- In Mark 14:53-65, a religious court condemned Jesus for blasphemy.
- In Mark 15:1-15, a civil court condemned Jesus for sedition.
The Sanhedrin unanimously voted that Jesus was worthy of death. But only the occupying powers of Rome could authorize capital punishment. Their charges against Jesus would have to matter to the Roman governor. Pilate would not care if Jesus committed blasphemy. So the religious leaders accused Jesus of claiming to be a king A self-proclaimed king was a potential threat to Caesar, which would matter to Pilate.
“The King of the Jews” is the dominating theme of Mark 15. In verse 2, Pilate asks Jesus, “Are you the king of the Jews?” In verse 9, Pilate asks, “Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?”Stirred up by the religious leaders, the crowd asked for an insurrectionist and murderer named Barabbas to be released. In verse 12, Pilate asks, “Then what shall I do with the man you call the King of the Jews?” The crowd answered, “Crucify him.” Wishing to satisfy the crowd, Pilate ordered Jesus to be scourged and delivered him to be crucified.
This is where our text picks up the story.
Pilate placed Jesus in the custody of Roman soldiers, who entertained themselves by mocking and abusing this so-called king of the Jews. The Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution reads: “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted.” The prohibition against “cruel and unusual punishment” protects the accused before they are tried or the condemned after they are tried. What Jesus endured in our text was a gross violation of basic civil rights. Jesus was beaten and bloody from the scourging. In his weakened condition, Jesus was already near death. The soldiers took no pity on him. They heartlessly parodied a royal coronation as they beat Jesus up.
J.D. Jones said, “This is a terrible paragraph, one of the most awful paragraphs in the whole of Holy Writ.” This disturbing and offensive incident makes a critical point: Jesus is who the word says he is, not what the world says he is. Mark makes this point for the beleaguered saints in the church in Rome, who faced increasing hostility because of their faith in Christ. Some would stand before Roman authorities with their life on the line. Abraham Kuruvilla wrote, “The king that disciples follow suffered sacrificially. “Can they, in turn, expect to do less?”
What can we learn from the mocking of Jesus?
Jesus Was Mocked Willingly.
Verse 16 sets the scene: “And the soldiers led him away inside the palace (that is, the governor’s headquarters), and they called together the whole battalion.”
After Jesus was so scourged with a leather strap, the soldiers led him away. It is one of multiple times Jesus is “led” around between his arrest Thursday night and his crucifixion Friday morning. Apparently, Pilate’s tribunal was outdoors. The soldiers led Jesus into the palace. Mark parenthetically identifies it as the praetorian – the “governor’s headquarters.” They called together the whole battalion that accompanied Pilate to Jerusalem – consisting of one-sixth of a legion – 600 soldiers. Jesus was publicly mocked and abused by and before a cohort of Roman soldiers.
Sinclair Ferguson said, “These men displayed one of the most frightening traits in the human personality: discipline of an unusual degree in one area, and gross moral indiscipline in another.”
It was human depravity on full display. The vile acts of the religious leaders can be explained by their hatred of Jesus. The Roman soldiers may not have known who Jesus was. Why did they act this way? Maybe they resented the notion of any rival to Caesar. Or maybe their venom was racially motivated. Could it be that they took out their antisemitism on Jesus? Ultimately, the best explanation is that their actions cannot be explained. Sin turns the unrepentant heart into a monster.
The actions of Jesus were also unexplainable. Jesus was mocked willingly. The Lord does not say or do anything. In his silent submission, we see his goodness, greatness, and glory. The intended audience of Mark’s Gospel faced persecution. This passage would remind them that Jesus understood what they were going through. What are you going through? Jesus knows, cares, and helps. See in the mockery of Jesus how much he loves you and what he was willing to endure to pay for your sins. John 15:13 says, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone would lay down his life for his friends.”
Jesus Was Mocked Shamefully.
The soldiers played “The Game of the King” with Jesus. It was a caricature of a royal coronation and confession to put this pretender king to shame. The shame of it all was that the one they mocked was truly king.
A Mock Coronation. A king wears regal and royal apparel. The Roman soldiers placed two fake vestiges on Jesus to mock him.
A Purple Cloak. Verse 17 says, “And they clothed him in a purple cloak.” Purple was the color of royalty. The purple dye derived from the shellfish murex was so expensive that the average person would never see a purple garment, much less own one. A king would be draped in it. To mock Jesus, the soldiers draped a purple cloak on his shoulders. Matthew 27:28 says they put “a scarlet robe” on him. Roman soldiers wore red cloaks. A faded cloak turned colors. The soldiers found one that was close enough to resemble royal garments and placed it on Jesus.
Their mockery declared that Jesus was not who or what he claimed to be. Yet he was more than what was claimed. Jesus is the king of the Jews – the fulfillment of messianic promise, prophecy, and prediction. But he is more than that. 1 Timothy 6:15 calls him “the blessed and only Sovereign.” Revelation 19:16 says, “On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.
A Thorny Crown. Verse 17 says, “And twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on him.”
Kings wear crowns. Surely, “the king of the Jews” needed a crown! A soldier tore off thorny twigs from the branches of a nearby bush or tree. He twisted it together into a makeshift crown and placed it on Jesus’ head. The crown of thorns increased the pain Jesus suffered. But it was not meant to be an instrument of torture. It was a cheap prop to mock Jesus as no true king. Their mockery did not change the truth about who Jesus is. It further confirmed it. “Crown” is the word for the victor’s wreath given to the one who prevailed in athletic competition or military combat. The beaten and bloodied Savior looked like a victim. In reality, he had already overcome the world. “Thorns” are biblical reminders of sin and its consequences. Yet this crown of thorns was placed on Jesus who paid for our sins at the cross.
A Mock Conversion. Verse 18 says, “And they began to salute him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” Romans saluted the emperor by saying, “Hail, Caesar.”
- They did not think Jesus was on the level of Caesar.
- They did not think Jesus was the king of the Jews.
Thus, the soldiers mocked him with an empty salute. R.C.H. Lenski said, “The cutting sarcasm of this acclaim was intended to humiliate the soul of Jesus to the lowest depth.” “Hail” translates a Greek verb that means “to rejoice.” This term of salutation was an expression of disdain on the lips of these soldiers. They said words of honor that were the direct opposite of their attitude toward Christ. “Hail, kings of the Jews” were the right words. Yet they were bad words because hearts did not honor Christ. They didn’t mean what they said. Do you?
Matthew 7:21 says, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” Luke 6:46 asks, “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?” Jesus asked the disciples what the people were saying about him. They gave him a straw poll of popular opinion. Then he asked, “Who do you say that I am?” That’s the question every person will have to answer. May the Great Confession of Matthew 16:16 be your answer: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus Was Mocked Brutally.
Verbal abuse turns into physical assault in verse 19: “And they were striking his head with a reed and spitting on him and kneeling down in homage to him.” The verbs in this verse are in a grammatical emphasis that indicates continual action in the past. Ralph Earle said, “The whole scene is revolting in its cruelty.”
The soldiers kept “striking his head with a reed.” Matthew 27:28 says they “put a reed in his right hand.” Kings carried royal scepters. To mock Jesus, they place a reed or stick in his hand. With unspeakable meekness, Jesus took the reed and held it, as they mocked him. The soldiers took turns taking the reed out of his hands and striking him in the head with it. Mark says nothing about how painful these strikes to the head were. He wants us to focus on the humiliation Jesus suffered.
As they struck Jesus with the reed, they kept “spitting on him.” This degrading act needs no explanation. To spit on someone is worse than hitting them. In scripture, spitting on someone signifies humiliation and reputation. It was a way of saying that you are not one of us. Mark 14:65 says members of the Sanhedrin council spit on Jesus. Here Roman soldiers kept spitting on Jesus. The one who spit on the ground and made clay of the spittle to heal the blind was spit on to mock him.
Verse 19 also says the soldiers kept “kneeling down in homage to him.” It seems fair to assume the soldiers gave Jesus a seat as a would-be throne. It’s not difficult to imagine that at this point, it was difficult for Jesus to stand on his own. Regardless, the soldiers took turns kneeling before him in mock homage. The Romans practiced emperor worship. They knelt in worship before Caesar as if he were a god. Their kneeling before Jesus was all a joke to them. One day, it will be no joke!
Philippians 2:9-11 says, “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Jesus Was Mocked Ironically.
Do you know what irony is? It is when a writer hides actual meaning under apparent meaning. Nathan told David about a rich man with a large flock who stole his neighbor’s lamb to serve to his guests. David was outraged and demanded the culprit be brought to justice. But the reader knows that Nathan was talking about David’s sins with Bathsheba and against Uriah. That’s irony. Mark’s account of the Roman soldiers mocking Jesus is filled with irony. The ironic twists of this tragic story climax in verse 20.
- The Rejection of Jesus the King.
The Rejection of Jesus the King. Verse 20 says, “And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of his purple cloak and put his own clothes on him.” We do not know how long this horrible ordeal lasted. At some point, this phase of Jesus’ torture was over.
- The soldiers thought they put Jesus in his place.
- The soldiers thought they gave him what he deserved.
- The soldiers thought they had warned future pretenders.
All they did was fulfill the prediction of Jesus. Mark 10:33-34 says, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles. And they will mock him and spit on him, and flog him and kill him. And after three days he will rise.”
After they mocked Jesus, they stripped off the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. This is another great indignity Jesus suffered. The condemned were stripped naked to be flogged. They were then crucified naked so that all may see their shame. Jesus was a special case. They mocked him in a purple cloak. Then they stripped of it and put his own clothes on him, only to strip him naked again at Calvary. This psychological torture was an absolute rejection of his claim to be king.
Don’t be impressed by the purple cloaks the world put on Jesus in mock worship. They’ll put him in his own clothes when he no longer entertains them.
The Validation of Jesus the King. Verse 20 ends, “And they led him out to crucify him.” They led him to Golgotha where they nailed him to the cross. Mark 15:26 says, “And the inscription of the charge against him read: ‘The King of the Jews.’”
- The soldiers thought the crucifixion of Jesus would disprove his claims to be king once and for all.
- They did not know that their death on the cross proved that he was truly the King of the Jews.
A harmony of the Gospels reveals that Pilate tortured Jesus as a last-ditch effort to set him free. John 19:5 says, “So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and purple robe. Pilate said to him, ‘Behold the man!’” He thought that seeing Jesus in this pitiful condition would arouse the sympathy of the crowd and cause them to ask for his release. But they cried out, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” They saw him. But they did not really see him. What do you see when you look at Jesus? Hebrews 12:3 says, “Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary and fainthearted.”
When President Abraham Lincoln’s body was brought from Washington to Illinois, it passed through Albany and was carried through the street. They say a black woman stood upon the curb and lifted her little son as far as she could reach above the heads of the crowd and was heard to say to him, “Take a long look, honey. He died for you.” Whatever you are going through, lift up your spirit to Calvary. Take a long look and remember he died for you.