Now the men who held Jesus mocked Him and beat Him. And 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. (Luke 22:63-65)

Jesus Did Not React

The deeper a person goes into the character and life of Jesus of Nazareth, the more incredible the stamina, reserve, and divine purpose that is found in how the Son of God obeyed the Father’s will. It is clear no man can understand the magnitude of what it would be like to command all nature and refuse to use it for reprisal. Nothing within the wisdom of man can describe the power available at the command of Jesus to call twelve legions of angels with only a word and yet He never seeks divine relief. The abuse meted out to the human frame of Jesus would destroy the temperament of the strongest of men but Jesus held His peace to carry out the eternal purpose of His Father. And all of what Jesus did and did not do centered upon the salvation of those who were inflicting the pain upon Him.

Enduring crucifixion was incredible and unimaginable torture invented by wicked hearts desiring to make a man suffer at the limits of tolerance. There are few things men have done to their fellow man that rivals the intensity of being nailed to a cross. Forgotten in the story of the crucifixion of Jesus is what happened before He was taken to Golgotha. The events leading up to His crucifixion were almost more horrendous than the final act.  What the soldiers did to Jesus before the scourging and final execution is heightened by the knowledge of whom they were performing their sadistic rituals.

Roman soldiers were the elite warriors of their day and they knew well how to destroy the spirit of a man. They took great delight in watching a man dissolve into a trembling and cowardly shell of a man as they beat him, mocked him, and treated him with great pleasure of ridicule. Many of their victims had fallen early to the brutal carnage of their abuse. They were experts at their trade. But everything changed the day Jesus of Nazareth appeared. As the man of Galilee was brought before them, they placed a cloth around His head to blindfold him. Screaming abuse and cursing at the man, they hurled insults and threats toward him. Foul language spewed from the lips as they mocked Jesus, laughing at their sport to this weakened man standing before them. They began to physically assault the man prodding him with their weapons, slapping Jesus in the face with their hands and punching their victim all over the body. Mocking Him they demanded He tell them who struck Him. Laughter filled the hall as their victim stood silently taking all of the abuse and doing nothing. Drunken soldiers screamed at Jesus, spitting on Him, beating Him and mocking Him. And Jesus did nothing.

Jesus did not react and thank God for that. The man who could calm a Galilean storm with only a word said nothing. He had the power to raise the dead and yet He stood silent to accept His own death. Thousands of tortured souls felt the healing power of His hand to take away their pain but Jesus felt every blow of the soldiers. All of heaven watched as the Son of God was mocked, beaten, blindfolded, and blasphemously spoken against, and to their wonder did absolutely nothing. Thank God.

There is no comparison to what we endure in life to how Jesus faced His greatest hour. Within His grasp was the power of all heaven and He did nothing. He knew His death was the purpose of the Father and He learned obedience by the things that He suffered – and how Jesus suffered! Jesus left an example of how to face trials and difficulties of life. He did not react when He could have because it was not the Father’s will. Jesus placed His life in the care of the will of God and never swerved from that course. There is nothing in the life of any man that will compare with where Jesus found Himself the day He sacrificed His life for the redemption of humanity. His life modeled the will of God. Can I do any less? How a man reacts says a lot about the kind of man he is. Thank God Jesus was a man who trusted in the love of His Father and did not call even one angel to destroy the world. We have eternal life because Jesus did not react to the temptation of revenge. It goes without saying again – thank God.