How heavily did the sin of all the world weigh upon the shoulders of Christ? John’s narrative gives us only a taste. The suffering that Jesus endured was gruesome and horrifying indeed, but it gives us a glimpse into how much of the Father’s just wrath he took on, so that it would graciously pass over us. He was flogged with a leather whip full of metal shards, likely until the soldier with the whip wore himself out; he was mocked and beaten lawlessly by a band of restless, irreverent soldiers; and he was paraded around humiliatingly in a fool’s garb while thorns pierced his skull. It was a truly mortifying scene that our friend Jesus endured. And still the Son of Man did not lift a finger, and he opened not his mouth.
Only the greatest wiles of injustice and corruption and treachery could land the Christ there, because he truly was guiltless on all accounts. He was no insurrectionist or criminal, and hard as he tried, Pilate couldn’t accuse him of being anything more than a pitiful but innocent figure. Even the Jews had no real case. Technically, the Jewish law did not demand the execution of someone claiming to be the Son of God; but of course the authorities pretended otherwise, simply because they needed an excuse to kill a man they despised. Plus, calling yourself the Son of God is obviously no blasphemy at all, if you are in fact the Son of God. Jesus was fully innocent. And yet in history’s cruelest twist of irony, the only truly innocent man ever suffered on behalf of all the guilty.
This is what Isaiah prophesied about Jesus: “He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.” Praise the Lord Jesus Christ for his suffering and wounds that have brought us healing and peace.
