Luke 22:63-65 “Now the men who were holding Jesus in custody were mocking him as they beat him. They also blindfolded him and kept asking him, ‘Prophecy! Who is it that struck you?’ And they said many other things against him, blaspheming him.”

Matt 27:27-30 “Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. They stripped him and put a purple robe on him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand and knelt in front of him and mocked him. “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said. They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again.”

Jesus suffered more than just physical pain at the hands of the Roman and Jewish leaders. His ego (which we know he had because he was human as we are) and character were attacked viciously by the humiliating events of his ‘trials’. Twice he would be mocked, spit on, and insulted. He would have the whiskers of his beard pulled out. He would be dressed in purple, the color of royalty, then given a crown of thorns to make him appear ridiculous. Have you ever been embarrassed? How did it make you feel? Was it a private embarrassment or done in public for all to see? Jesus knew we would suffer embarrassment. He knew we would be slandered, lied about, mocked and ridiculed. He knew we would face injustice. He took the pain of our shame by going through it too. He suffered every degrading thing so that when we cry out to him in our own humiliation he can respond “I understand, my dear one” and we will know that it’s true. Jesus bore more than just the external swelling, bleeding and sting of physical blows. He took on the unseen pain of our psyche.

Prayer: O’ Lord, you knew. You knew that there would be times when I would suffer at the hands of my fellow man. Not just physical abuse but abuse of my character, my personality, my self. You knew and you made yourself accessible by willingly going through it yourself. Remind me, Lord, that when my self esteem, my self image is under attack, that through your strength I can endure it as you did - knowing it is not what others think or say about me that matters, but what you think and say - in your name I ask -Amen.”