March 17, 2021 - Midweek Lent 5 - Grace Lutheran Church: Tucson Pastor David Parsons (Holy Cross Lutheran Church) Dear Friends in Christ, No one likes to be bullied. Whether it’s the school bully stealing someone’s lunch money, the co-worker who makes nasty comments, or the internet troll who is looking to pick a fight. Being bullied has become such a common and life debilitation issue that politicians, administrators, entire industries are devoted to rooting out bullying and preventing it. Some have defined bullying as a pattern of behavior that is used to leverage power or control over another. And bulling can come in a variety of forms. There’s the verbal bullying in the form of name calling and verbal threats of violence. There’s social bullying when a person is excluded from a group. And then there’s physical bullying where physical harm is brought upon another person. Now when we look at Jesus’ life, we find that he endured bullying of every kind. There was the verbal, physical, and social bullying. His enemies, who sadly were the religious elites of the day among the Pharisees and Sadducees, often engaged in patterns of verbal bullying when they attempted to catch Jesus with a !gotcha” question. And then there was the social bullying when the Jewish leaders discouraged people from following Jesus by spreading rumors about him and trying to embarrass him publicly. And after reading Matthew’s words for us this evening, Jesus’ physical bullying is unmistakable. But what happened in the Praetorium that night took the threats, the mocking, and bullying to a whole other level as it ended in his brutal murder upon a Roman cross. Tonight, we see Jesus suffer at the hands’ of the soldiers’ brutality as recorded in Matthew 27:27–31 Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. 28 They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, 29 and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand and knelt in front of him and mocked him. !Hail, king of the Jews!” they said. 30 They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. 31 After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him. What Matthew records for us is actually the second case of the hands of brutality in the Passion History. Jesus was now appearing before the Roman governor, but earlier that morning Jesus had stood before the Jewish leaders in a sort of kangaroo court. During that illegal trial they had also laid their brutal and unjust hands upon him. During that so-called trial the Jewish leaders had tried to convict with false witnesses and invented evidence. But even their witnesses couldn’t agree so in retribution they
blindfolded Jesus, slapped him across the face, and demanded that Jesus identify the man who hit him. What’s more they blasphemed against him, spit in his face, and sent him on to Pontius Pilate where the suffering and bullying would continue. But very quickly after arriving in Pilate’s court it was obvious, he didn’t deserve to be there. When Pilate interviewed Jesus he found that Jesus certainly didn’t deserve to be killed. And at first, Pilate had even decided to set Jesus free. But Pilate was also a politician and his sympathy for this Jewish man could only go so far. Pilate knew this angry mob of Jews weren’t going anywhere and he wanted to avoid a riot. It wouldn’t look good on his record if he couldn’t even quash a Jewish uprising like this. So with cowardice Pilate figured that if Jesus was beaten and whipped the angry crowd’s bloodlust would be satisfied and the case would be closed. But not only was Pilate a coward but also naive to what was really going on. And so Pilate handed Jesus over to his whole company of soldiers to be whipped. And to put this into perspective a company of Roman soldiers at that time could have been well over 600 men. 600 men who would serve up some sadistically Roman justice and brutality. Now as we consider what took place that early morning maybe what Jesus endured makes you a bit queasy. Maybe you wish you didn’t know how bad it got for Jesus. And if you’ve seen the Passion of the Christ you may have been tempted to look away like I did when it came to the brutality of Jesus’ flogging. It’s gruesome, it’s raw, and painful even to imagine. Because the whip that was used was likely fitted with bit of metal and even glass that was designed to cause maximum pain and damage on each blow. With each blow, the skin would have been ripped and shredded at times all the way down to the bone or other internal organs. Such a whipping would have left a person physically weak and clinging to life. It was so violent that the Jews had limited the number of lashes a person could receive. But Jesus was in the hands of the Romans who did not have a limit. The brutality of the whipping, the blood loss, the internal damage, made the crucifixion and a quick death from that even more likely. But you might say that the Roman soldiers that night were only doing their job. Being a Roman soldier and stationed in Judea was like being sent to the end of the world. There was nothing to do. They were there dealing with a nation that had constant religious infighting and that was enough to make a soldier want to quit. The events of that early morning had become the closest thing to entertainment they could get. And so after brutally whipping Jesus, the soldiers got in the act and began to mock him. They knew the Jews’ whole case against Jesus revolved around his claim to be a king. And playing to the crowd, the Romans threw a scarlet robe on him and twisted together a crown of thorns and pressed it into his head. Once again the blood began to flow from our Savior’s head as they gave him a staff and continuing the emotional and verbal abuse as, !they knelt down before him and mocked him. ‘Hail, king of the Jews’”. But the cruelty of the company of soldiers didn’t end there as we hear they took turns spitting on him and beating him over the head again and again. In
those dark moment once again Jesus was fulfilled God’s Word through the prophet Isaiah, !I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting”. Yet notice how Jesus dealt with these bullies. He didn’t lash out, he didn’t serve them up some good old divine justice. In fact, he didn’t say a thing. Jesus patiently endured their hatred and brutality just as he had taught his followers to turn the other cheek. Jesus patiently loved his enemies and prayed for those who persecuted him. Jesus practiced what he preached and although, !He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth, he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth”. The fact is. Jesus could have stopped the pain and mocking at any second. He could have shown them what real power was. He could have let the entire wrath and power of God come down upon them. But in carrying out his mission to save sinners, Jesus let himself be brutalized. He offered his back. He didn’t object to his oppressors, even though he was innocent, even though he was actually the King of the Jews and the King of the Gentiles! Because he is the King of kings and Lord of lords. But Jesus allowed all this to happen to him because he was standing there for you. Jesus knew all along what it would take. He knew this was the cup of suffering that he had to not just endure but to drink every last drop. Christ had to endure the brutal hands of his oppressors to be your perfect substitute. If Jesus hadn’t endured this shame, if he had avoided the pain, if he fallen for the devil’s tempting to avoid the cross or suffering, then there would be no forgiveness of sins. And if that were the case, God’s wrath would still stand against you. And you better believe God would punish us far worse than any Roman soldier could. But God’s wrath has been taken away because of Christ willing sacrifice for you. Jesus would endure not just the brutality of the soldiers but soon the torture of the cross. But even more than that he would endure the punishment of hell in our place. Because my friends as we gather here tonight, hell is what each of us deserved. We deserved hell for all the times we’ve let the bully of sin tempt us into compromising our faith. And just like a bully who leverages their power and control over us and makes us feel alone and powerless, sin acts the same way. Sin pressures us into crimes against the commandments. Sin leads us away from what is good and holy and drags us into dark places. And the devil bullies us into thinking we can get away with all sorts of bad behaviors. But are we going to let the devil and sin bully us? My friends, our brother Jesus stood up to our bullies and by his sacrifice we belong to him. Because of Jesus our spiritual bullies can’t control us any longer as, “Sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace” Because of the love and forgiveness that Christ brings to our lives we will want to gladly, !Submit ourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from us”
You see, freedom from sin and Satan is reason enough to rejoice! And looking to Jesus we can act like he did. When faced with challenges, bullies, threats, and even death we can turn the other cheek, pray for our enemies, and do unto others as we’d have them do to us. Having Christ as part of our life changes the way we respond to the brutal nature of this sinful world. Having Christ in our lives allows us to look at all people through his eyes to see sinners who need the same thing that we do. They need to hear the forgiveness that only Christ can bring and the eternal hope that heaven can bring. With so much facing our world today from pandemic, politics, bullies, and sin, it’s no wonder why the world is so unhappy. So many people are still out there living without Christ. They’re being bullied by sin and Satan every day and it seems like there is no escape. On their own these bullies make them feel powerless. But my friends it doesn’t have to be that way. We know what Jesus has done for us and the world. And how much better life is when we have our big brother and Savior standing by our side to face down all our bullies. And Jesus is up to the challenge. He’s by our side and he’s there to defend us against all spiritual and physical enemies we face. And now my friends let’s make sure others who are still being bullied know about the peace that only Jesus can bring. Amen.