The soldiers took Jesus into the courtyard of the governor’s headquarters (called the Praetorium) and called out the entire regiment. They dressed him in a purple robe, and they wove thorn branches into a crown and put it on his head. Then they saluted him and taunted, “Hail! King of the Jews!” And they struck him on the head with a reed stick, spit on him, and dropped to their knees in mock worship. When they were finally tired of mocking him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him again. Then they led him away to be crucified.
Accepting the torture!So was Jesus a sado-masichist? Did he have this need for pain?
If I had a legion of angels at my beck and call, like Jesus did, I’d have called them when the first volley of spit splattered my face, if not before. What kind of person willingly stands there and takes this kind of abuse?
And his abusers were probably rather ordinary people, men like me! If the Abu Ghraib torture debacle during the early days of the war in Iraq reminded me of anything, it reminded me that ordinary men and women are capable of horrible things when placed in the “right” situation. Ask Lynndie England’s (one of our soldiers responsible for the torture) family if she is some kind of beast, or more like the girl next door.
I tolerate a lot less grief from people than Jesus took but, conversely, I am capable of inflicting as much grief as Jesus endured. This, I think, is why he did it.
Most importantly, my sin quotient, in reality and potential, is off the charts! Jesus chose to endure and absorb all the evil of which I am capable, in order to strip away my own self deceptions. He gets in my face. He shows me my dark side, but taking it onto himself, he breaks it power over me.
But I think he also thrusts into my line of sight the truth I do not want to see. In this hurtful and hurting world, I can take a lot more grief than I think I can. By his grace, when I have no choice but to endure the cruelty of ordinary people, even fellow Christians, I can return good for evil!
Truth Giver, Mel Gibson helped your passion to leap off the pages of The Book. Now, send your Spirit to grace me with the ability to, once again, recognize that I am not so nearly as good as I want to believe, but that you broke the power of the evil that lurks around every corner of my life. - Mike Leamon
WorshipI believe worship is a lifestyle, not something we do for a set number of hours on Sunday. God desires all of our life, our job, our families, our recreational time, our money, everything. There is no part o life that is excluded from worship.
The soldiers set up their mock-worship event to humiliate Jesus, but when they were tired of mocking him they led him away to get rid of him. There is something uncanny in this cycle of worship and leaving. It is a cycle that perpetuates itself every week in American churches. But it does not have to.
We can worship God at all times. In the Wesleyan tradition we like to use the words entire sanctification or holiness to describe this activity. But we might just as well use the words constant worship. When we worship God with all we are, at all times, our focus is consistently on God. Continual worship is God’s purpose for creating us.
Our act of worship, our life of worship, is good for us too. In worship we no longer are centered on ourselves, bent inwardly, instead we are outwardly bent, focusing on those around us and ultimately on our Creator. Worship centers our life on God. I say trash the model of timed worship and adopt worship as a lifestyle. It is not easy for me either, but I have discovered when I do worship God all day He gives me peace and joy all day long.
I worship you my Lord and my God, for you are wonderful and worthy of my worship. I want to worship you every day with all of my life. When I tune you out and center my thoughts on myself, please remind me of who you are and turn my heart back to you again. - Dan Jones
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