Categories: god, forty-blogs-of-lent
Tags: God, Christianity, Jesus
Date: 12 March 2013 07:35:38
Then Pilate took Jesus and had him scourged. And the soldiers wove a crown out of thorns and placed it on his head, and clothed him in a purple cloak, and they came to him and said,"Hail, King of the Jews!" And they struck him repeatedly. John 19: 1-3Shock Absorbers. Those useful bits of a car which make the ride smoother. Because of shock absorbers we don't feel every bump in the road, which is just as well with the state of West Yorkshire's roads, the air in the tyres is just not adequate to take away the vibration caused by potholes, uneven surfaces and speed bumps. Here Jesus is taking the knocks. Absorbing the shock of the world. Mel Gibson's film The Passion of the Christ is called by some a video nasty, which is understandable in the way it dwells on the scourging. Pieces of flesh being shown ripped from the body (though to be fair these scenes are very few, the horror being derived from the reactions of the onlookers and the glee on the faces of the Roman torturers.) But that is what scourging was. it wasn't just a flogging. This is what it meant for Jesus to go through the Passion. He could have escaped. The Lord of Hosts, the commander of Heaven's army , could have brought in legion of angels to save him, but he did not. Jesus did not fight back, instead he absorbed the shock of the world. In doing so we are given the supreme example of what living the Christian life means. When we are accused or abused and we are inocent instead of fighting back in rage or spite we should absorb the shocks. The world alreadt has enough rage and spite, and pride, without our adding to it.