PASSION WEEK – Friday morning
The Scourging & Via Dolorosa
We left Pilate in the previous post with fingers still dripping from washing his hands of the blood of Jesus.
“So Pilate, when he saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but instead an uproar was developing, took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of the blood of this man. You see to it!” And all the people answered and said, “His blood be on us and on our children!””
Matthew 27:24-25 LEB
What a thing to say.
And God held them to it. He held them responsible for the death of Messiah and judged them for it. The streets of Jerusalem would run red with their and their children’s blood.
Pilate had tried to get Jesus off the hook with a scourging only, (Lk. 23:16). But that wasn’t enough for the crowd which the leaders had whipped up into a frenzy. So Pilate hands Jesus over to be scourged and then crucified.
When the movie, The Passion of the Christ came out, I was on staff at my Bible college and also part-time faculty. Someone invited the school leadership to a private screening at a movie theater and I went.
Now, I don’t do violent or scary films or books. I’m quite sensitive so I prefer calm happy movies. The scenes of Jesus being scourged were the hardest to watch. The whole sequence of mocking and the flagellation, (including the cut-away scenes), was close to half an hour; though the actual beating took up only about 10-12 minutes. I was physically shaking before it was over but I made myself watch. It was horror. And I was silently weeping the entire time.
The Romans knew nothing of The Geneva Convention. As a culture, their value for human life was small and their nonchalance about blood and death was disturbing. While the Gospels do not record details of the flogging, we have historical records that tell us how the Romans did it. It was brutal.
First, you should know that the Romans were not prudes. When they flogged a man, he was stripped completely naked.
Jesus would’ve been missing most of the skin on his back when this was over.
You may have heard somewhere that Jesus was given 39 or 40 “stripes,” but that is based on Deut. 25:3 where the Jews were limited to punishing a person with no more than 40 lashes. The Romans didn’t give a fig about Deuteronomy.
Recent analysis of the Shroud of Turin with new technology has shown researchers more detail of the wounds on the victim’s body from the scourging. It’s so clear that forensics experts concluded that the man who was wrapped in the shroud was beaten by two men, one on each side. One of the men was shorter than the other and one was left-handed.
Here’s a good video on the Shroud of Turin if you want to check it out. It’s about 40min.
I’ve read several articles by medical doctors about the scourging and crucifixion. I think all of them agree that Jesus was probably in a state of shock after the scourging; depending on how severe it was.
The Roman soldiers continued to make a mockery of His kingship – even adding a torturous crown and scepter.
This is an acacia tree in Israel.
They don’t get very big but they are incredibly drought tolerant. It’s the wood that the Ark of the Covenant and many pieces of the tabernacle were made of.
This is an acacia tree up close…
I imagine the men who harvested the trees to get the lumber for the tabernacle got pretty scratched up. Even back in Exodus, the imagery of a bloodied, scratched man was associated the Tabernacle.
Jesus was the Tabernacle of God with men.
He had the acacia wood and the garment of blue, purple, and scarlet. He had the blood. He was the high priest. Instead of a jeweled breastplate, His chest shimmered red with His own blood. Instead a golden crown that said “Holiness To the LORD” He was crowned with thorns.
When my Israel tour group went to En Gedi (the hideout of King David), the whole ravine was shaded by acacia trees. I was picking up free souvenirs any chance I had, so I picked up a small acacia branch from the ground. I didn’t want the thorns to break off so I packed it (along with mud from the Dead Sea and a few… ok… several rocks, dried olive leaves, and shells) wrapped in socks, inside my shoes in my suitcase. It never occurred to me that on an x-ray scanner that might look an awful lot like a shoe bomb.
👟 💣
The Israelis take their security VERY seriously. I found this out when I was taken aside in the airport and questioned very carefully about the shoes in my suitcase. There were two young women before me. I was sure that the one who wasn’t asking questions was probably watching for my pupils to dilate and measuring my pulse and heart rate with some hidden super high tech laser gadget. My heart was pounding so hard she probably could’ve just watched my jugular vein and counted the beats.
I was able to answer the questions honestly. No, I did not have any agricultural products. (Nobody is farming acacia trees or rocks) No, I did not have any live plant or animal materials. (Dead Sea mud is dead because, hello… Dead Sea. And I was careful to bring only dead plant material – dried leaves and a branch) And, No, my suitcase had not been out of my possession at any time.
🤓 Boy, I bet that was scary!
😏 I bet they put you on a Mossad watch list.
I’m sure Mossad has better things to do than track tourists who take home mud and acacia stems in their shoes.
Let’s get back to the Gospel…
Pilate brings the beaten Jesus back out to face the mob. Perhaps he thinks they will see Him and decide Jesus has been punished enough. This is Pilate’s absolute last ditch effort to save Jesus.
“And Pilate came outside again and said to them, “Behold, I am bringing him outside to you, so that you will know that I find no basis for an accusation against him.” Then Jesus came outside wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, and he said to them, “Behold the man!””
John 19:4-5 LEB
In Latin, the statement of Pilate is…
“Ecce Homo,” which is the name of this gorgeous painting by Antonio Ciseri.
Jesus is THE man. The ideal, perfect man. What humanity was meant to be.
The Catholic author G. K. Chesterton wrote a book comparing and contrasting the humanistic idea of man (starting as brute cavemen) with the perfect specimen of man: Jesus, The Everlasting Man. (I recommend this particular edition from a small Scottish family publisher. But you should know that Chesterton is not exactly “light reading.”)
The crowd sees Jesus and again calls for crucifixion. Pilate basically says, “You do it!”He knows Jesus is innocent.
Only John records these final interchanges between Pilate, the Jews, and Jesus…
“The Jews replied to him, “We have a law, and according to the law he ought to die, because he made himself out to be the Son of God!” So when Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid, and he entered into the governor’s residence again and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus did not give him an answer. So Pilate said to him, “Will you not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you, and I have authority to crucify you?” Jesus replied to him, “You would not have any authority over me unless it was given to you from above. For this reason the one who handed me over to you has greater sin.” From this point on Pilate was seeking to release him, but the Jews shouted, saying, “If you release this man, you are not a friend of Caesar! Everyone who makes himself out to be a king opposes Caesar!””
John 19:7-12 LEB
That’s it. They played the Caesar card. And that’s the trump card. They are basically blackmailing Pilate with the threat of accusing him of treason to Rome. That’s not a small threat.
“(Now it was the day of preparation of the Passover; it was about the sixth hour.) And he said to the Jews, “Behold your king!””
John 19:14 LEB
The rightful, legal authority of the land just proclaimed Jesus the King of the Jews. And the Jews denounce their promised Messiah and declared their loyalty to pagan Caesar.
It spells the end of Judea.
THE VIA DOLOROSA
“Via Dolorosa” is Latin for “Way of Sorrows” or “Way of Suffering.” It’s the name given to the path Jesus walked from Pilate’s Judgment Hall to Golgotha. (It’s also the name of a beautiful song recorded by Sandi Patti.)
Pilate hands Jesus over to the squad of soldiers who carry out crucifixions. They would’ve given him a beam to carry; possibly even tied to his arms.
Jesus did not carry a cross like this.
I’m sorry to upset anyone, but it’s simply not historic fact. This image has been imprinted on our minds by centuries of art, but the biblical text, archaeology, and Roman history do not support it. There are a number of inaccuracies in such pictures.
- He was not clean and beatific looking. Jesus was lacerated and covered in blood. His clothing – if He was wearing much – would’ve been dirty and blood-soaked as well.
- Those boards are much too thin. Crucifixions were done with beams, not boards.
- The Romans had designated execution sites outside of city gates. The upright beam (called the stipes) was fixed in the ground like a fence post. The kind of cross they used in the early first century was notched at the top and the victim carried only the crossbeam (called the patibulum) which could’ve weighed up to 110 pounds.
And Jesus was expected to carry that beam about 650 yards.
And that path is still there today.
I walked it myself. (Not my pictures. Mine are so full of people you can’t see much.)
Every year on Good Friday, many thousands of Christian pilgrims walk the Via Dolorosa in the footsteps of Jesus.
Here are the traditional 14 Stations of the Cross:
Mark tells us that Simon of Cyrene who carried the patibulum for Jesus was the father of Alexander and Rufus. That’s not random information. Those must’ve been names that Mark’s readers would’ve recognized. The implication is that they became notable Christians in the early Church. In his letter to the Romans, Paul includes this greeting…
“Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord; also his mother, who has been a mother to me as well.”
Romans 16:13 ESV
Scholars believe that this Rufus was the son of Simon of Cyrene. If so, then Simon’s wife, the mother of Alexander and Rufus, was a mother-figure to the Apostle Paul.
You can’t carry the cross of Jesus without it affecting your whole family.
(Selah)
Luke 23:27-31 records the women of Jerusalem weeping for Jesus. He warns them prophetically of the coming destruction of Jerusalem just like the prophets of old. He even quotes from Hosea 10:8.
Even moments before He dies, Jesus is speaking the truth to His people.
John 19:14 tells us it was “about the 6th hour” when Jesus was sent to Calvary. I found out that this is based on the Roman way of marking time, not the Jewish. For the Romans, the 6th hour was 9am.
I’m not sure how long it took to walk the 650 yards uphill, but some time shortly after noon, Jesus reached this spot…
Or, more likely a place near this spot. If you go to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher today, your guide might tell you that this is where Jesus was crucified. And it is technically connected to the same chunk of rock. But this fantastic video (25min) by Expedition Bible (highly recommend the channel) will explain where the exact spot of the crucifixion is; just a few feet away. And the history of it is gonna blow your mind.
🤨 Who’s the person in the silver robe?
Oh. It’s an angel.
😯
I can practically smell this picture. If you have a scent allergy, you might want to take a respirator to visit the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. The incense is so thick it kinda hits you in the face the moment you walk in.
It’s challenging to fathom how HUGE, ancient, and hodgepodge this church is. There is something being commemorated every few feet. And in some spots there are so many candles burning that the warmth feels like you’re too close to a campfire.
With all the icons and altars and artwork, it feels rather strange to an American Evangelical, but I’d go back again tomorrow. Maybe after the blog I’ll become a tour guide.
Over the next 2 posts, we’ll cover the crucifixion in 2 parts. See you over there.
