Scourged & Crowned with Thorns
John 19.1-3:
Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. They came up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and struck him with their hands.
Isaiah 53.3-6:
He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And, as one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned – everyone – to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
The pain and suffering from both the scourging and viciously improvised crown of thorns would have been excruciating beyond description. The thorns would have been one to three inches in length – and razor sharp. This Roman scourging was so severe that many other criminals subjected to a similar fate didn’t even survive the process to be eventually executed by the sentence of crucifixion.
Even so, the healing that is referred to in this Isaiah passage is primarily a spiritual healing – or healing from sin. Pardon of sin and restoration to the favor of God that we find in the pages of the Bible are frequently represented as an act of healing.
Over five hundred years before Mary gave birth to Jesus, the prophet Isaiah also prophesied that Jesus would be wounded for our transgressions, that He would be bruised for our inequities, and that by His suffering we would be healed.