Mensa Otabil - Jesus Is Mistreated (11/01/2025)
Luke chapter 22, verses 63-65: now the men who held Jesus mocked Him and beat Him. Having blindfolded Him, they struck Him on the face and asked Him, saying, «Prophesy, who is the one who struck you?» And many other things they blasphemously spoke against Him. Jesus was painfully mistreated by those who arrested Him, and though He had not been pronounced guilty, they treated Him as a convicted criminal. Our passage sets out a summary of some of the treatments that were meted out to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, it’s important to understand that both Jewish law and Roman law did not permit a person who was not being judged and found guilty to suffer punishment. So what they were doing to Jesus was totally illegal. It was illegal for either the Jews or the Romans to do this against Him.
But there are five things I want you to pay attention to concerning what Jesus went through. The first is that He was mocked; He was ridiculed. They sought to humiliate Him; they were determined to belittle Him and to make Him feel very small. This is the person who had been out there, people hailing Him, and just a while ago, He had entered Jerusalem on a donkey, with people crying, «Hosanna» to Him. They mocked Him just to make Him feel very small, to make Him feel very inadequate. They did this while people were looking on; some of His disciples were looking on, and the crowds who loved Jesus were looking on as they mocked Him and made fun of Him.
Secondly, the passage says that He was beaten; that means He was kicked and hit, sometimes with sticks, sometimes with boots, and with the feet of the people who were around Him, and sometimes with blows. They just beat Him up. Thirdly, He was blindfolded; they put the blindfold on Him. The reason the blindfold was put on Him was so He couldn’t identify those who were breaking the law, those who were hitting Him, to disorient Him. Even if He was found not guilty and had to report that people were mistreating Him, He wouldn’t be able to point out who mistreated Him. So they blindfolded Him so He would not have access to justice.
Number four is that He was slapped; they slapped Him about. The passage says they struck Him on the face, and they hit Him very hard. As they hit Him, they would be asking Him, «Who hit you?» He was blindfolded, and they just confused Him, making Him feel bad about Himself. Finally, it says that they blasphemed against Him, which simply means that they insulted Him and spoke profanity to Him. Can you imagine Jesus, who hears the voice of angels, and hears the praise of angels, and has been doing that for eternity, hearing unprintable words spoken against Him? People insulted Him, using all kinds of profanity, both Romans and Jews, and He heard all those words spoken against Him. This is before the trial starts, and He goes through all kinds of sham trials because the people were determined that no matter the situation, whether He was right or wrong, they were going to kill Him. It was determined that He should die.
But remember, whilst all of this is happening, He is doing it for us. Jesus knew what He had signed up for when He said, «Let Your will be done» in Gethsemane. He foresaw all of this; He went through all of this because He wanted to give you and me total redemption from shame, from disgrace, from all that is wrong. In Him, we can have life and have it more abundantly. Let’s pray.
Heavenly Father, for my sins, Christ suffered. Help me never to forget the price that was paid for my salvation. In Jesus' name, amen and amen.