St. Matthew 27:27-31
Dear Fellow-Redeemed,
One staple at the street fair or carnival is the caricature artist. If you don’t have a photograph of you or your family dressed in Old West attire, you may have a caricature. Caricature exaggerates or distorts some feature or features.
While often done for fun, the caricature may be used with mocking or offensive intent. I’m reminded of the caricatures displayed in the Lincoln Library in Springfield, IL that political cartoonists drew of our 16th president.
We see such a mocking caricature this evening on the part of the Roman soldiers.It is A Caricature of Jesus’ Kingship. It was painted with strokes of indignity rather than with brushes; It patiently was endured by the Son of Man.
The mockery of justice was gaining momentum to its climax, the crucifixion. Pilate had turned Barabbas over to the mob. He had symbolically washed his hands of the entire affair. Now “he had Jesus flogged and handed him over to be crucified.” This flogging took place in the Praetorium. Originally the word meant the tent of the Roman general in the battlefield. It now meant the residence of the civil magistrate, in this case, the Tower of Antonia.
Here the officers gathered “the whole company of soldiers.” This cohort would have been about 600 men. They now would create a caricature of Jesus’ kingship painted with strokes of indignity rather than with brushes. They stripped him and put a cheap scarlet robe on him. They twisted a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They placed a mock scepter of a reed staff in his hand. They spit on him and struck Jesus on the head with the reed staff again and again.
The soldiers had made this man who had claimed to be the King of the Jews look ridiculous. They caricatured what a real king would have as signs of his office. The soldiers did bow the knee in front of him but only in mockery and derision.
This mockery of Jesus’ office as our true King fits together with another mockery that earlier had taken place. The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin had accused Jesus of blasphemy late the night before and earlier on this Friday morning. They had mocked and derided Jesus’ claim that he is the Christ, the Son of God. They also had spit on Jesus and struck him. So just as Jesus’ own people, the leaders in the church, made a mockery of Jesus’ claim to the prophetic office of the Messiah, the soldiers as representatives of the secular government now mocked his kingly office as well.
Before they led Jesus away the soldiers removed these caricatures of his kingship and beat him mercilessly. These were battle hard fighters used to the sight of blood and the sounds of suffering in war and in the games. They likely relished those sights and sounds. To them beating a man sometimes to death before they had a chance to nail him to a cross was nothing but a game. Being beaten to death would not be the way Jesus died, however. Jesus had to die on the cross to fulfill Scripture. Our Savior would give up his life there not have it taken from him under the administration of cruel stripes.
While these soldiers created a caricature of Jesus’ kingship painted with strokes of indignity rather than brushes, it all patiently was endured by the Son of Man.
Like Isaiah 53 here the pronouns tell the story. In Isaiah it is the exchange between Christ and us the pronouns indicate. “the punishment that brought us peace was upon him and by his wounds we are healed.” In this case the pronouns indicate who was doing the actions and who was the passive recipient. They stripped him. They put a crown of thorns on him. They put a robe on him. They spit on him. The soldiers were the active participants. Their caricature patiently was endured by the Son of Man.
Nowhere do we read that Jesus fought back. He did not cry out for them to have mercy on him and stop. Jesus did not call down curses on the men abusing him, or wish them harm as we would be safe to assume others did in the same circumstances. Jesus was silent as a lamb being sheared of its wool. Jesus sat still as the soldiers caricatured his kingship in their course sense of humor and lust for gruesome entertainment.
The Greek church father from the Fourth Century, John Chrysotom, wrote this excellent summary of why Jesus had to suffer so much indignity to all the parts of his body: “His entire body had to suffer the most dreadful pains. His head was wounded by a crown of thorns..his face endured spittle and smitings…his entire body was stripped, scourged and arrayed in a robe of shame. His hands held the reed…later his tongue tasted vinegar and gall. Because sin dwells and is active in all our members, therefore Christ desired to suffer for our sins in all his members.”
Christ desired to suffer for our sins in all his members. This is Jesus passive obedience in which all these indignities and disgraces patiently were endured by the Son of Man. As you or I might sit patiently while someone draws a ridiculous, outlandish portrait, Jesus was patient while others made a mockery of his rule and authority as the King of Kings and Lord of lords.
When the artist is done, he or she shows us the caricature. John tells us they brought Jesus back to Pilate who showed Jesus to the crowd and said in Latin, Ecce Homo, Behold the Man. We behold Jesus and see beyond the caricature to the real person; my Lord and my God, my King who rules my heart and in whose kingdom I have hope and peace. Amen. <SDG>