Collected or prepared by Rev. Wilfred Chung

The Chastisement For Our Peace

Meditation on Mark 15

Mark continued to describe the horrible suffering of Jesus in this chapter. He was betrayed, arrested and now bounded to face the trial in front of Pilate, the Roman governor. Even though Pilate found Jesus innocent, the crowd was stirred up by the religious leaders to condemn Jesus. They preferred to release a violent criminal, Barabbas in stead of Jesus when the Governor offered them a choice. They yelled out to have Jesus crucified.

Then Jesus was first scourged by the Romans soldiers. If you have a chance to see the DVD, "The Passion of Christ", you will see the bloody and most terrible condition of whipping. As the blow continued, they cut into the subcutaneous tissues, the veins and the arteries. The skins were torn into unrecognizable pieces. Some victims would have died. The pain was certainly excruciating and unbearable.

Then the whole garrison of Roman soldiers came together to mock Jesus with cruelty. They clothed him with a purple (royal color) robe and twisted a crown of thorns to force it on his head. They struck him and spat on Him and hailed him as king in jest. Then they took the robe off him which would cost tremendous pain because of his bloody body. Then they nailed his hands and feet on a wooden cross. When the cross was raised up, the body weight of Jesus would cost tearing on his flesh. Jesus was crucified as a shameful criminal between two other criminals.

The soldiers cast lot to see who would take the garment of Jesus probably it was a very nicely knitted garment by Jesus' own mother. The crowd continued to mock and blasphemed him. Jesus hanged on the cross from 9 AM to 3 PM. Before he died, he cried, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?" (v. 34 NKJV)

The Scriptures tell us that Jesus was wounded for our transgression. He was bruised for our iniquities. Why did he have to suffer so much? It was because He bore our sins and the punishment of our sins. Sins would cause us to have sorrow, griefs and wounds in our souls. Not only He died for us to take away our penalty of eternal death, Isaiah said that "Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; ...The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed." (Isaiah 53:4-5) Yes, He even took away our guilt and gives us peace in our hearts because we are reconciled with God and with men too. We can be spiritually healed!

Have you accepted Jesus' death and suffering on you behalf yet? If not, tell Him now and thank Him.

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