Jesus is Beaten

Today's Three-minute Bible Study
Print, Study and Apply

Title: Jesus is Beaten
Keywords: “beating” “passion”
Welcome to eXXit, the web site designed to help you stand strong in the face of sexual temptation.

Passage: Mark 15:16-23*

16. And the soldiers took Him away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium), and they called together the whole [Roman] cohort.

17. And they dressed Him up in purple, and after weaving a crown of thorns, they put it on Him;

18. and they began to acclaim Him, "Hail, King of the Jews!"

19. And they kept beating His head with a reed, and spitting at Him, and kneeling and bowing before Him.

20. And after they had mocked Him, they took the purple off Him, and put His garments on Him. And they led Him out to crucify Him.

21. And they pressed into service a passer-by coming from the country, Simon of Cyrene (the father of Alexander and Rufus), to bear His cross.

22. And they brought Him to the place Golgotha, which is translated, Place of a Skull.

23. And they tried to give Him wine mixed with myrrh; but He did not take it.

Questions

1. When was the last time you felt life was treating you unfairly?

 

2. How does this picture of Jesus being humiliated help you tolerate difficulties in your own life?

 

Practical help

Sometimes the best practical help one can offer is to suggest you quietly reflect on who Jesus is. Look at what he went through and reflect on its significance, not only to your life, but to life in general.

Compare this picture of Jesus going to the cross with the account given by the Old Testament prophet Isaiah about 650 years earlier. See pornography for what it is in light of who God is. Believe me, the process is very cleansing.

Isaiah 53:1-12**

1. Who has believed our message? To whom will the Lord reveal his saving power?
2. My servant grew up in the Lord ’s presence like a tender green shoot, sprouting from a root in dry and sterile ground. There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract us to him.
3. He was despised and rejected — a man of sorrows, acquainted with bitterest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way when he went by. He was despised, and we did not care.
4. Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God for his own sins!
5. But he was wounded and crushed for our sins. He was beaten that we might have peace. He was whipped, and we were healed!
6. All of us have strayed away like sheep. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the guilt and sins of us all.
7. He was oppressed and treated harshly, yet he never said a word. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth.
8. From prison and trial they led him away to his death. But who among the people realized that he was dying for their sins — that he was suffering their punishment?
9. He had done no wrong, and he never deceived anyone. But he was buried like a criminal; he was put in a rich man’s grave.
10. But it was the Lord ’s good plan to crush him and fill him with grief. Yet when his life is made an offering for sin, he will have a multitude of children, many heirs. He will enjoy a long life, and the Lord ’s plan will prosper in his hands.
11. When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish, he will be satisfied. And because of what he has experienced, my righteous servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous, for he will bear all their sins.
12. I will give him the honors of one who is mighty and great, because he exposed himself to death. He was counted among those who were sinners. He bore the sins of many and interceded for sinners.
eXXit homepage
Index of three-minute studies
Copyright 2004 by eXXit
*"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, © Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission."
**"Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, © Copyright 1997. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved."