Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged (scourged, whipped) severely. The soldiers braided a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they clothed him in a purple robe. They came up to him again and again and said, “Hail, king of the Jews!” And they struck him repeatedly in the face. John 19:1-3

One morning while taking communion I pondered the scourging that Jesus’ body received. As the glass and metal in the whip created the first slice on His back, the pain surely would have been beyond anything most minds can imagine. No doubt each successive stripe, delivered atop the flesh left raw from the previous lash, would have been even more unbearable. 

Had either of the thieves that would soon be crucified on either side of  Him thought it would do any good, I’m sure each would have begged for mercy even before the flogging began. And with each successive excruciating sting of the whip their pleas for the torture to stop would have persisted.

Unlike those thieves, Jesus was at no one’s mercy. Though unknown to all but Himself, He had the unique position of actually being the one in control! His fate wasn’t in the hands of Pilate, the soldiers, or the religious leaders who would coerce the crowd into demanding His crucifixion. Jesus, who was fully God, had “become flesh”, which meant that He was also fully man. In the Garden of Gethsemane He exercised His God-given free will, and chose His Father’s will over His own. Matthew 26:39 says, “Going a little farther, (Jesus) threw himself down with his face to the ground and prayed, ‘My Father, if possible, let this cup pass from me! Yet not what I will, but what you will.’” 

Jesus made the choice to be crucified. He made that choice while fully knowing that there were angels that would be dispatched if He cried to His Father for deliverance. Matthew 26:51-54 says, “But one of those with Jesus grabbed his sword, drew it out, and struck the high priest’s slave, cutting off his ear. Then Jesus said to him, ‘Put your sword back in its place! …Or do you think that I cannot call on my Father, and that he would send me more than twelve legions of angels right now? How then would the scriptures that say it must happen this way be fulfilled?”’

Whether during His flogging or while hanging on the cross, had Jesus  cried “Enough!” His torture would have ended. Surely throughout those horrible hours, Jesus’ flesh (both figurative and literal) must have been desperate for deliverance. The thought of enduring even one more slash to His exhausted body must have been terrifying. I imagine that between each and every flesh-ripping flail of the whip, Our Savior had opportunity after opportunity to call to His Father for angelic rescue. But He didn’t. Instead Jesus chose again and again to fulfill His Father’s will. He knew what this flogging would bring you and I. Isaiah wrote that the “stripes” created on His back as his flesh was scourged would purchase our healing—body, soul, and spirit. 

Each time the soldier lifted his whip, Jesus chose torture over deliverance until the purpose of His punishment for our sin was complete. The flogging now finished, His torn-to-shreds body was  hung on a cross. The Lamb of God knew that for each of our sicknesses, diseases, anxieties and depressions, healing was being purchased as He watched His blood flow. His purpose in life had been to show us the Father. Now in death, it was that His life’s blood would become the cleansing agent for the filth of our sin, so that we could could enjoy everlasting life with Him. The moment His mission was fulfilled, Jesus said “It is finished” and breathed His last breath.

Three days later, His Father raised Him from the dead and seated Jesus at His right hand. God, who had watched the horror of His guiltless Son’s crucifixion, now bestowed upon Him a reward never before and never after given to anyone either in Heaven or on earth. 

“…(God) raised (Christ) from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet…” Ephesians 1:20-23

Jesus, Isaiah wrote that You were wounded because of our rebellious deeds, You were crushed because of our sins; You endured punishment that made us well; because of Your wounds we have been healed. I am so grateful that You chose to be crucified for me. Your choice for Your Father’s will meant You were whipped beyond recognition for me. Though Your flesh longed for the cup to pass from You, Your love for Your Father compelled You to hang on a cross for me. You never wavered once You’d voiced “Not My will but Yours”.  Thank You for your heart to bring Your Father’s children home. I’m humbled and grateful to be one of them. Oh that I would do as Paul said, and “walk worthy of the calling with which I’ve been called”. Though anything I do in this life for You would never be enough, and though the gratefulness in my heart could never come close to matching the magnitude of what You’ve done for me, I want gratefulness for my redemption to always be the motivation of my life. How I love You Jesus.