Sunday, August 4, 2024

PT-2 "The Ignorant Wicked" (Matt. 27:27-37)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/4/2024 9:08 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus: PT-2 “The Ignorant Wicked”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Matthew 27:27-37

 

            Message of the verses:  27 Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole Roman cohort around Him. 28 They stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him. 29 And after twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand; and they knelt down before Him and mocked Him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!" 30 They spat on Him, and took the reed and began to beat Him on the head. 31 After they had mocked Him, they took the scarlet robe off Him and put His own garments back on Him, and led Him away to crucify Him.

 

            “32 As they were coming out, they found a man of Cyrene named Simon, whom they pressed into service to bear His cross.

  

             “33 And when they came to a place called Golgotha, which means Place of a Skull, 34 they gave Him wine to drink mixed with gall; and after tasting it, He was unwilling to drink. 35 And when they had crucified Him, they divided up His garments among themselves by casting lots. 36 And sitting down, they began to keep watch over Him there. 37 And above His head they put up the charge against Him which read, "THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.’”

 

            In verse 27 we see the words the whole Roman cohort and a full Roman cohort amounted to 600 soldiers, and because this particular cohort served the Roman governor at his Praetorium at Fort Antonia in Jerusalem, it was probably composed of elite legionnaires.  MacArthur writes “They were not necessarily all, or even mostly, Italian, because Rome typically conscripted soldiers from among its occupied countries.  Because most men would be reluctant to fight against their own countrymen, they were frequently sent to neighboring regions that spoke the same or similar language.  We can be sure that none of this cohort was Jewish, because Rome had granted a special exemption of Jews from Roman military service.  It is likely that the contingent in Jerusalem was composed largely of Syrians, who spoke Aramaic, the most common conversational and trade language of Palestine.”  I find this very interesting and probably something that many who read over this passage did not even think about.

 

            MacArthur goes on to talk more about those who were involved in this wicked treatment of Christ.  “Because Pilate’s primary headquarters were in Caesarea, this cohort may have been stationed there, traveling from place to place with the governor as his military escort.  If so, they would have been even less familiar with Judaism than the average Roman soldier in Jerusalem and probably had never heart of Jesus.  To them, He was simply another condemned prisoner, whom they were free to abuse as much as they pleased, as long as he was not killed before the designated execution.  If they considered Jesus to be in any way unique, it was only in that He had apparently claimed to be some sort of king.  What they did to Him was therefore unrelated to religious or personal animosity.  Their torment of Jesus was wicked and inexcusable, but it was done out of spiritual ignorance.

            “Jesus’ face was swollen from the slaps and beatings He received from the Temple police and was covered with spittle from His Jewish tormentors.  He was bleeding profusely from the scourging, with terrible lacerations from His shoulders down, exposing muscles, ligaments, blood vessels, and perhaps even internal organs.  Because He had not spoken for the past hour or so, the soldiers may have considered Him mentally deranged and worthy only of ridicule.  They played Him as a fool, making sport of the comments they had overheard about His claim to kingship.

 

            “It did not matter to them that Jesus had never personally harmed them or that technically He was innocent according to Roman law.  They had been trained to obey orders, which frequently required killing and torture.  Jesus had been officially condemned, and no sense of justice or propriety, much less of mercy or compassion, tempered their cold-hearted entertainment at Jesus’ expense.  Although in an extreme way, they expressed the natural wickedness of every human heart that is ignorant of God.”

 

            That is about all I can handle this morning, and so we will continue looking at how John MacArthur describes this section of Scripture in our next SD.

 

8/4/2024 7:55 AM

 

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