were striking his head with a reed and spitting on him and kneeling down in homage to him. And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. And they led him out to crucify him. (Mark 15:16-20)
Jesus has been handed over to the soldiers who will crucify him. But before they do, they get their whole battalion together to dress him up like a king, hit him, spit on him, and mock him.
Why would they do that? Why would hundreds of soldiers shout and humiliate an already beaten and bloody man? Just for fun? Because they could? Because it gave them some sense of satisfaction?
Continue reading “Mocking Jesus”
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