“Now the men who were holding Jesus in custody were mocking him as they beat him. They also blindfolded him and kept asking him, “Prophesy! Who is it that struck you?” And they said many other things against him, blaspheming him.” Luke 22:63-65 ESV
Reflection: what drives people to do evil things?
Not long ago, a woman was standing by the subway waiting for her train was deliberately pushed onto the tracks in front of a speeding train. And this heinous act wasn’t done by someone who had some sort of issue with the woman. No, it was a complete stranger that pushed her to her death. Why? What can get a person to do such a thing, especially towards a complete stranger? Unfortunately, it is not an isolated incident, as we even have a term for it – a “random acts of violence”. An example of uncontrolled evil, complete void of love, and no respect for life.
Jesus was held all night in captivity until they could assemble the religious council. “When day came, the assembly of the elders of the people gathered together, both chief priests and scribes.” Luke 22:66a ESV. And while the temple guards held Jesus in captivity awaiting his hearing, they didn’t wait to hear whether they found Jesus guilty of anything. Luke explains that these men, the temple guards, who really had no prior knowledge of or issue with Jesus, started beating him, mocking and blaspheming him. Again, these are Jesus own countrymen, not the Romans. Why? What drove these men to do such heinous acts, to an innocent, defenseless man, in the middle of the night? It is what happens
When evil comes out.
When sin runs its course. James wrote “Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.” James 1:15 ESV. Our Lord and Savior had to endure the most unthinkable suffering, for you and I. First he is betrayed, deserted and denied by his own closest friends. They all left him when he needed them. Then his own people, his countrymen mocked and blasphemed him, and physically abused him. It was a very dark night indeed.
We are left speechless looking at what he endured for us. To purchase our freedom, out of the grips of sin and evil. To be able to say to us, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”” Matthew 11:28-30 ESV. And he is not only asking us to lay down our burdens, but to learn his ways. To do what he did towards those around us, who might have wronged us. How can we look at our Savior, at what he did for us and not forgive others?
Zachariah wrote long before about Jesus, ““And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.” Zechariah 12:10 ESV.
Let’s look at him today, Jesus, whom they beat, mocked, blasphemed, and eventually pierced.