Epaggelia

A Custom, A Crowd & A Sentence, v6-14,  The feast of unleavened bread and passover was a solemn memorial of salvation for the Hebrew nation, because of God’s life-giving gift to spare the firstborn of every family that had their door marked with blood. This emphasis of salvation was marked by an agreement between the Jewish Sanhedrin and the Roman Governor, Pilate. But in this case, the Chief Priests wanted nothing to do with salvation, releasing the guilty Barabbas in turn for condemning the innocent Jesus for crucifixion. This great irony of Pilate letting a murderous insurrectionist go free, while he sentences an innocent man falsely for insurrection is proof Pilate is trapped as the sovereign will of God is executed. The Minor Prophet Zechariah and the Messianic Psalm spelt out prophetically the specifics of a crucifixion, Psa. 22:15-18 & Zech. 12:10. The Roman historian Cicero called crucifixion “a cruel and disgusting penalty” (Against Verres 2.5.63-66 §§163-70); Josephus (J. W. 7.6.4 [7.203]) called it the worst of deaths reserved for treason committed by Roman citizens and/or murder by ‘foreigners’.

A Scourge, A Crown & A Violent Taunting, 15-20, A Roman flogging was a torturous punishment. The victim was stripped of his clothes and bound to a post with his hands fastened above him or sometimes he was thrown to the ground while guards stood on his hands on either side of the victim being incessantly beat with a whip (flagellum) made out of leather with pieces of lead and bone inserted into its ends. While the Jews only allowed 39 lashes, the Romans had no such limit; many people who received such a scourge died as a result. But Jesus survived and was taken to stand before Pilate with his “cohort” of soldiers, this would be appx. 500 soldiers. Imagine the strength it would take to do that and then take a crown of thorns. THEN have blows taken while wearing it. The mocking included being given “splendid clothing” v17. This most likely came from Herod’s prior hearing when Jesus was mocked as a king with a purple robe (Luke 23:11) Even while suffering such a loss of blood, he found the strength to endure the pain while “again and again” many soldiers would strike him. No wonder Pilate wanted to wash his hands of this atrocity. Isaiah 53:3-10 prophetically uses precisely the right words, “crushed” & “slaughtered” to describe the punishment God’s Messiah/Christ would bear for us in order to perform the perfect sacrifice for sin.

A Tortured March to the Cross, v21-23 “Forcing” Simon to carry the cross (“patibulum”) when Jesus falls under it’s weight is indicative of how they “led” Jesus to Golgotha. It is truly amazing that Jesus carried the crossbar of the cross part of the way, (John 19:17). The soldiers were leading Jesus in a forced pace that he couldn’t keep, a burdened march that was meant to hurt with every step. After Jesus completes the journey and just before they crucify him, they offer him wine laced with myrrh, v23 but he refuses it. Myrrh was a type of mild analgesic and would act as a preservative in small amounts, but if too much was used, Myrrh would make wine impossible to drink, which when offered to someone dehydrated would be a form of torture. However, Jesus refused it as an analgesic and took the pain of the cross in full strength to bear the full consequences of sin as it had been determined by His Father. As Jesus was dying on the cross, he took soured wine, because he was so dehydrated he couldn’t speak without some moisture. His last words “It is finished” spoken as an achievement in completing the Father’s will as the perfect sacrifice for all our sins, John 19:28-30. The refusal to take the mingled wine with myrrh was a statement of determination to express his own will in suffering for our sins, Paul said suffering is part of entering into the Kingdom, Acts 14:22 and Peter taught that we are called to suffer, 1st Pet. 3:14-18.