Listen

Then Pilate had Jesus taken and whipped. The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and dressed him in a purple robe. Over and over they went up to him and said, “Greetings, king of the Jews!” And they slapped him in the face.

When the chief priests and their deputies saw him, they shouted out, “Crucify, crucify!”

Pilate told them, “You take him and crucify him. I don’t find any grounds for a charge against him.”

The Jewish leaders replied, “We have a Law, and according to this Law he ought to die because he made himself out to be God’s Son.”

Then Pilate handed Jesus over to be crucified.

The soldiers took Jesus prisoner. Carrying his cross by himself, he went out to a place called Skull Place (in Aramaic, Golgotha). That’s where they crucified him—and two others with him, one on each side and Jesus in the middle.

John 19:1-3, 6-7, 16b-18

Think

I heard the loud laughter on the ball field in the distance and my initial reaction was to smile at the campers who were having such a good time. However, when I arrived the laughter was not about fun, at least for one camper. He was being teased by a group of campers. Robert had slipped in the mud while playing kickball and his peers were all teasing him that he looked like he had an accident.

Sometimes we can be so mean to each other. Sometimes it’s intentional and other times it is insensitivity. The harshest is when it becomes a “mob mentality” where people join in only because the rest of the crowd is doing it.

I often wonder about those soldiers and others who were taunting and abusing Jesus before they crucified him. Had they really thought through their actions or where they just going with the crowd? May we take time to think through our actions instead of joining with the crowd in hurting others.

Brian Prior

Question to Ponder:

When was a time you went with the crowd on something that you later regretted?

Pray

Thank you, God, for those in my life who have had the strength and courage to stand up to others.

Amen.

Go

Breathe in all that is behind you, all before you…

Begin your next steps of following Jesus on the journey to the cross.