But He Took It
Matthew 26:67-68 NKJV
67 Then they spat in His face and beat Him; and others struck Him with the palms of their hands, 68 saying, “Prophesy to us, Christ! Who is the one who struck You?”
Jesus allowed Himself to be arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane. He told Peter to put his sword away. Jesus said He could pray to His Father, and the Father would provide for Him more than twelve legions of angels. Considering that a full Roman Legion consisted of between 5,200 and 5,500 men, we are talking between 62,000 and 66,000 angels. Or even more. More than enough to wipe out a mob of Israelites. But He took it.
And then, when Jesus was arrested and brought before the Sanhedrin, they set up false witnesses who lied about Him. And He did not answer. He did not defend Himself. They blatantly lied. But He took it.
If that wasn’t enough, then they blindfolded Him and began to spit in his face. It always causes a major uproar in the sports world when some athlete spits on another athlete. The indignation is loud and unanimous. To be spit upon is extremely degrading. But He took it.
And then they hit Him. Some beat Him with their hands. Some slapped Him, but most translations have a footnote that the actual wording is they beat Him with rods. In any event, Jesus stood before them defenseless, blindfolded so that He couldn’t even brace Himself when a blow was coming. But He never called for the angels and never said a word. Even when they would hit Him and then mock Him, saying prophecy Christ, who hit you? Yes, the abuse was not lethal, but can you imagine how angry you would be if that was done to you? But Jesus stayed silent. Jesus never cowered. He took it.
Application
In 2 Peter 1:5-8, Peter spells out what Christ-like character is. He lists things such as virtue, or moral excellence, knowledge, perseverance, godliness, and love. Peter also mentions self-control. To stay as controlled as Jesus did was not because He was operating as God. He was operating as a man. And the self-control He exercised on His way to the cross is a marvelous example for us. Jesus did not react. He responded, and His response was controlled. We may think that self-control is the way to stay out of sin, and that is correct. But even more, exercising self-control is acting like our Lord.
He took it for us. Now we can endure people talking about us or hurting us with their comments and posts. They may not be slapping us physically, but verbal attacks are just as painful. He took it for us; now we take it, blessing instead of cursing, not threatening when we suffer, but committing ourselves to the One who understands.
Prayer
Thank You, Lord, for taking it for me. Taking my sin and sickness. Taking my sorrow and oppression. Taking the curse, that I might be blessed. Whatever I take because of Your name is small by comparison to what You took for me.