Relatively few people have been inside the Pentagon, and even then their access is limited to a few public areas. Much of the Pentagon has restricted access. You can’t enter without ID, key card, access code, or some other technologies I don’t know about! You can’t just walk around and go where you want to go. And some places only a handful of people have access at a time.
This is true of many military facilities. Only people with the right clearance and the need for access get in. Even places that aren’t particularly secret are not open to unfettered access. This is one of the realities of military life.
Those who serve in the military are the true “One Percent.” It is not the rich who fit this category, but the 1% of us who served our country in uniform. We were willing to lay down our lives for the rest. We are the true minority population.
Military life has always had its restrictions. Every military force that was successful at carrying out its mission had rules of conduct. They exercised discipline within their ranks. Access to their leaders was restricted. If they maintained any headquarters or barracks, access to those areas was limited to those who belonged there, or perhaps invited guests.
Jesus becomes an invited guest that early morning. He is invited into the Roman soldier’s domain. I am sure very few Jews had ever entered the Praetorium. It was the part of Herod’s palace there in Jerusalem. It was a very secure place. After all the highest Roman official had his residence there. And Jesus gets a guided tour of the soldier’s gathering place.
Not only does Jesus get a tour of the soldier’s area, but the few soldiers who escort Him call all the other soldiers together, probably about a hundred or so. So Jesus gets to know, at least see some of Rome’s most trusted guardians. And He gets to see them on their turf.
Every unit of soldiers has its own traditions and activities that help bind them together, build their esprit de corps. They have songs, chants, symbols, slogans, initiation rites, flags, banners, and unique histories. I’m not sure if this unit of Roman soldiers had developed a ritual that became part of their common practice or not. But it would be unusual for them to not have developed some.
Some of these traditions are closer to hazing than the military would like to admit. Sometimes they involve harsh treatment, deprivation, and humiliation. Only the select get to participate, because only the select become part of the unit.
Could it be that one of the rituals connected to this unit of soldiers there in Jerusalem, a place where Rome often had rebellious uprisings, was to mock Jews who were found guilty of a capital crime? They bring them in, make fun of them, rough them up a little, and then carry out their sentence of death. It could have been something that bound them together. It was used to initiate the newest member of the unit. They had to participate in order to be accepted.
Soldiers do silly things sometimes. Sometimes those silly things are outside the bounds of what is accepted. We have seen glimpses of it in the news. The military, like many other exclusive organizations, has its faults. But, the military remains one of the most respected institutions in this country. May it always live up to those expectations.
The Arnold Journey 