“Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him.” – John 19:1
There is enormous suffering packed into this short sentence! Roman flogging used a whip tipped with bits of sharpened metal or bone. Flogging could often be fatal in itself because of the pain and blood loss. Jesus, the eternal Son of God, submitted to that terrible whipping which shredded His skin and poured out His blood. The One Who has always held the universe together was stripped and flogged on the orders of a cowardly Roman bureaucrat who couldn’t care less.
It’s terrible to contemplate – the creation flogging its Creator! Inflicting pain for the sake of pain upon our loving Good Shepherd. Jesus permitted this to happen. He didn’t stop it, shorten it, or avoid it though He could have with a single thought. Jesus submitted to this as He submitted to every element of His betrayal, humiliation, suffering, and death. Jesus suffered to take our sins upon Himself. He suffered to take the suffering we deserve upon Himself.
As you contemplate the torn and bleeding back of Jesus, remember that He endured that for you. His love for God and for you led Him there to be whipped. Your sins made it happen. In a very real sense, each of us “took Jesus and flogged him” and He permitted and endured it because He loves us. #FollowJesus