Soldiers sometimes do silly things. They are, after all, people just like us, and we do silly things sometimes! We think of soldiers being disciplined and regimented, and they are. They train to win wars. The practice what they will do in hundreds of situations until their actions and reactions become almost automatic. Surviving and winning requires a commitment to training and the military is one of the best training organizations.
But one thing the military does not do is train what to do when there is down time, time when they are not fighting, time when they are bored, time when they aren’t training. And these are the times that make the headlines. Those Friday nights near a military installation are known to be times when trouble happens. But so are Friday nights around college campuses! In fact, college campuses have trouble most nights. The military day starts too early in the morning during the week for too much late night activity.
Unfortunately, the Roman soldiers on duty that morning in Jerusalem had too much time on their hands. It seems like they were bored. And their creative, mischievous juices got flowing. They didn’t write great poetry or compose a symphony. They instead engaged in mockery. They were on duty around political leaders and in a city filled with religious pageantry. They had seen how royalty gets treated. Their mischief pallet had been prepared.
And here comes a prisoner who is charged with being a king, a king of the Jews to boot. The Jews were an oppressed people. They were under the thumb of Rome. They had pretensions of power, but lacked the ability to act on their pretensions. And the religious leaders in Jerusalem would have caught the power-to-the-head bug. They had positions that lifted them above their fellow Jews. But they stayed below the Romans!
So the soldiers get into mischief. They pretend Jesus is a king. They clothe Him, and then mock and beat Him. I can almost imagine their laughter as they go through their morning. One idea leads to another. One suggests the mock clothing. Another suggests the crown. Another calls out, “Hail.”
But then it gets out of hand. One of them hits Jesus, then another and another. I’m not sure if softening up Jesus was part of their job before crucifixion or not. Perhaps Rome wanted weak people on the crosses. They didn’t want someone with strength to be defiant hanging in public view making statements, inciting the crowd. So weakening a condemned prisoner might be part of standard operating procedure.
In one way it was merciful. Being weaker would mean that you spent less time hanging on the cross in agony. And less time was what most people want when facing an agonizing dying process.
The Arnold Journey 