Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged him. John 19:1.
This scripture is only 8 words long, but it holds a painful story.
Crucifixion was a torturous death, but prior to Jesus being nailed to a cross to atone for your sins (and mine), He suffered agonizing pain by being scourged. Scourging is so severe that it could be fatal. It was more than just physical torment, but it was the debasement of character with the intent to belittle and demean an individual.
When John 19:1 says, “and scourged him,” it is telling us a deeper story. It is telling us the story of Jesus being whipped with leather strands that were weighted with lead, equipped with shards of glass, and pieces of bone. Scourging was intended to lacerate the skin, exposing muscle and torn bleeding tissue.
This intense beating would have left Jesus, our Savior, our King, our Redeemer, in unfathomable pain and near the point of death. Every time Jesus was whipped, it was for someone else’s mistakes, someone else’s sins, and someone else’s lies. Mine. Yours. Ours.
And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe. And said, Hail, King of the Jews: and they smote him with their hands. John 19:2–3.
Near death and in agonizing pain, Jesus is crowned with thorns, clothed in a purple robe and given a rod in place of a scepter, which was then used as an instrument to beat Him with (Mark 15:19).
It was at this time Jesus stood up and was given His cross to bear.
Jesus had already endured so much. How could He endure more?
The rough, heavy beam, gouged into His open wounds as He began to walk a long road to Mount Calvary, where He endured even more torture and pain to bear the sins of the whole world.
John 15:13 explains it best, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his live for his friends.”
Prayer: Lord, I cannot comprehend Your love for me. You are the King of the whole earth, and yet, You robed your deity in flesh, to die a criminal’s execution. Thank you for enduring pain that I will never feel, for paying sin’s price that I could never afford, and for walking a road that I would not have been able to walk. Thank you for all the times I haven’t said thank you.
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