Matthew 27:31, commentary and pictures

After the soldiers had mocked him as king, they stripped off the mock royal robe, put his own clothes back on him, and led him away from Pilate's hall to be crucified. The mockery was a contemptuous coronation, clothing him in a tattered purple robe, crowning him with thorns, putting a reed in his hand for a scepter, bowing in derision, striking him on the head, smiting him and spitting upon him until blood ran down his face. He endured all the insult and violence with meekness and patience, without complaint, retaliation, or use of his divine power to escape, remaining faithful to his Father's will. His being led outside Jerusalem to die was his suffering as humanity's substitute, bearing the curse of the law to open the way of salvation in the deepest humiliation. Those who mocked, struck and crowned him will see him again in kingly majesty as King of kings, confronted by the marks of his suffering and unable to stand before his glory, while his humiliation now calls for humble repentance, willing self-denial, and patient sharing in his suffering.

Mockery and March to Calvary

Matthew 27:31 belongs to the trial before Pilate and the condemnation, marking the end of the mockery and the transition to execution. It records the final preparations before He is led away to be crucified, as He leaves Pilate's court and hall. After being mocked He was led away to be executed outside Jerusalem, where felons and murderers were put to death.

The mockery was a mock coronation in contempt of His kingship and claim to be the Son of God. He was clothed in an old, tattered purple royal robe and crowned with thorns, with a reed put in His hand as a mimic scepter. The crowd bowed to Him and worshiped Him in derision with coarse jests and cruel mocking, as though He were a king. They struck His head with the reed, driving the thorns into His temples until blood ran down His face and holy brow and beard. He was smitten and spit upon, insulted and abused, lacerated with stripes and derided as a false king while being hurried from tribunal to tribunal.

After the mocking the soldiers removed the mock robe they had put on Him. They dressed Him again in His own clothes and led Him away to be crucified. His condemnation drew a large crowd from across Jerusalem.

He was hurried toward Calvary amid the crowd's shouts, jeers and insults. A vast crowd surrounded Him, whose mockery and insults joined those of the chief priests and elders, while His claim to be the Son of God was ridiculed, yet disciples and other believers also followed Him toward Calvary. The road to Calvary was the setting where the body of Judas, who had delivered Him, was discovered. Two thieves were also to be crucified with Him, and the cross prepared for Barabbas was laid on His bruised, bleeding shoulders.

He went to His death pale, weak and fainting, worn by the night of suffering, weariness, pain, scourging and loss of blood. Being too weak to carry the heavy cross, He fell and fainted beneath it when it was laid on His bruised shoulders as He left Pilate's court. The crowd taunted Him rather than showing compassion. A believer who had not openly professed faith then followed and bore the cross to the place of execution.

Endurance and Redemptive Sacrifice

Wicked men mocked and derided him before the crucifixion, and after the mocking his own clothes were put back on him and he was led away to be crucified. The mock royal clothing and treatment as a king in derision showed contempt for his kingship, yet he endured the insults, violence and abuse with meekness and patience, without complaint, without retaliation, and without saving himself by a miracle or using his divine power to escape. He remained faithful to his Father's will and was then delivered to the people and led to crucifixion.

He had power to seal the lips of scoffers, paralyze the hand that struck him, and flash forth righteous indignation upon hardened and corrupt soldiers who mocked him, smote him, and forced a crown of thorns on his head. It was a marvel and mystery to angelic beings that he did not, and angels present as he was scourged and suffered could scarcely endure the sight. Satan hoped the violence would make him complain or use his divine power to escape, which would have caused the plan of salvation to fail.

Every cruelty in the mocking and crucifying was set in operation by Satan, with evil angels conspiring with evil men. The treatment of Jesus took place before heaven and showed Satan's power over human minds, under whose rule people became liars and murderers. His own nation took the most active part in the contempt, while his friends and even his own brethren denied and forsook him, treating him who is the truth as a deceiver and hunting him as a criminal after he was lacerated with stripes, crowned with thorns, and mocked and derided as a false king before being led to crucifixion.

The greatest guilt and heaviest responsibility for this abuse belonged not to the soldiers but to those who stood in the highest places of the nation and basely betrayed their sacred trusts. Pilate declared him without fault in himself and his teachings yet gave him up, and those who hated his reproof and sinless character were determined to get him out of the way. Pilate, Herod and the ignorant soldiers were comparatively ignorant of Jesus and did not know he was the Sent of God, lacking the abundant light the Jewish nation had received and unacquainted with Old Testament history, and they thought to please the priests and rulers by abusing him. Had the light been given to them they would not have treated him so cruelly. He neither sought applause nor feared the world's threats as he wore the old purple robe and was hurried from tribunal to tribunal, insulted and abused, then mocked and insulted and treated as a criminal and led to death on the cross. He was beaten with rods, the cruel thorns pierced his holy brow, and he was hung on the cross with nails driven through his hands and feet, while his killers dismissed him as nothing more than any other dying man.

His suffering and death were part of the sacrifice that opened the way of salvation. Outside Jerusalem, where felons and murderers were put to death, he suffered as humanity's substitute, bearing the curse of the law and redeeming people from it. He suffered the deepest humiliation in behalf of fallen humanity, and his humiliation all the way through is the lowest depth of humility, borne for others.

Future Reckoning and Present Response

Those who set themselves to make Christ contemptible and to join in causing Him pain will see Him again in glory as King of kings and Lord of lords. The men who mocked Him, struck Him, crowned Him with thorns, put the purple robe on His form and the mimic scepter in His unresisting hand, bowed before Him in blasphemous mockery, smote and spit upon Him as the Prince of life, and derided His claim to be the Son of God will recognize Him as the One they crucified. They will yet behold Him sitting on the right hand of power as He declared, and the nails in His hands and feet and the spear wound in His side and the signs of His suffering will confront them. They will stand speechless before Him, turn from His piercing gaze, and seek to flee from the overpowering glory of His presence with terror and remorse.

His condemnation, mockery, and crucifixion, when the crowd cried for Him to be crucified, became a severe test for His disciples that shattered their hopes. The betrayal, the abuse of the crowd, and the sight of Him humiliated and mocked before He was led away showed how fickle public favor could be, yet seeing the crowd turn against Him need not lead others to abandon Him. He knew this great trial was coming and had prepared His faithful followers to endure it. The removal of the purple robe after the mocking and the putting of His own clothes back on before leading Him away gave them cause to mourn and fast, testing their faith, hope, and courage.

Clad in the purple robe with the crown of thorns on His brow, mocked by bowing and struck with the reed placed in His hand, scourged as the worst of criminals while Barabbas was chosen in His place, then led away to be lifted on the cross and die as a malefactor amid His own nation's clamor for His blood, He entered the depths of humiliation in the hands of wicked men. This shattered the disciples' hope that He who held their hopes of eternal life would take His place on David's throne, and made their hope and courage fail. Judas delivered the Son of God into the hands of wicked men to be so mocked, scourged, and crucified, but his confession did not express deep grief over what would be done to Jesus.

What Christ gave up puts anything called self-denial in the shade. Derided, mocked, and insulted by an infuriated mob, clothed in an old purple kingly robe amid coarse jests and cruel mocking, crowned with thorns driven into His temples with a reed until blood flowed from His holy brow, cried against by a murderous throng demanding the blood of the Son of God, then delivered into their hands and led away pale, weak, and fainting to His crucifixion, He proved the narrow, self-denying way of separation from the world is not too strait and it is not too hard to give up all for Him. His suffering and death for sin should humble the heart and awaken repentance.

His humiliation all the way through is the lowest depth of humility, borne for others though no fault could be found in Him or His teachings. Beaten with rods, pierced by cruel thorns, clothed again in His own raiment, led away and hung on the cross with nails driven through His hands and feet while His killers dismissed Him as nothing more than any other dying man, He calls those who would share His divine nature to be willing partakers with Him in suffering and to go through trials without seeking honor from others. The cruelty He endured in the judgment hall, together with His conflict in the wilderness of temptation, His life of self-sacrificing love, His soul agony in Gethsemane, and His agony upon the cross, teaches self-sacrifice, patience under affliction, solemn consecration to God, and fitting preparation for holy work. One called to sacred work must make every other consideration secondary and put all energies into ministering to souls and enlightening them with divine truth.