March 1, 2026 -Extremes
- brooks16055
- Mar 1
- 2 min read
Mark 15:17, 19-20 NIV
[17] They put a purple robe on him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him.
[19] Again and again they struck him on the head with a staff and spit on him. Falling on their knees, they paid homage to him. [20] And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.
The extreme opposite of worshiping and praising Jesus. They are using the actions and words that might be used to show reverence and honor to mock Jesus. Their actions and words are a distorted representation of how we should honor God. Jesus deserves a crown but not of thorns but the thorns are a true representation of the kind of King He is. The suffering servant king. Kneeling to Him and giving Him a purple robe are appropriate for a king but their hearts and attitudes are mocking. It reminds me of years ago when our former pastor and an elder of the church would read the story of Jesus crucifixion on Munday Thursday. The elder, Larry, would read it with all the attitude and mocking tone. It was so impactful. I wish I could write it in a way that you could hear him saying it. He would read "Haaaiiiil king of the Jeeeews" with such mockery in his voice that you couldn't help but get a glimpse of what it had to have felt like to see them actually doing it. He was very good at painting a picture with his voice. It stresses to me the importance of not just going through the motions of praise and worship. I am not saying that when our hearts are not into it that we are mocking him. No we don't go to that extreme but if this is the worst way and fully surrendered and living what we are believing is the other way, anything else is lukewarm. When we sing a song about His power, strength, mercy, grace etc. but we don't really believe it and live out those truths, we are not actually praising and worshiping Him. When we recite statements of belief, prayers, and listen to preaching we should be doing that from the heart and it should mean something. It should change how we live and how we deal with life. We should express our praise for Jesus to the opposite extreme of what Roman guard expressed their contempt.
For us to live like that there are things in our life that must die.
in my ONE group the last couple of weeks we’ve been going over this part of the Bible the accusations and the walk of Jesus and taking each character and diving in and asking applicable questions discussing situations.
Pilot washes his hands think of all of the Christians, who are lukewarm and the danger in neutrality.
Jesus is silence. He did not defend himself he simply’ you have said so’ . His calm response shows trust in the father rather than public approval. Sometimes silence is strength.
Simon if Cyrene, just an average person out for a walk, coming to town to pick up supplies and he has asked to do something for God hesitant at first, forced to d…