The mocking of Jesus occurred several times, after his

trial In law, a trial is a coming together of parties to a dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court. The tribunal ...

and before his

crucifixion Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the victim is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross or beam and left to hang until eventual death from exhaustion and asphyxiation. It was used as a punishment by the Persians, Carthagi ...

according to the canonical gospels of the New Testament. It is considered part of Jesus' passion. According to the gospel narratives,

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religiou ...

had predicted that he would be mocked (Matthew 20:19, Mark 10:34, and Luke 18:32). The mocking of Christ took place in three stages: immediately following his trial, immediately following his condemnation by

Pontius Pilate Pontius Pilate (; grc-gre, Πόντιος Πιλᾶτος, ) was the fifth governor of the Roman province of Judaea, serving under Emperor Tiberius from 26/27 to 36/37 AD. He is best known for being the official who presided over the trial of ...

, and when he was being crucified. The New Testament narratives of Jesus being mocked are filled with irony, while the mockery focuses on Jesus' prophetic and kingly roles.

First stage

After Jesus' condemnation by the Sanhedrin, (Mark 14:65). He was blindfolded and beaten, and then mocked: "Prophesy! Who hit you?" (Luke 22:63). This was done by those men who "held Jesus" (Luke 22:63,

King James Version The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an Bible translations into English, English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and publis ...

). The New International Version translates this as "the men who were guarding Jesus", but Joel B. Green takes the phrase to refer to the "Chief priests, the officers of the temple police, and the elders" mentioned in verse 52. Green suggests that Jesus suffers the mockery that is typical of prophets, and that his suffering suggests his "solidarity with God's agents who speak on God's behalf and are rejected." Joel B. Green,
The Gospel of Luke
' (1997), p. 789. Susan R. Garrett sees Mark's inclusion of the mockery as an example of irony, since Jesus is indeed a

prophet In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the s ...

, at the very moment his prophecy that Peter would deny him was being fulfilled. The prophetic assignment is not always portrayed as positive in the Bible,Isaiah (Commentary),

John Goldingay John Edgar Goldingay (born 20 June 1942 in Birmingham, United Kingdom) is a British Old Testament scholar and translator and Anglican cleric. He is the David Allan Hubbard Professor Emeritus of Old Testament in the School of Theology of Fuller T ...

, Hendrickson, 2001 and prophets were often the target of persecution and opposition.’’Jeremiah (Prophet)’’, The Anchor Bible Dictionary Volume 3, Doubleday, 1992

Second stage

After his condemnation by

, Jesus was

flogged Flagellation (Latin , 'whip'), flogging or whipping is the act of beating the human body with special implements such as whips, Birching, rods, Switch (rod), switches, the cat o' nine tails, the sjambok, the knout, etc. Typically, flogging ...

and mocked by

Roman soldiers This is a list of Roman army units and bureaucrats. *'' Accensus'' – Light infantry men in the armies of the early Roman Republic, made up of the poorest men of the army. *'' Actuarius'' – A military who served food. *''Adiutor'' – A camp o ...

. They clothed him with a "purple" () or "scarlet" () robe symbolizing a royal gown since purple was a royal color, put a

crown of thorns According to the New Testament, a woven crown of thorns ( or grc, ἀκάνθινος στέφανος, akanthinos stephanos, label=none) was placed on the head of Jesus during the events leading up to his crucifixion. It was one of the in ...

on his head symbolizing a royal crown, and put a staff in his hand symbolizing a scepter. They knelt before him and said, "Hail, king of the Jews!" (). This was done as a mockery of Jesus' kingship. After this, they spat on him, and struck him on the head with the staff repeatedly.

Peter Leithart Peter James Leithart (born 1959) is an American author, minister, and theologian, who serves as president of Theopolis Institute for Biblical, Liturgical, & Cultural Studies in Birmingham, Alabama. He previously served as Senior Fellow of Theology ...

notes that at the end of the scene, the soldiers "reverse the whole coronation with an anti-coronation. They spit in contempt instead of kneeling in reverence, pull the scepter from Jesus’ hand and beat His crowned head with it, strip off the scarlet robe and replace it with Jesus’ own robe." Leithart goes on to suggest that, at this point, the Romans "remove the veil of irony and reveal what they really think" about the Jews and their God.

God is Mocked
Credenda/Agenda. The crowning/de-crowning of a mock king is what

Mikhail Bakhtin Mikhail Mikhailovich Bakhtin ( ; rus, Михаи́л Миха́йлович Бахти́н, , mʲɪxɐˈil mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪdʑ bɐxˈtʲin; – 7 March 1975) was a Russian philosopher, literary critic and scholar who worked on literary theor ...

calls the " carnivalesque." Carnivalesque expresses “life drawn out of its usual rut” and “the reverse side of the world (''monde à l’envers'')" in which normally suppressed voices of the culture mock everyday social hierarchies and the voices of the status quo. Robert J. Miller suggests that the gospel account is deeply

ironic Irony (), in its broadest sense, is the juxtaposition of what on the surface appears to be the case and what is actually the case or to be expected; it is an important rhetorical device and literary technique. Irony can be categorized into ...

since Jesus is exercising his kingship through submission and suffering: "the Roman legionnaires have unwittingly furthered God's secret purposes by dressing Jesus up as a king." In fact, the irony operates on two levels. Luke 23:11 also mentions that " Herod and his soldiers ridiculed and mocked him" (

New Revised Standard Version The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) is an English translation of the Bible published in 1989 by the National Council of Churches. Jesus was also mocked while he was on the cross. According to Mark 15:29-30, this was done by those who passed by and hurled insults at him and told him to come down from the cross. Mark 15:31-32 points out that "the chief priests and the teachers of the law" also mocked him among themselves, saying: "He saved others, but he can’t save himself! Let this Messiah, this king of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe." Finally, those crucified with Jesus also heaped insults at him (Mark 15:32). Luke 23:36-37 mentions mocking by Roman soldiers: "The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, and saying, 'If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!'" (

New Revised Standard Version The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) is an English translation of the Bible published in 1989 by the National Council of Churches. Timothy C. Gray notes that in the Gospel of Mark, the mocking of Jesus on the cross "takes up the two charges leveled against Jesus at his trial": firstly, that Jesus "threatened the temple with destruction" (14:58 and 15:29); secondly, that Jesus "claimed to be the Messiah" (14:61-62 and 15:31-32).

Theological significance

argues that in the person of Jesus, God himself was mocked. He suggests that "for Matthew, the cross is mainly about man’s mockery of God," and notes that while Paul says in

Galatians Galatians may refer to: * Galatians (people) * Epistle to the Galatians, a book of the New Testament * English translation of the Greek ''Galatai'' or Latin ''Galatae'', ''Galli,'' or ''Gallograeci'' to refer to either the Galatians or the Gauls in ...

6:7 that "God is not mocked", this is precisely because God ''has'' been mocked. Many Christians see Jesus' suffering as being redemptive. Francis Foulkes argues that the emphasis in the New Testament is on Jesus' suffering and death being "for us". In this way, some Christians see the mockery that Jesus endured as being borne on their behalf. For example,

Philip Bliss Philip Paul Bliss (9 July 1838 – 29 December 1876) was an American composer, conductor, writer of hymns and a bass-baritone Gospel singer. He wrote many well-known hymns, including "Hold the Fort" (1870), "Almost Persuaded" (1871); "Hallelujah, ...

wrote in his hymn, "Hallelujah! What a Savior":

Bearing shame and scoffing rude, In my place condemned He stood; Sealed my pardon with His blood. Hallelujah! What a Savior!

The mockery of Jesus is also seen by many Christians in the servant songs, such as in Isaiah 50:6 where

I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting.

Which is in remarkable contrast with the forward looking following verse, Isaiah 50:7

Because the Sovereign Lord helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore have I set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame.

The scene when Jesus was mocked while he was on the cross, is also a manifestation of the mercy of God through Jesus, who himself is mocked, humiliated and in pain. Two men were crucified at the same time as Jesus, one on his right hand and one on his left (, , , ), which

Mark Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * F ...

interprets as fulfillment of the

prophecy In religion, a prophecy is a message that has been communicated to a person (typically called a '' prophet'') by a supernatural entity. Prophecies are a feature of many cultures and belief systems and usually contain divine will or law, or pr ...

Isaiah Isaiah ( or ; he, , ''Yəšaʿyāhū'', "God is Salvation"), also known as Isaias, was the 8th-century BC Israelite prophet after whom the Book of Isaiah is named. Within the text of the Book of Isaiah, Isaiah himself is referred to as "the ...

. According to Matthew and Mark, respectively, both of the "thieves" mocked Jesus (, ); Luke however, mentions that:

³⁹ Now one of the criminals hanging there reviled Jesus, saying, "Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us." ⁴⁰ The other, however, rebuking him, said in reply, "Have you no fear of God, for you are subject to the same condemnation? ⁴¹ And indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal." ⁴² Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." ⁴³ He replied to him, "Amen I say to you today you will be with me in Paradise."

Jesus promised to this thief that he will be with him in the Paradise, right in front of those who were mocking him. God saves through Jesus, because God is full of mercy, a mercy revealed through Jesus Christ, who says to a thief: "Today you will be with me in Paradise."

First stage

Second stage

Theological significance

See also

References

Bibliography

External links