The soldiers took Jesus into the courtyard of the governor’s headquarters (called the Praetorium) and called out the entire regiment. They dressed him in a purple robe, and they wove thorn branches into a crown and put it on his head. Then they saluted him and taunted, “Hail! King of the Jews!” And they struck him on the head with a reed stick, spit on him, and dropped to their knees in mock worship. When they were finally tired of mocking him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him again. Then they led him away to be crucified. (Mark 15:16-20)One of the perks of being a Roman soldier was the entertainment of beating on prisoners. Unfortunately, soldiers have always been that way. I am not sure why. But soldiers tend to see their enemies as less than human, less than real. It was that case in the all of the wars America has fought.
Lately, there has been a lot of focus on this, but the thing is, as long as people are having to fight other people, it will be that way. It is easier to fight someone you have dehumanized than to fight someone you see as a real person.
It was the same in Jesus’ day. The governor gave Jesus to his soldiers to beat than he took him to be crucified. To the soldiers, he was nobody special, just another prisoner. He may have been a little more high profile than some, but now he was there, at least for a while, for their amusement.
They laughed at him, crowned him with a crown of thorns, dressed him in a purple robe, hit him, in general tortured him. Then they were through.
To these men, Jesus was no more than a momentary diversion. Chances are, they didn’t even think of him much that night when they went home. He was just part of their jobs (or at least part of the fun of their jobs).
To us he was the King of the Universe in human from dying for our sins, being beaten for our transgressions, bleeding for our failings.
To them, he was just part of the job of soldiering. That was all.
I suppose that is why the comment the centurion made at the foot of the cross in Mark 15:39: When the Roman officer who stood facing him saw how he had died, he exclaimed, “This man truly was the Son of God!” That soldier could see past all of the stuff and see that there was something special about Jesus, something, some spark of divinity that was lacking in the others.
To them, Jesus was part of the day’s trash, to be thrown away.
To us, he is the Son of God and our Savior.
What a difference in perspective.
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