"Hail, King of the Jews!"

Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole garrison behind Him. And they stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him. When they had twisted a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand. And they bowed the knee before Him and mocked Him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!" Then they spat on Him, and took the reed and struck Him on the head. And when they had mocked Him, they took the robe off Him, put His own clothes on Him, and led Him away to be crucified.

- Matthew 27:24-31

On Saturday, we read of Jesus presented before Pilate, the governor of Judea. Pilate said to Him, "Are You the King of the Jews?" Jesus responded, "It is as you say." While Jesus was being accused by the chief priests and elders, He answered nothing. Pilate prodded Him, but He wouldn't respond, and the governor marveled greatly. It's the feast of Passover, and the custom is for the governor to release one prisoner. Pilate asked the crowds, "Whom do you want me to release to you? Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?" For he knew that they had handed Him over because of envy. While Pilate was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife told him: "Have nothing to do with that just Man, for I have suffered many things today in a dream because of Him." But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitudes that they should ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. The governor answered and said to them, "Which of the two do you want me to release to you?" They said, "Barabbas!" Pilate said to them, "What then shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?" They all said to him, "Let Him be crucified!" Then the governor said, "Why, what evil has He done?" But they cried out all the more, saying, "Let Him be crucified!"

Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole garrison behind Him. The Praetorium was the governor's residence. Here, we have to remark on the importance of the prisoner: the whole garrison is gathered here behind Him. This is an efficient Empire, and one which understands nothing if not power. A whole garrison would not be put to use without purpose.

And they stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him. When they had twisted a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand. And they bowed the knee before Him and mocked Him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!" Then they spat on Him, and took the reed and struck Him on the head. The prisoner, King of the Jews, is humiliated, mocked, stripped, spat on. It's like an official act of humiliation. My study bible has an important note: "Every king is proclaimed by his soldiers. Thus it is fitting that Jesus should be crowned by the soldiers, although they are unaware of what they are doing. His crown of mockery shows Him 'despised and rejected by men' (Is. 53:3) and thus the One who bears 'the iniquity of us all' (Is. 53:6). Jesus is clothed in scarlet (Mark 15:17 and John 19:2 have 'purple'), representing both His royalty and the sins of humanity which He has taken upon Himself (see Is. 1:18). That the Son of God would be so humble Himself to release us from our sin and death should melt even a heart of stone."

And when they had mocked Him, they took the robe off Him, put His own clothes on Him, and led Him away to be crucified. Jesus goes to His crucifixion as Son of Man, with His own clothes on. The King of Glory is now a prisoner awaiting death by crucifixion, a horrible and torturous way to die.

Reading about Jesus' humiliation and mocking, I can't help but be struck by the love that He has given. Of the Roman soldiers, I think we can surely say - with my study bible and the words that Jesus will pronounce from the Cross - that they don't really fully know what they are doing. And yet we know what they are doing, Jesus knows fully what they are doing. The fullness of this time is unmistakable, and perhaps its weight will grow as we understand Christ's love more deeply for ourselves. We have to remember that all of this was done for us, out of tremendous love. This suffering, the extreme ironies, the agony of rejection, betrayal, humiliation, degradation, this is all for us. It's an inescapable part of the story. It teaches us about ourselves, gives us a picture of our world. What do we so easily degrade and step upon? What do we do with things we don't understand? When we suffer any form of humiliation or degradation in our lives, does it say something about who we truly are or does it tell us about the people who would do such things? Over and over, Jesus has preached against faith in appearances alone, a life lived for the construction of an image. In these images of Christ's torture and mockery, we have to see His words played out even more truly and vividly than we can imagine. Does this scene really show us who He is? Yes, He is the man of sorrows. He is also King of kings and Lord of lords. In His humiliation and sorrow, He teaches us something about ourselves: life is not about making a perfect image before others, but about being true to what we are. And the truth belongs, ultimately, to the Person who is Truth. It's there we find ourselves. Not in the images the world would paint of us, nor those we might seek to paint of ourselves. We can't put faith in what the world would show us, or a false face, a mask of an actor in life, a hypocrite (which literally means actor in the original Greek). We put faith in the place where we know who we really are, and where we are truly known. Christ gives us the gift of His humiliation and sorrow. He knows who He is, and He will teach you who you are.