Jesus Is Scourged

John 19:1–6
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Never at a loss for ideas, Pilate tries a new approach called sympathy. He gives orders for Jesus to be beaten with a whip (v. 1). The soldiers made a crown out of thorn branches and put it on Jesus head (v. 2). Then they put a purple robe on him. They mocked, as they slapped him across the face and called out, “Hail, hail, king of the Jews” (v. 3)! The Jews had mocked His claim to being a prophet (Matt. 26:67-68), and now the Gentiles mocked His claim to being a king.

Once again Pilate went out. This time he said, “I will have Jesus brought out to you again (v. 4). Then you can see for yourselves that I have not found him guilty.” Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe (v. 5). Pilate said, “Here is the man!” When the chief priests and the temple police saw him, they yelled, “Nail him to a cross! Nail him to a cross” (v. 6)! Pilate told them, “You take him and nail him to a cross! I don’t find him guilty of anything.”

Having failed to free Jesus, Pilate tries to compromise through this approach. If Jesus was scourged (beaten with a whip, knotted and weighted with pieces of metal or bone) perhaps they would accept this rather than execution. After all, what man could watch a prisoner being scourged and still want him crucified? Surly the sight of this scourged and humiliated prisoner would arouse some pity in their hearts. However, this did not bring any sympathy from the Jews. This failure of Pilate’s plan should teach us an important lesson; it takes more than human sentiment to bring the lost sinner to salvation.

Application

Without the Holy Spirt working in the heart of a person I can never convince them of their need for Christ.