Daily Devotion for March 20, 2006

To Jerusalem with the ComPassionate Christ
Day 20

Worthy of Death

 

They all condemned him as worthy of death.  Then some began to spit at him; they blindfolded him, struck him with their fists, and said, "Prophesy!" And the guards took him and beat him.  Mark 14: 64b-65

 

So, Jesus was condemned. The Sanhedrin did not have the authority to put Jesus to death, especially since they were not in a regularly constituted meeting, but they judged that He was worthy of death. He would be handed over to the Romans. They would know what to do.

 

In their eyes He was ‘guilty.’ The word is distantly related to ‘gilding’ or ‘gold.’ Originally it meant ‘precious.’ Guilt was, in some respects, a price. A person offending had a ‘price to pay.’ The price was a penalty. A guilty man is one who is liable to pay a penalty. Jesus was liable to pay the penalty of death.

 

We should not be surprised that the baser elements within the gathered assembly began to assert themselves. Some spat at Him. Others blindfolded Him and began to push Him around, taunting Him and asking Him to prophesy and to tell who had hit Him. Then the guards came and beat Him with the flats of their hands. We might say that they ‘slapped Him around.’ It could be that they were imitating their leaders, or it could possibly be that they had sympathy with Him, and they took Him, roughly, in order to protect Him from further danger.

 

Why would the Roman guards beat Jesus?  What had He done to them?  He posed no threat to them, in fact He loved them.  Answer:  The Romans knew that the Jews hated them, and that the Jews were waiting for “their” Messiah to come who would reclaim their land and authority and would annihilate “their” enemies, namely them!  Now, here they had at their disposal the “Jewish” Messiah, so even though Jesus posed no threat to them, their fears and anger towards the Jewish leadership was taken out on Jesus.  He bore the brunt of their actions!   He bore the brunt of OUR actions also! 

 

Prayer
Dear Jesus, you took the punishment that I should have taken.  Forgive me for the times I want to forget this.  What I am really trying to forget is how sinful I am!  Thank you Jesus for paying the price for my actions so that I can have eternity with You.  “No Greater Love….” Amen

 

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Tim Hetzner - President - Lutheran Church Charities
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