In Pilate's judgment hall after He was scourged, the soldiers clothed the wounded Jesus in a purple robe, pressed a crown of thorns on His head, put a reed in His hand for a scepter, and greeted Him as king with bowed knee and mock worship before striking Him and spitting on Him. The royal salute treated His kingship as a joke, turning the title into insult and derision and ridiculing His claim to be the Son of God. Though He could have summoned heaven to His aid, He bore it all with perfect calmness, meekness and patience without retaliation or complaint, because one failure to endure would have made Him an imperfect offering and broken up the plan of salvation. While cruelty degraded His torturers into the likeness of Satan, His meek endurance exalted Him above humanity and proved His kinship to God, so that His abasement became the pledge of His exaltation as great high priest.
The Mocking Scene
The salute took place in Pilate's judgment hall, the Praetorium, where Jesus stood bound as a prisoner with a guard of soldiers about Him while the hall fast filled with spectators, and just outside the entrance stood the judges of the Sanhedrin, priests, rulers, elders and the mob who would not enter for fear of ceremonial defilement before the Passover. It belongs to His public humiliation after He was scourged, in the judgment hall before His crucifixion, when He was cruelly mocked and insulted with this greeting as part of the abuse He endured. The jeering continued as He was led from Pilate's hall and hurried toward Calvary, amid the crowd's shouts and jeers, with the cross prepared for Barabbas laid upon His bruised and bleeding shoulders and with two thieves to be executed with Him.
The whole band gathered around Him when He was faint and wounded from scourging. They clothed Him in a purple and tattered royal robe, plaited a crown of thorns upon His head, and put a reed in His hand as a scepter, then greeted Him as King of the Jews with mock worship and mock homage, bowing the knee and bowing before Him in derision. They spit upon Him, struck Him with the reed, and snatched the reed to strike the crown into His temples until blood trickled down His face and beard, amid jeering, blasphemy, and ridicule of His lowly birth.
The royal greeting treated His kingship as a joke and turned the title King of the Jews into an insult and derision during His suffering. It continued the derision in which Herod had Him dressed and treated like a ruler, so that instead of honoring Him they bowed and jeered. In this they ridiculed His claim to be the Son of God. The crowd's turn from hailing Him as king to reviling and condemning Him in humiliation reveals the fickleness of popular favor.
Endurance and Its Meaning
The mocking salute was led by Satan to provoke Jesus to retaliation or complaint, or to use His divine power to work a miracle to release Himself, and so to break up the plan of salvation, for one stain upon His human life and one failure to endure the trial would have made the Lamb of God an imperfect offering and would have made redemption a failure. Though by a command He could have brought the heavenly host to His aid or have driven the mob away by His divine majesty, He submitted with perfect calmness, meekness, patience, and Godlike fortitude, without retaliation, without the least murmur, and without departing in any particular from His Father's will, suffering as part of the plan of salvation so that the plan did not fail. The salute that treated His kingship as a joke, with bowing in derision while He was dressed in purple and a tattered royal robe and struck with a reed, was part of the cruelty and insults He endured without retaliation.
His enemies had demanded a miracle as evidence of divinity, and they received still greater evidence, for as cruelty degraded His torturers below humanity into the likeness of Satan, His meekness and patience exalted Him above humanity and proved His kinship to God. His abasement was the pledge of His exaltation, and the drops of blood that trickled from His wounded temples were the pledge of His anointing with the oil of gladness as great high priest.
He had prepared His disciples for this trial so that they would not be overwhelmed, yet seeing the One in whom they had placed their hope and in whom their hopes of eternal life were centered treated as a criminal tested their faith and caused hope and courage to fail. Joined with His own nation clamoring for His blood, His scourging as the worst of criminals, the choosing of the murderous Barabbas in His place, and His being lifted up on the cross to die as a malefactor, the depths of His humiliation — clad in the purple robe with the plaited crown of thorns on His sacred brow and the reed placed in His hand while His persecutors bowed before Him in mock homage and struck Him with the reed — marked the taking away of the Bridegroom when there would be cause to mourn and fast. The crowd's turn from hailing Him as king to reviling and condemning Him in humiliation reveals the fickleness of popular favor.
In Pilate's judgment hall after He was scourged, the soldiers clothed the wounded Jesus in a purple robe, pressed a crown of thorns on His head, put a reed in His hand for a scepter, and greeted Him as king with bowed knee and mock worship before striking Him and spitting on Him. The royal salute treated His kingship as a joke, turning the title into insult and derision and ridiculing His claim to be the Son of God. Though He could have summoned heaven to His aid, He bore it all with perfect calmness, meekness and patience without retaliation or complaint, because one failure to endure would have made Him an imperfect offering and broken up the plan of salvation. While cruelty degraded His torturers into the likeness of Satan, His meek endurance exalted Him above humanity and proved His kinship to God, so that His abasement became the pledge of His exaltation as great high priest.
The Mocking Scene
The salute took place in Pilate's judgment hall, the Praetorium, where Jesus stood bound as a prisoner with a guard of soldiers about Him while the hall fast filled with spectators, and just outside the entrance stood the judges of the Sanhedrin, priests, rulers, elders and the mob who would not enter for fear of ceremonial defilement before the Passover. It belongs to His public humiliation after He was scourged, in the judgment hall before His crucifixion, when He was cruelly mocked and insulted with this greeting as part of the abuse He endured. The jeering continued as He was led from Pilate's hall and hurried toward Calvary, amid the crowd's shouts and jeers, with the cross prepared for Barabbas laid upon His bruised and bleeding shoulders and with two thieves to be executed with Him.
The whole band gathered around Him when He was faint and wounded from scourging. They clothed Him in a purple and tattered royal robe, plaited a crown of thorns upon His head, and put a reed in His hand as a scepter, then greeted Him as King of the Jews with mock worship and mock homage, bowing the knee and bowing before Him in derision. They spit upon Him, struck Him with the reed, and snatched the reed to strike the crown into His temples until blood trickled down His face and beard, amid jeering, blasphemy, and ridicule of His lowly birth.
The royal greeting treated His kingship as a joke and turned the title King of the Jews into an insult and derision during His suffering. It continued the derision in which Herod had Him dressed and treated like a ruler, so that instead of honoring Him they bowed and jeered. In this they ridiculed His claim to be the Son of God. The crowd's turn from hailing Him as king to reviling and condemning Him in humiliation reveals the fickleness of popular favor.
Endurance and Its Meaning
The mocking salute was led by Satan to provoke Jesus to retaliation or complaint, or to use His divine power to work a miracle to release Himself, and so to break up the plan of salvation, for one stain upon His human life and one failure to endure the trial would have made the Lamb of God an imperfect offering and would have made redemption a failure. Though by a command He could have brought the heavenly host to His aid or have driven the mob away by His divine majesty, He submitted with perfect calmness, meekness, patience, and Godlike fortitude, without retaliation, without the least murmur, and without departing in any particular from His Father's will, suffering as part of the plan of salvation so that the plan did not fail. The salute that treated His kingship as a joke, with bowing in derision while He was dressed in purple and a tattered royal robe and struck with a reed, was part of the cruelty and insults He endured without retaliation.
His enemies had demanded a miracle as evidence of divinity, and they received still greater evidence, for as cruelty degraded His torturers below humanity into the likeness of Satan, His meekness and patience exalted Him above humanity and proved His kinship to God. His abasement was the pledge of His exaltation, and the drops of blood that trickled from His wounded temples were the pledge of His anointing with the oil of gladness as great high priest.
He had prepared His disciples for this trial so that they would not be overwhelmed, yet seeing the One in whom they had placed their hope and in whom their hopes of eternal life were centered treated as a criminal tested their faith and caused hope and courage to fail. Joined with His own nation clamoring for His blood, His scourging as the worst of criminals, the choosing of the murderous Barabbas in His place, and His being lifted up on the cross to die as a malefactor, the depths of His humiliation — clad in the purple robe with the plaited crown of thorns on His sacred brow and the reed placed in His hand while His persecutors bowed before Him in mock homage and struck Him with the reed — marked the taking away of the Bridegroom when there would be cause to mourn and fast. The crowd's turn from hailing Him as king to reviling and condemning Him in humiliation reveals the fickleness of popular favor.