Matthew 27:27-44
I am struck by the inhumanity, the brutality that we read about in today’s reading. First it’s the soldiers, following the scourging continuing to taunt Jesus with the purple robe and the reed, the crown of thorns, kneeling before Him, spitting, mocking. Then it’s the crowd, the passers-by with their taunts. Finally, and most horribly it’s the Jewish leaders mocking Him. (I comment on this last group in the second link below.) But then I think, “That was then, this is now.” But it’s no different today. Think of Christian persecution, even tortures and murders, especially in the Communist and Muslim worlds. Think of the taunting of American captives by local citizens, again especially in the Muslim world. Yesterday President Biden was right to charge Putin and the Russians with human rights violations. Will anything change? Not likely… Or closer to home, in our own USA, think of the persecution, torture, and murder of gays, of Asians, of African Americans, of Hispanic immigrants. We’re no different. How can people get so angry as to be so brutal? We might ask, “Where is Jesus in all this?” And the answer is, He’s right there, loving both the tortured and the torturers. It will end when He returns. Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus, quickly!
See also: November 28 / Matt. 27:27-31; December 1 / Matt. 27:32-44