Day 11: The suffering King
Naomi Brown (Matthew 27v27-31; John 9v1-5; Mark 15v16-20)
Whenever I read these passages, I feel a bit of a sinking feeling in my stomach at how cruel these soldiers were. So ready to beat and mock Jesus, even dressing him as a king with a robe and crowning him with thorns. If you’ve watched The Passion of the Christ, seeing that scene play out is gut-wrenching, to say the least — the agony and torment Jesus went through to suffer so that we don’t have to! However harrowing this is, this is prophecy fulfilled: that Jesus would suffer to make way for us.
700 years before Jesus came, we read in Isaiah 50:6 that he prophesied:
“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.”
This make me think of Hebrews 12 ‘‘keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy set out for him he endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God’’. He did not shy away from the cruelity he was put through because his joy was set before him, the joy of our salvation.
And then in Isaiah 53:5:
“But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.”
The word healing here is Rapha — which means to be made whole, become fresh, purified. It always carries the idea of bringing wholeness where damage, disease, or disorder has intruded. It is used for mending water, land, cities, personal bodies, broken hearts, and covenant relationships. Wow — that is the fullness of healing we get to have: full healing for us and full healing for the land around us by his stripes!
He endured the pain — his skin tearing apart, thorns being driven into his head, being mocked by the very people he came to save — and with the joy set before him, he endured all of this so that we may have eternal life, that we have salvation and wholeness and can access the fullness of the Kingdom. What a King we serve! By his wounds we are healed — not by anything we have done, but only because of what he has done.
Reflection
Listen to All Hail King Jesus. An amazing song full of so much truth of the gospel. Whilst the Roman soldiers mocked Jesus with ‘all hail the King of the Jews’, we get to lift his name high in worship, singing all hail King Jesus. The rightful King made a way; he conquered sin and death, that is the King we get to worship!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFTlDxL3DgM&list=RDAFTlDxL3DgM&start_radio=1
Let the lyrics sink in deep. Let God encounter you.
What’s he speaking to you through the song?