Route 55 Lenten Devotional Week 5
Posted on 3/17/2021 12:00:00 AM
THUS IT IS WRITTEN
ISAIAH 50:6 I OFFERED MY BACK TO THOSE WHO BEAT ME, MY CHEEKS TO THOSE WHO PULLED OUT MY BEARD; I DID NOT HIDE MY FACE FROM MOCKING AND SPITTING.
It is not an overstatement to say that the Jewish leaders hated Jesus. They feared his influence with the people. They believed that he made blasphemous claims that misled the Jews, undermined their authority, and put the nation in danger from Rome. But as one reads the Gospels, one senses that it goes deeper than that. They hate Jesus. They want him killed- crucified. But that is not enough. They want him to suffer, to be disgraced, humiliated. Matthew records this event with the Sanhedrin. "Then they spit in his face and struck him with their fists. Others slapped him..." (Matt. 26:67) Mark tells us that following Pilate's verdict that Jesus should be crucified, the soldiers "put a purple robe on him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him... Again and again they struck him on the head with a staff and spit on him." (Mark 15:17&19)
Have you ever been spat on by someone? It doesn't hurt, but there are few things a person can do that show more contempt and hatred. They spat on Jesus. The eternal, glorious Son of God, through whom the worlds were created, who from eternity passed was worshipped by angelic choirs, he who is the Light of Life, the Lord of Lords, the King of Kings, who that very day would willingly give his life so that we might live… They spat on him.
And yet... and yet with his dying breath he prayed that his Father would forgive them. What a Savior.