Mark 15:17-20
The
world gets messy sometimes. This includes our lives. Sometimes we are the ones
who have made the mess. Sometimes the mess gets made by someone else but we end
up at the bottom of their mess. Either way, someone has to clean it up.
My
children have trained their children to always clean up their toys. “Clean up,
clean up, everybody, everywhere.” They give them a time warning like “five
minutes” and then when the time arrives, the kids clean up. I wish we had been
that cleaver when our kids were young. They know that before they do the next
thing, the current thing must be completed. Cleaning up is part of the
activity.
One
of the things many people like about eating out at a restaurant is that you
don’t have to deal with any of the mess. No prep mess, not cooking mess, no dishes
at the end. You don’t even have to wipe the table or sweep the floor. You just
get up, pay and walk out. The mess is all taken care of by others.
Some
business people specialize in cleaning up other people’s messes. They clean
fire and water damaged properties. They consult with failing businesses and get
them back on their feet. They tie up all the loose ends when a bankruptcy has
taken place. Merry Maids comes into your house and does the dusting you don’t
want to do. The TV show Hoarders
shows people trying to clean up really messy lives, and they try to clean the
house as well.
Jesus
has been sentenced to death without any evidence. The crowd was incited by the
religious leaders to demand that Pilate release a known criminal and crucify
Jesus. The sentence has been declared and now the soldiers have taken over.
We
don’t know if the activity of mocking and beating was an authorized activity,
or whether the soldiers were just having a little fun of their own. We do know
that Jesus exits their company so weak that He can’t carry His own cross. There
would have been some blood spilled through this process. So as the soldiers are
finishing, they clean up.
They
take of the purple robe they dressed Him in, purple being a royal color. It was
expensive to produce. It might have been a costume that got passed from
prisoner to prisoner. I can’t imagine any of the soldiers just having a robe
like this lying around at work. They would not have worn a robe like this, not
in the palace! I am sure the other soldiers would have made fun of anyone,
including one of their own, wearing such an expensive robe.
Once
Jesus is back in His own simple clothes, He is out the door and on His final
journey to the Cross. The last private gestures before His crucifixion were
worship and honors, both done in a mocking fashion, but the only actions
fitting Jesus. Jesus deserved the royal robe and the “Hail, king of the Jews!”
They were in line with who He really is.
And
as a example of the best leader, He then offers Himself for the people on the
Cross. He sets aside what would be best for Him, and takes on what is best for
us.