The Scourged and Mocked King (Matthew 27:26-31).Thursday April 9, 2026
Main idea: The King who was scourged and mocked for us invites us to bow to Him every day, even when the world still mocks His sacrificial love.
Intro:
The King of the universe was brutalized and ridiculed. It was something that could have killed Him and it was also something that He could have stopped at any time. His scourging was a barrier to His mission – to get to the cross.
Mat 27:26-31 Then he released Barabbas for them; but after having Jesus scourged, he handed Him over to be crucified.
27 Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole Roman cohort around Him. 28 They stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him. 29 And after twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand; and they knelt down before Him and mocked Him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!" 30 They spat on Him, and took the reed and began to beat Him on the head. 31 After they had mocked Him, they took the scarlet robe off Him and put His own garments back on Him, and led Him away to crucify Him.
Point 1: The Scourging – The King Endured the Barrier of Roman Scourging Out of Love
I call the scourging a barrier, perhaps the greatest barrier, because it stood between Him and the cross that He had to get to. He must not die or stop it.
Standard Roman procedure before crucifixion; Pilate hoped it might satisfy the crowd (Luk 23:16, 22; Joh 19:1-6).
Jesus predicted it (Mat 20:18–19).
The Gospels mention it briefly (see also Mar 15:15 and Joh 19:1) because their first readers were very familiar with how horrific it was; they didn't need a long description.
The Greek word in Matthew 27:26 is phragelloo, which referred to a specific instrument of torture: the flagrum (or flagellum in Latin).
There was intense pain and humiliation beyond what anyone could bear, yet somehow Jesus did.
It was the Father’s will for Him to pass through all to get to the cross where He would then be forsaken and judged. He somehow kept His eyes on the goal of the cross while going through this mental and physical hell. This is the love of your Savior.
Isa 53:3-8 He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
4 Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. 6 All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.
7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth. 8 By oppression and judgment He was taken away; And as for His generation, who considered That He was cut off out of the land of the living For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due?
For Jesus specifically, the scourging left him so weakened that he was unable to carry the full weight of his crossbeam all the way to Golgotha (see Mat 27:32—Simon of Cyrene was forced to help).
This was the costly love of the King who refused to save Himself so He could save us. That is true kingliness.
Having survived the scourging, the soldiers didn’t stop there. They turned the King’s suffering into their entertainment.”
Point 2: The Mocking – The World Ridiculed the King They Refused to Bow To
Soldiers gathered the cohort [up to 600 men], stripped Him again, put on a scarlet robe, crown of thorns, reed as scepter.
They knelt, shouted “Hail, King of the Jews!” (parodying “Hail, Caesar!”), spat, and beat Him.
This was mock homage to the very claim that got Him condemned.
Mock homage to “King of the Jews.”
Pilate mocked it - “Are You king of the Jews.” (will put the sign above His head) Mat 27:11; Mat 27:37.
People mocked it - “We have no king but Caesar.” (more from them at the crucifixion) Mat 27:22.
Sanhedrin said His claim as King (“you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power”) as blasphemy, Mat 26:65.
Now the soldiers (Mat 27:29).
No one can be neutral concerning Christ (Mat 12:30).
Now, some people will sacrifice for others. Only Christ will give His life for millions of enemies.
Rom 5:7-8 For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Christ endured the Roman scourging so He could save millions, or billions of enemies. For this He is the King and for that kind of kingship, He was mocked by all.
The world scoffed at a humble, righteous, loving King.
Point 3 / Application: Our Daily Choice – Will We Bow When Others Mock?
Now, think of your opportunity. You can, right now in your life, bow down to the true King, the Lord Jesus, and when you are mocked, or He is rather, you can still bow to Him.
In every moment of your day, you can bow to the King like the world has failed to do.
Every day we have the same opportunity the soldiers had, the people had, the Sanhedrin had, and Pilate had: bow to the true King. And even better if we are mocked for doing so. |