Royality

November 17, 2011
The Life of Jesus; read today: Pilate's soldiers crown and mock Jesus; Matthew 27:27-30; Mark 15:16-20; John 19:1-3

ESV: John 19:2. And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe.

A crown and a robe of purple. That is was a sign of royalty in its day.  So these would be expected to be given to Jesus as He was the King of the Jews.  But these were not quite what they seem. The crown was made of thorns, and as it would be pushed on His head the spikes would break through the skin and He would bleed.

The robe also would not be comfortable to wear.  Jesus had just been whipped by the Roman guards and the wounds were still fresh.  The robe would have been put on His bloody body.  As the wounds began to heal, the cloth from the robe would have the blood dried on to it, and  become one with it.  Any movement of the robe would have hurt the bruised skin and where it was dried on, it would once again rip the flesh and reopen the wound.

I sometimes think I have it so tough. I have had so many problems in this world.  I have nothing like Jesus went through. Most of my problems are my own fault, none of what Jesus went through was His fault.  When I am tempted to cry out, 'unfair', I need to meditate on what Jesus went through so that I could have life, and life eternal.



Read for next time: Pilate tries to release Jesus; John 19:4-7