Valerie Rae Hanneman
Matthew 27:27-31(MSG) “The soldiers assigned to the governor took Jesus into the governor's palace and got the entire brigade together for some fun. They stripped Him and dressed Him in a red toga. They plaited a crown from branches of a thornbush and set it on His head. They put a stick in His right hand for a scepter. Then they knelt before Him in mocking reverence: "Bravo, King of the Jews!" they said. "Bravo!" Then they spit on Him and hit Him on the head with the stick. When they had had their fun, they took off the toga and put His own clothes back on Him. Then they proceeded out to the crucifixion.”
Maybe if I were a hot-weather person instead of a cold weather person this would not have happened. But I am a cold weather person. I am far more comfortable in the winter than I am in the summer. So, in late June, when the air conditioning went down in the building where I work, I was pretty miserable. After it had been down for a week I asked one of the repairmen when it was going to be fixed. You cannot imagine my surprise – and anger – when I found out that the repair work had been stopped days earlier because the building owner thought the needed parts cost too much money. I was livid – not just for myself but also for 10 stories of hot, sweaty, miserable office workers. When I left the building later that afternoon I saw the owner’s pristine Jaguar in the parking lot. I saw red. ‘I’ll bet that that creep doesn’t balk at the price of an oil change when his little toy needs it,’ I thought to myself, ‘but he sure doesn’t care about all of us sweating to death in his death-trap building!” I stood for a moment looking at the car, then looked down at the keys in my hand. ‘It would serve him right if I just drug my keys right down the side of that car!’ I looked around to see if there was anybody who would see me.
Their orders were fairly simple. Pilate was clear – take Jesus, flog Him and crucify Him. But that’s not what the soldiers did. After they had flogged Jesus to near-death they had some time to kill before they had to head out to Golgotha so they decided to have a little fun. What they did then had nothing to do with their orders, nothing to do with a flogging or a crucifixion. It had everything to do with humiliating a helpless victim. It had everything to do with a show of power over the powerless. They got the whole brigade together. They stripped Jesus’ clothes off of Him, they dressed Him in a royal robe, forced a crown of thorns on His head, gave Him a stick as a scepter and mocked Him by bowing down before Him. When that got boring they took His scepter and beat Him about the head with it. And then they had even more fun by spitting on Him. They did not do this to Him to control Him – Jesus was too weak from loss of blood, exhaustion and pain to give them any trouble. They did not do it to cause any real physical damage – Jesus was already so beat up that some blows to His head probably didn’t make that much difference. They did it to batter His soul. They ganged up on this defenseless, physically broken man and tried to break the only thing left – His soul. They did it because there is a pus-filled spot of spitefulness in every human heart. Spitefulness to bully and break an already helpless man, spitefulness to drag your keys down the side of another’s car. Spitefulness that could take pleasure in making yourself feel bigger by making another feel small.
I am not too different from the soldiers that day am I? Out of spitefulness and a need to feel powerful, they mocked and spit on Jesus, humiliating Him, hurting His soul, making Him feel powerless. Out of spitefulness and a need to feel powerful in a situation where I had no power, I wanted to damage that car because I knew that it would damage the man who owned it, it would hurt his soul, it would make him feel powerless.
The difference between the soldiers and me is that they did it – and I did not. I did not drag my keys down that car. Almost immediately the part of me that Jesus has redeemed and restored screamed out, “Are you out of your MIND!?!” I looked around, not because I intended to key the car, but because I did not want others to see the guilt and shame written on my face.
The true difference between the soldiers and me is Jesus.
The spit dried on Him as Jesus stumbled His way to Calvary. As He was suspended between heaven and earth, as He died for my sins, the symbol of my spitefulness was still on His skin. By His death, Jesus redeemed me and forgave me for my spitefulness and my need to make others small so I can feel tall.
It is not often that my spitefulness is as blatant as the urge to key a car. It is usually much more subtle. It is found in my making another small by gossiping about them, or by criticizing them, or by ignoring them. Actions that seem so small, but are so destructive to others and even more destructive to me.
Jesus bore the spit to the cross because He wants better for us then for us to allow the spitefulness in our soul to fester. Through His power he wants us to defeat it, to clean it out, to expose it to His healing light. We just have to give it up to Him.
My LORD and Savior, I don’t want to be like the soldiers on that day, I don’t want that spitefulness in my soul. The only power I want in my life is Your power working through me. Help me to be more like you.
Contact Valerie or sign up for the e-Ministry of Fresno First Baptist at Valerie@fresnofirst.org
Posted by Valerie at March 30, 2007 07:15 PM