Knowing The Word in Matthew 27:27-31

Jesus Is Mocked

27 Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor's headquarters, and they gathered the whole battalion [a mock honor guard] before him. [These soldiers were not Roman legionaries but Gentile from the surrounding areas who would love to get their sadistic hands on a “Jewish King.”] 28 And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe [a soldier’s red cape that parodies the emperor’s purple robe] on him, 29 and twisting together a crown of thorns [a royal crown], they put it on his head and put a reed [a royal scepter] in his right hand. And kneeling before him [which a Hellenistic ruler required], they mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” [While the scene degenerates into physical abuse, it is one of mockery rather than torture. He has already been severely tortured.] 30 And they spit on him and took the reed and struck him on the head. 31 And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him and led him away to crucify him. [Normally a person was naked when crucified, but perhaps having Jesus in his own clothes was a concession to Jewish sensibilities.]