We're continuing to read through the Gospel of John. Today's reading is John 19:1-24.
The limitation of generality. Jesus was flogged. What does that mean? What happens during a flogging? (In his commentary, The Gospel of John, Robert E. Tourville reminds us that the Romans, not the Jews, did the flogging. The Romans were not subject to the rule of 39 maximum lashes. That was the Jewish rule.) The Romans put a crown of thorns on Jesus' head. What . . . they gently placed it there as a mere decorative ornament? They sledged it into His skull!
The limitation of familiarity. We've read this account, or a similar one in the Synoptics, so often that our heads knod in agreement but our hearts might be unmoved. Oh that we could read it and hear it as if it were our first time! Familiarity with the content might limit its impact.
The limitation of the senses. Sight, smell, hearing, touch and taste are the ways we ingest and process information. What did the flogging look like? What were the sounds Jesus uttered and how would you deswcribe them? Can you picture Jesus' matted hair and beard? When the soldiers beat the thorns into His head, all that blood went somewhere. No doubt, some blood and sweat also got into Jesus' mouth. How did that taste? Perhaps someone nearby vomited at the spectacle. What a smell! No doubt Jesus' raw, exposed muscles were twitching violently.
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