John 19:19
Sunday Morning Bible Study
February 23, 1997
Introduction
Last week Jesus being brought by the Jewish leaders before Pilate, the Roman governor.
The Jews asked Pilate to have Jesus executed.
After having talked with Jesus, Pilate came back out to the Jews and said that he didn't find anything wrong with Jesus.
Then Pilate tried to have Jesus released by giving the Jews a choice of which prisoner they would like set free in honor of their Passover.
The chief priests had the crowd primed to ask for Barabbas, a convicted thief and murderer.
:1-3 The Scourging
:1 Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged him.
Pilate didn't actually do the scourging himself, but ordered his soldiers to do it.
The process of scourging:
The scourging was called the "intermediate death" because it was so painful, and because it took a person so close to death.
The condemned person would be led out to the front of the Praetorium, where the crowd was.
The prisoner would be stripped, and tied to a low post, stretching out the skin on the back so the whip would more easily cut through.
The Jewish law had a limit of 40 lashes, but keep in mind, these are Romans administering the scourging, so we dont know how many times Jesus was beaten.
The Romans used a "flagrum", also called a "cat-o-nine-tails", leather strips with pieces of bone or metal weighing down the ends, designed to tear the flesh as they hit.
Bishop Eusebius of Caesarea, the church historian of the third century, said (Epistle of the Church in Smyrna) concerning the Roman scourging inflicted on those to be executed: The sufferer's "veins were laid bare, and that the very muscles, sinews, and bowels of the victim were open to exposure".
Typically, there was a professional called a "licter" who knew just how much to whip a person. But Pilate didn't have a licter at his disposal and used ordinary soldiers instead. Origen (third century) records that the soldiers in Pilate's charge weren't from Rome, but recruits from the nearby province of Syria, and were especially hostile of the Jews. This would mean that the beating may have been more severe than normal.
(from footnote in Edersheim's "Life and Times ", pg.579)After the beating, Jesus would have been brought back into the Praetorium.
:2 And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his head
platted - braid, weave together
thorns - It's not really known for sure which kind of thorns were used to make up the crown, but Israel has a lot of thorny plants to choose from.
There's some incredible irony here, if you pay attention.
Where is the first time we see "thorns" in the Bible?
It's way back in the first book of the Bible, Genesis, as a result of the fall, as a result of man's sin.
Genesis 3:17-19 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; 18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; 19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
Thorns then, are a kind of picture of the result of mankind's sin.
And here is Jesus, coming to save us from our sins by taking all our sins upon Himself, so very appropriately crowned with thorns.
This is an incredible picture of Jesus taking our sins upon Himself.
As Isaiah wrote:
(Isa 53:6 KJV) All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
In the last book of the Bible, Revelation, we get a lot of exposure to crowns.
And some of them are going to be on us, as the rewards that Jesus will give us for what we do with our lives on earth.
Re 2:10 Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.
Isn't it ironic that we, because of our sins, gave Him the thorns for His crown, and yet He, because of His love for us, gives us golden crowns?
I think it's because the elders in heaven realize the depths of Jesus' love for us, that causes them to do this to their crowns:
Rev 4:10-11 The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, 11 Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.
:2 and they put on him a purple robe,
Purple is the color of royalty, they are mocking this king.
:3 and they smote him with their hands.
Smote - to smack with a rod or slap with the palm of your hands, like a slap in the face. (Actually the idea of "hands" isn't in the text at all)
Literally, "they kept on smacking Him".
Mark tells us that this mockery of Jesus took place back inside the Praetorium (Pilate's palace, Mark 15:16), away from the Jews, where the soldiers
Mark 15:19 smote him on the head with a reed, and did spit upon him, and bowing their knees worshipped him.
This was a fulfillment of the ancient prophecies:
Isa 50:6 I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting.
The Importance of the Scourging
First, it was no surprise to Jesus, He Himself had predicted the scourging:
Mark 10:33-34 the Son of man shall be delivered unto the chief priests, and unto the scribes; and they shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles: 34 And they shall mock him, and shall scourge him, and shall spit upon him, and shall kill him: and the third day he shall rise again.
The ancient prophesies predicted that the Messiah would be beaten and scourged:
Isaiah 53:3-5
He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.Vs.5 wounded - chalal - to wound (fatally), bore through, pierce, bore
This speaks of the crucifixion.
This was done for our "transgressions", our rebellion, our deliberate breaking of God's Law.
Vs.5 bruised - or "crushed"
Vs.5 chastisement - He was punished for our sins, and our peace with God came because of it.
Vs.5 stripes -
chabbuwrah - bruise, stripe, wound, blow
This isn't something that occurred on the cross, it's what occurred during the scourging, when the cat-o-nine-tails laid the stripes in His back.
Vs.5 Healed - rapha' - to heal, make healthful
Some people have tried to take this passage (Is 53) and say that this is limited to "spiritual healing", that it's only talking about the forgiveness of sins.
There is some truth to that.
The passage in Isaiah 53 clearly is dealing with the issue of sins and forgiveness.
The words used can be used to describe spiritual or figurative "healing"
But it's not limited to that.
The language is also can speak of actual, literal, physical healing.
There is a definite connection between some diseases and sin in the Bible.
It is not uncommon for a person's sickness to be related to their sin somehow.
It is also true that a person's sin does not have to be a result of sin either (John 9:3)
We have to be careful and not judge a person who is sick, since we usually don't have a clue to what's going on.
There were times when Jesus healed a person by forgiving their sins. (i.e. - the palsy, Mat.9:2)
James shows a link between healing and forgiveness of sins:
James 5:14-16
Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: 15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. 16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.Summary:
Sometimes our sicknesses are caused by our sins.
Jesus began the process of our healing by paying for our sins.
That began with the scourging.
The sins in our lives are always forgiven.
The sicknesses in our lives may be healed.
Lesson:
What do I do if I'm sick?
Usually we do this in reverse order, going to a doctor first.
Perhaps we'd be surprised if we went to God first, humbly, asking for help.
What if God doesn't heal me?
Then you must not have truly confessed your sin, or you must lack faith, or something
(Note to anybody reading these notes, the above statement is definitely bogus, false, horrible, and just not true)
If God doesn't heal you, you just hang on to Him anyway:
(2 Cor 12:7-10 KJV) And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. {8} For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. {9} And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. {10} Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities
(astheneia - weakness, infirmity; feebleness of health or sickness), in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.The scourging was necessary, it is the beginning of Jesus bearing our sins.
:4-9 Pilate's Dilemma
:4 I find no fault in him.
After heaping all this abuse and punishment on Jesus, Pilate brings Him back outside to the Jews.
Often, the process of scourging was used to squeeze a confession out of a prisoner.
The man with the whip would make each lashing harder, until the prisoner confessed to a crime.
If he confessed, the lashes would get easier.
The Romans were able to get all kinds of confessions out of their prisoners, many not true, just to escape the scourging.
Yet through this all, Jesus has kept silent.
He has nothing to confess.
He is without sin.
:5 Behold the man!
Perhaps Pilate is wondering if the people will have more compassion on Jesus if they see Him as a bloody mess, perhaps they'll allow him to release Jesus.
Yet here is the King of the Universe, humiliated, bloody, hurting, and now being presented to this crowd by some cheap two-bit governor as "The Man".
What is Jesus doing?
Lesson:
Learn humility, think of others.
(Phil 2:1-11 TLB) Is there any such thing as Christians cheering each other up? Do you love me enough to want to help me? Does it mean anything to you that we are brothers in the Lord, sharing the same Spirit? Are your hearts tender and sympathetic at all? {2} Then make me truly happy by loving each other and agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, working together with one heart and mind and purpose. {3} Don't be selfish; don't live to make a good impression on others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourself. {4} Don't just think about your own affairs, but be interested in others, too, and in what they are doing. {5} Your attitude should be the kind that was shown us by Jesus Christ, {6} who, though he was God, did not demand and cling to his rights as God, {7} but laid aside his mighty power and glory, taking the disguise of a slave and becoming like men. {8} And he humbled himself even further, going so far as actually to die a criminal's death on a cross. {9} Yet it was because of this that God raised him up to the heights of heaven and gave him a name which is above every other name, {10} that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, {11} and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Jesus could have stood up for Himself.
He could have interrupted Pilate and said, "Excuse me, don't you mean, 'Behold your God'?"
He could have "Enough!" and just blown them all away with His breath.
Illustration
A reader of People Magazine wrote a letter to the editor about actor Kevin Costner's plans for divorce from his wife Cindy after 16 years of marriage. She wrote:
Kevin is quoted as saying, "I wish I could stop and raise my family, but this is my time." Poor Kevin.
When was Cindy's time? When she helped him form his career, when she had his three kids, or when she raised them by herself?
Sally Wood, People Magazine, November 28, 1994, p. 6.
Jesus knew that He needed to see this through to the end.
Not for His sake, but for their sake.
Even for the sake of the very ones that were crucifying Him.
:6 they cried out, saying, Crucify him, crucify him.
They aren't about to buy into Pilate's sympathy ploy.
:6 because he made himself the Son of God.
Now they spill the beans.
:8 When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was the more afraid;
Keep in mind at what Pilate has been told so far about Jesus:
The Jews gave Pilate the idea that Jesus was some sort of government threat:
(Luke 23:2 KJV) And they began to accuse him, saying, We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying that he himself is Christ a King.
Jesus Himself had only talked vaguely about His kingdom being from another world, and about this truth thing (John 18:36-37)
And now for the first time he hears this thing about being "the Son of God".
Matthew records something else that happened earlier in the morning:
(Mat 27:19 KJV) When he was set down on the judgment seat, his wife sent unto him, saying, Have thou nothing to do with that just man: for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him.
Pilate is getting a little bit spooked.
:9 Whence art thou?
Or, "Just where are you from?"
:9 But Jesus gave him no answer.
It's not that He's trying to avoid the issue, or that He really wasn't the Son of God.
He's already admitted to the high priest that He was (Mat.26:63-64).
It's that this is not a time to speak.
It's a time to submit.
Jesus was fulfilling another prophecy in doing this:
(Isa 53:7 KJV) He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
He was also giving us an example:
1Pet 2: 21-25
For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: 22 Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: 23 Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously: 24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. 25 For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.Lesson:
Quiet Submission.
We see in Jesus a pattern for us to follow when it comes to suffering.
I think sometimes we do more harm when we complain so much, or when we are trying so hard to get even.
Sometimes the people that are hurting us will be impacted more by our quietness, than with our anger and harsh words.
Illustration
General Robert E. Lee was asked what he thought of a fellow officer in the Confederate Army who had made some derogatory remarks about him. Lee rated him as being very satisfactory. The person who asked the question seemed perplexed.
"General," he said, "I guess you don't know what he's been saying about you."
"I know," answered Lee. "But I was asked my opinion of him, not his opinion of me!"
Perhaps we ought to keep our mouths shut a little more, and learn to trust God to work it out.