Daily Devotion for Wednesday 1st April

Wednesday in Holy Week 

St Matthew 27: 27 – 31

Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor’s headquarters, and they gathered the whole cohort around him.  They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and after twisting some thorns into a crown, they put it on his head. They put a reed in his right hand and knelt before him and mocked him, saying, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’ They spat on him, and took the reed and struck him on the head.  After mocking him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.

Reflection

On April 1st, it is probably appropriate to be reminded of what St Paul describes in his first epistle to the Corinthians as “the folly of the Cross.” An unjust execution doesn’t seem a really logical answer to the source of our salvation but as Christians we believe that sin and death have been overcome for us by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

In the passage we have read today we see Jesus as a figure of ridicule. Dressed up with the trappings of monarchy, the crown, the sceptre and the cloak he endures mockery,  abuse and physical assaults from the soldiers.

I wonder if the sheer appalling magnitude of the pain involved in death by crucifixion is too much for us to fully comprehend. However, many of us have been teased and bullied, particularly as children. It can be practically a rite of passage unless we are very fortunate! Is it possible that we are able to relate rather more easily to these initial passages on the road to the eventual crucifixion. At some time we have nearly all experienced the sharp pain of a thorn, perhaps when collecting blackberries and can therefore empathise easier with the feeling of many thorns being pressed into one’s head.

The other lesson this situation brings to my mind is that Jesus is now in the hands of a mob. The judicial process represented by the Governor of Judea, Pilate has broken down. He has literally washed his hands of Jesus and the mob is celebrating Barrabas and baying for Jesus’ blood. We should remember that mobs are not only a feature of first century Judea. They still operate in our world and challenge us. In 2021 on the steps of the  United States Capitol and last year outside asylum hotels in England or in the Sudanese city of Al Fashir.

Jesus accepts his fate without retaliation for our sakes. We must ask that, however difficult we can all follow his example. 

Prayer

Loving Lord Jesus, who for our sakes suffered so much.
It is hard for us to fully understand the pain which you endured.
Even harder to understand why it was us who have benefitted from your agony.
We ask for your grace to always show our thanks to you and remember the true cost of our salvation.
We ask this in your name, Jesus. Amen