Mark 15:16-19: The Scourging and Mocking of Jesus. Mark records how the Roman soldiers physically abused and cruelly mocked Jesus during His civil trial. After they scourge Him, the soldiers dress Him up as a ridiculous king, complete with a robe, a crown of thorns, and a reed for a scepter. They act out a charade of paying homage to "the King of the Jews," beat Him with the "scepter," and spit on Him. This passage is Mark's account of the Roman soldiers' physical and social abuse of Jesus. It occurred within the third phase of Jesus's Civil Trial. This phase is called: "Pilate's Judgment."
In Mark 15:16-19,the Romansoldiers take Jesus intothe Praetorium where they dress Himin a purple robe, place a crown of thorns on His head, and mockingly acclaimHim as the King of the Jews where they repeatedly beat Jesus on the headwith a reed, spit on Him, and kneel and bow before Him as a joke.
After Mark finished his account of Pilate's interaction with the chief priests and the crowd during Jesus's civil trial (Mark 15:1-15), the Gospel writer then presents his account of Jesus's mistreatment at the hands of the Romansoldiers.
According to John's Gospel, at least some of the soldiers' abuse and mockery of Jesus seems to have taken place immediately after He was scourged (John 19:1-3) and before Pilate decided to hand Him over to be crucified (John 19:16).
John's Gospel attests that Pilate presented Jesus to the crowds bloodied from the scourging and "wearing the crown of thorns" (John 19:5) as the governor appealed for His release. Pilate later would interview Jesus a second time (John 19:9-11) and make a final appeal which failed to win over the crowd (John 19:12-16). Pilate handed Jesus over after the chief priests committed blasphemy: "We have no king but Caesar" (John 19:15).
It is possible that at least some of the mockery which Mark describes occurred after Jesus was condemned, but it is likely that the main elements of His abuse by the soldiers occurred during the middle of the third phase of His civil trial, as indicated by John.
Mark concluded his account of Pilate's back and forth with the chief priests and the crowd by summarizing Pilate's major decisions of the third phase of Jesus's civil trial. Pilate:
"released Barabbas for them"
"[Had] Jesus scourged"
"handed [Jesus] over to be crucified" (Mark 15:15)
Then Mark recounts how the soldiers had abused Him. Again, the majority of this abuse seems to have occurred after Jesus was scourged, but before Pilate condemned Him to be crucified. In other words, Mark's account of these things seems to have happened when Pilate punished Jesus (Luke 23:22) and took Him to be scourged (John 19:1). It seems that this scourging was part of Pilate's plan to create sympathy for Jesus so Pilate could release Him.
The commentary for this passage will therefore include an explanation about Jesus's scourging, which was mentioned in the previous verse.
The soldiers took Him away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium), and they called together the whole Roman cohort (v 16).
Throughout Mark 15:16-20, the pronouns--Him and His (v 19)--refer to Jesus.
Mark's description of the soldiers indicates that these were Roman soldiers who were under the direct command of Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea. At this time, the Roman Empire had two major categories of Roman soldiers--auxiliary soldiers and legionaries.
Auxiliary soldiers fought for Rome under the command of local authorities loyal to Rome. Auxiliary soldiers were often composed of foreigners or locals who wanted a way into Roman society. Military service of this nature was their path to citizenship. For instance, thesoldiers of Herod Antipas were probably auxiliary Roman soldiers.
Legionaries were more esteemed and elite Roman soldiers. These soldiers were already full-fledged citizens of Rome, many of whom were descended from ancient Roman or Italian families. They served out of a sense of duty and devotion to their Empire. Legionaries were typically better trained and armed. As proud men of Italian heritage, legionaries were prone to look down on locals, including auxiliary soldiers, but especially local prisoners like Jesus. Thesoldiers of the Roman governor would have been legionaries.
Mark writes that the soldiers took Him away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium). Matthew similarly says that the soldierstook Jesus "into the Praetorium" (Matthew 27:27), and John also indicates that these events occurred there (John 18:28, 19:1, 19:9).
Thepalace or Praetorium was likely thepalace built by Herod the Great--the father of Herod Antipas who tried Jesus earlier that morning. This palace/the Praetorium was built on the western side of the upper city along the city wall. The army barracks for Pilate's soldiers would also have been located in thePraetorium. The probable site of the Praetorium has been located by archeologists near the Jaffa Gate, just inside the current city wall. Its ruins can be visited at the time of this writing (2026).
Mark's parenthetical explanation of the palace--that is, the Praetorium--is consistent with his habit of explaining Jewish or local terms and customs for his Roman and Gentile audience. His Roman readers would have immediately understood what a Praetorium was and the type of place to which Jesus was being taken.
Mark says the whole Roman cohort was called together (v 16).
A Roman cohort during the first century is estimated to have been 480 soldiers. This does not necessarily mean that all 480 soldiers were paraded into the Praetorium for this moment, but rather, the whole Roman cohort that was on duty was called together to witness and/or participate in Jesus's scourging and mockery.
For Mark's Roman audience, this scene may have struck them as being especially ironic. Jesus, the powerful true King, was surrounded by the whole Roman cohort of soldiers, whose culture admired strength, conquest, authority, and pietas--the faithful fulfillment of one's duty. Yet these soldiers, like their governor, along with the Jewish priests, did not recognize Him (John 1:10-11).
Instead of recognizing Jesus for who He truly was, a powerful king, the whole Roman cohort was brought out to abuse and mock Him. They did not see Jesus as a figure of strength who was setting aside His own good in devotion to His Father by fulfilling His mission to redeem the world. In reality, Jesus was demonstrating a greater strength and pietas by faithfully submitting to suffering and fulfilling His mission from God. The soldiers mocked Jesus as a defeated king, but He was the true King willingly serving God and humanity by giving His life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45), and thereby overcoming sin and the curse that entered the world and fell heavy on all men because of Adam (Romans 5:12, 18-19, 1 Corinthians 15:21-22, 54-57, Galatians 3:13,Philippians 2:5-8,Hebrews 12:2).
Before Jesus was taken away into the Praetorium, Mark has already said that Pilate had Him scourged (Mark 15:15).
Matthew, Mark, and John explicitly say that Jesus was scourged (Matthew 27:26; Mark 15:15; John 19:1). Luke's Gospel discretely acknowledges Jesus's flogging when it records Pilate's order: "I will punish Him" (Luke 23:22). However, none of the Gospels describe in detail what it meant for Jesus to be scourged.
Flogging as a Form of Punishment
The likely reason that none of the Gospels go into descriptive detail about the scourging or punishment Jesus received is because it would have been unnecessary. Their readers as subjects or citizens of the Roman Empire would have been horribly familiar with its brutality.
This would have been especially true of Mark's original Roman audience who did not need an explanation of what Roman scourging was or what it did to its victims.
Until modern times, flogging was a common form of punishment throughout the world. The Jews scourged criminals as a type of punishment. The Jewish scourging entailed using a whip with short leather lashes that put stripes on the wicked man's back according to his guilt. Jewish scourging was certainly painful, but never cruel and never deadly. It was always meant to be restorative, never merely punitive.
To ensure that Jewish flogging was not cruel or deadly, Moses strictly directed how this style of scourging was to be carried out:
"if the wicked man deserves to be beaten, the judge shall then make him lie down and be beaten in his presence with the number of stripes according to his guilt. He may beat him forty times but no more, so that he does not beat him with many more stripes than these and your brother is not degraded in your eyes." (Deuteronomy 25:2-3)
The offender was made to "lie down" to ensure that only his back was whipped. And in case the person doing the counting made a mistake, Jewish tradition stopped lashing a wicked man after thirty-nine times as a precaution to guarantee that Moses's limit of "no more than forty times" was not transgressed. The intent behind Moses's command, and the Jewish tradition surrounding it, was to punish the wicked man, but preserve his humanity as a fellow person made in God's image.
But Jesus did not receive a Jewish flogging. He suffered a Roman flogging.
Roman flogging purposefully stripped away a person's humanity along with their flesh. It was deliberately cruel and often deadly. There was no limit to how much a person could be whipped under Roman law--but because it was so harsh, victims likely received fewer than forty lashes if their abusers wanted them alive.
Victims of Roman flogging were bound to a post and the whips they used had long leather lashes which could wrap around a person’s entire body. The victim was usually stripped naked, exposing every bit of their body to the torture--including the groin and face. Attached to the leather lashes were metal beads to tenderize the flesh, as well as sharp pieces of bone, iron, glass, or nails to rip flesh from the body. After only a few lashes, deep wounds were made which profusely poured out blood. After several more lashes, the victim's back, ribs, stomach, chest, legs, and face were a bleeding mess and their figure was barely recognizable as human.
The Scourging of Jesus
Instead of describing the gory details of the flogging, Matthew, Mark, and John all focus on the mockery that Jesus suffered by the Roman soldiers both while and after He was scourged by them (Matthew 27:27-31; Mark 15:16-20; John 19:1-3).
The whole Roman cohort watched the Jewish Messiah be stripped of His clothes and saw Him naked. This would have been deeply degrading.
Jesus was probably out of view of the crowd of Jews waiting outside the Praetorium. In an immense irony they stayed outside so they could avoid being "defiled" (John 18:28). Nevertheless, they were ceremonially unclean for committing murder.
But the scourging was likely within earshot to them. They could probably hear each lash of the whip; the grunts and jeers of the soldiers who were doing the flogging; the cries of Jesus as His flesh was ripped from His body.
This might have been a part of Pilate's plan to conjure sympathy for Jesus so he could let Him go. The entire episode shows the cold and calculating cruelty of Rome. Rome served itself and its own power and privilege.
But Jesus, the Servant of God, did not use His power to serve Himself. He faithfully fulfilled His mission and endured the suffering required to serve His Father and save the world.
Jesus was able to withstand this physical brutality because He trusted the LORD absolutely:
"For the Lord GOD helps Me, Therefore, I am not disgraced." (Isaiah 50:7a)
Jesus did not fear those who could destroy His body, yet could not harm His soul:
"Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul." (Matthew 10:28a)
Jesus was able to withstand this excruciating torment because He had spent the night praying with His Father--that He might not enter into temptation (Luke 22:40)--seeking His Father's will so that He would be able to accomplish His Father's plan and not His own desires (Luke 22:42).
At any moment during this severe torture, Jesus could have summoned "more than twelve legions of angels" to rescue Him (Matthew 26:53). But He did not choose to be saved from death. Jesus chose to obediently follow His Father's plan to save the world through His suffering and death (Philippians 2:6-8).
The aftermath of the Roman scourging--where Jesus hardly looked human--was likely what Isaiah meant when he prophesied of the Messiah:
"So His appearance was marred more than any man And His form more than the sons of men." (Isaiah 52:14)
Isaiah also prophesied of the Messiah:
"I gave My back to those who strike Me." (Isaiah 50:6a)
"The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed." (Isaiah 53:5b)
Pilate's order to have Jesus, the Messiah, scourged (John 19:1), was in fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecies seven centuries earlier. Other translations of Isaiah 53:5 say "by His stripes we are healed" to visually describe how the lash of a flogging leaves bloody stripes all over the victim's body.
Jesus also alluded to the terrible punishment He would undergo during His Seder celebration of the Passover with His disciples the evening before:
"And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, 'This is My body which is given for you.'" (Luke 22:19)
With this expression from His Passover Seder meal, Jesus claimed that the unleavened bread, called "Matzah," represented His broken body. Matzah bread must be made according to tradition, "pierced and striped" in order to prevent it from being puffed with leaven.
[PICTURE OF MATZAH]
Because Matzah is made without leaven it is an image of sinlessness, like Jesus, because leaven represents sin and pride in the Bible and in Jewish culture. Deuteronomy, looking back to Israel's suffering in Egypt and looking forward to the Messiah being broken by the scourge, refers to Matzah as "the bread of affliction" (Deuteronomy 16:3).
Jesus not only alluded to His chastisement under the Roman scourge, He explicitly predicted it.
Mark records one of these predictions:
"Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death and will hand Him over to the Gentiles. They will mock Him and spit on Him, and scourge Him and kill Him, and three days later He will rise again." (Mark 10:33-34)
Every part of this prediction was now coming to pass.
Jesus had been delivered to the chief priests and scribes. They condemned Him to death. They handed Him over to the Gentiles. And now the Roman Gentile soldiers were scourging, mocking, and spittingonHim. Soon they would kill Him. And three days later, Jesus would rise again.
Following the Roman scourging, Jesus's body would have been in shock from the blood loss and the excruciating pain screaming through Him, as the soldiers mocked and abused Him for their pleasure.
The Purple Robe
They dressed Him up in purple, and after twisting a crown of thorns, they put it on Him (v 17).
After Jesus was scourged in this manner, He was also mocked and abused by the soldiers, just as He predicted He would be (Mark 10:34).
Mark tells us that the Romansoldiersdressed Him up in purple (v 17).
They dressed Jesus inpurple to mock Him as a fake king as they cruelly laughed at Him for the charges which alleged that He went around telling everyone "that He Himself is Christ, a King" (Luke 23:2).
Mark later says that the purple garment they (the Roman soldiers) dressed Jesus up in was a "purple robe" (Mark 15:20).
In the ancient world, the color of a person's clothing designated their station in life for others to see. Purple was the color of rulers and royalty. The purple robe that the soldiersputon Jesus was meant to further insult and mock Him as a king.
A purplish colored robe was also worn by the Jewish high priest. This was likely an unintended but nevertheless poignant irony by the Roman soldiers--that Jesus as the Messiah was both a King, like David, and Priest, in the order of Melchizedek. According to Mark and John, as theRoman soldiers mocked Jesus, they dressed Him in the colors of both these Messianic roles.
Matthew describes the robe as "scarlet" (Matthew 27:28), while Mark and John describe its color as purple (Mark 15:17; John 19:2, 5).
So, what are we to make of these different descriptions of the robe's color? Was it scarlet as Matthew said, or was it purple as Mark and John report?
Moreover, Luke also indicates that when Jesus was before Herod Antipas, He was mockingly dressed in "a gorgeous robe" by the tetrarch (Luke 23:11) before being sent back to Pilate. The Greek language in Luke indicates that the robe Herod dressedHim may have been white, which was the color worn by heirs to the throne who were not yet in power. Luke does not describe Jesus’s scourging or the Roman legionaries' mockery of Him.
There are several ways these different accounts of the robe's color can be harmonized.
First, there seems to be at least two robes--a white one from Herod Antipas and another puton Jesus by the Roman soldiers. But if the robes were the same, then Herod's white robe would have changed from white to scarlet as it covered Jesus's bleeding body.
Second, the robe the soldiersputon Jesus could have been multi-colored: scarlet and purple.
Third, purple and scarlet are similar colors. Therefore, it could be that what Matthew describes as scarlet was the same color that Mark and John factually describe as purple.
The colors of scarlet and purple also seem all the more similar when faded. And the robe the Romansoldiersputon Jesus very well may have been faded as they were unlikely to put a gorgeous new robe on Jesus as Herod Antipas had.
Fourth, Matthew may have been describing the color as it appeared--the scarlet cloak of a Roman legionary--while Mark and John described the color as the soldiers intended it to be perceived within the context of their mocking--the purple robe of royalty.
Finally, the robe may have looked more purple initially, but as Jesus's body continued to bleed from the scourging, the robe's purple fabric began to take on a more scarlet hue.
It is also possible that the three authors used several of these reasons for why they chose to describe the robe in the color which they did.
On a related note, the fact that Matthew, Mark, and John each record the same event with similar but not identical terms further demonstrates how the Gospel writers each wrote from their own unique perspectives and did not conspire in their narratives.
One would expect slight variations to be present if multiple people are describing the same event, rather than a verbatim match. And this is exactly what we have here, as well as throughout the four Gospels. A verbatim match would not only be redundant, it would also open up the Gospels to criticism that one or more of them was a forgery, or collusion was somehow involved.
Matthew, Mark, and John identifying different shades of the robe as purple (Mark 15:17; John 19:2) or scarlet (Matthew 27:28) is but one of many unique perspectives that authenticate the historical accounts of Gospel events.
The Crown of Thorns
After saying the soldiersdressed Him up in purple, Mark writes that after twisting a crown of thorns, they put it on Him (v 17).
The soldiers continued their ridicule of Jesus by taking branches with thorns and twisting them together to fashion a scornful crown. Along with the purple robe they dressed Him up in, this crown of thornsputon His head made Jesus appear to be a bloodied, absurd king. Matthew’s account specifies theyputthe crown of thorns "on His head" (Matthew 27:28).
The crown of thornsput on Hishead was physically painful as well, as the sharp thorns pierced His skin and created wounds around Hishead.
From a theological perspective, the crown of thorns is loaded with symbolism, though this was not the Roman soldiers' intent.
Thorns are first mentioned in Scripture in reference to the LORD God's curse upon the ground and the man's work:
"Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you." (Genesis 3:17b-18a)
Jesus was suffering and dying because of the curse of Adam's sin when He wore this crown of thorns. He was literally suffering to redeem the world from the curse--to break the curse by becoming sin and assuming all of God's wrath against the sins of the world (2 Corinthians 5:21).
In His suffering and death, Jesus became the object of the curse and His Father's fierce wrath (Isaiah 53:10a; Mark 15:34).
In wearing the crown of thorns on Hishead, Jesus became the king of our curses. He did this because He loved us (Mark 10:45; John 15:13). When He bore our griefs and carried our sorrows (Isaiah 53:4), Jesus both obeyed His Father and served all humanity.
Through His only begotten Son, whom He gave for the life of the world (John 3:16), God demonstrated "His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8), so that having been justified by His blood we may be saved from the wrath of God through Him (Romans 5:9).
Jesus suffered and died for our sins and assumed our due penalty and curse upon Himself.
The crown of thorns the soldiers put on Hishead, with its connection to the curse in Genesis 3, also evokes the prophetic hope God gave Adam and Eve when He punished the serpent:
"And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel." (Genesis 3:15)
The Messiah, Jesus, was the seed of the woman--"her seed." The expression "your seed" is a reference to Satan. God was warning Satan that one day Jesus will crush his head, even as Satan will bruise Jesus on the heel.
This scourging was part of the Messiah's bruising by Satan. But the Messiah's suffering unto death was also a part of how Jesus would defeat Satan. Thus, the scourging, humiliation, and crucifixion of Jesus was a double fulfillment of this prophecy in Eden.
The crown of thorns is a visual reminder that God was breaking the curse through the suffering and death of Christ.
The curse was broken, and all authority was given unto Jesus (Matthew 28:18). Hebrews says Jesus was made a "Son," meaning He, as a human, was granted the earth as His realm to reign over (Hebrews 1:5, 8, 13).
Hebrews goes on to quote Psalm 8, noting that although humans were made lower than angels, they were originally appointed to have dominion over the earth (Hebrews 2:5-8). However, Hebrews points out: "But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him" (Hebrews 2:8).
Because of the Fall, apparently Satan recovered the right to reign (John 12:31). But Jesus regained that right for humanity "because of the suffering of death" (Hebrews 2:9).
We now live in a sort of time warp, a delay between the time when Jesus gained authority and when He will fully implement His authority to take physical rule of the world. But it is certain that He will return to earth and set up His reign.
Amazingly, He invites all believers to join Him and promises He will reward those who are faithful witnesses and endure rejection from the world, even as He endured, by sharing His throne even as He shares the throne with His Father (Revelation 3:21).
The Mocking and Abuse of Jesus
And they began to acclaim Him, "Hail, King of the Jews!" (v 18).
The Roman soldiers now began to play along in their cruel charade.
Mark says they began to acclaim Him.
The expression acclaim Him describes the soldiers mockingly greeting and honoring Jesus as a king. They pretended to pay homage or allegiance to the bloodied King.
As they acclaimed Jesus, the soldiers said: Hail, King of the Jews! (v 18).
Hail is a term calling for respect, attention, and reverence. But the soldiers were using it sarcastically in such a way that it was disrespectful.
The soldiers used the term King of the Jews as a way to cruelly satirize the Jewish leaders' charge against Him--a charge which the Roman governor of Judea and the tetrarch of Galilee had personally acquitted Him of.
The Jewish leaders had brought Himbefore Pilate on the accusation that Jesus went around "saying that He Himself is Christ, a King" (Luke 23:2). If those chief priests or elders were able to witness or hear any of these insults, they must have felt insulted also--not for Jesus's sake--but for their own pride.
In other words, the same scorn the Roman legionaries had for Jesus was similar to the scorn they had for the local inhabitants of Judea.
There is another profound irony in the soldiers' mock acclaim. They did not believe Jesus was a king. They intended their words--Hail, King of the Jews! (v 18)--to be a joke. But Jesus really was and is the King.
The Roman soldiers thought they were humiliating a powerless Jewish prisoner. In reality, they were mocking the One through whom all things were created and by whom all things hold together (Colossians 1:16-17).
Mark's Roman audience would have understood the power and majesty represented by emperors, governors, armies, cohorts, and soldiers. But the true King in this scene was not Caesar, Pilate, or the soldiers who appeared to have power over Jesus.
The true King was the suffering Servant whom they mocked. And Jesus demonstrated a greater kind of power than theRomans understood--meekness (Matthew 5:5). Jesus had the power and the right to destroy His enemies, but instead He submitted Himself to suffering in obedience to His Father and in service to the world.
The soldiers did not stop with merely acting out their cruel charade making fun of Jesus as a preposterous king. They used it as an occasion to further abuse and beat Him:
They kept beating His head with a reed, and spitting on Him, and kneeling and bowing before Him (v 19).
Mark indicates that this abuse was constant and ongoing.
The soldierskept beating His head with a reed (v 19).
Matthew explains that the soldiers had previously placed this reed in Jesus's right hand as a mock scepter (Matthew 27:29). Mark omits the detail of the soldiers placing the reed into Jesus's hand, but he records how they repeatedly used it to beat Him.
As part of their charade of humiliation, they were beating Jesus, the King of the Jews, with His own mock-scepter. Their blows were all the more painful as they further drove the crown of thorns into Jesus's head.
The soldiers were also spitting on Him.
Spitting is a sign of gross disrespect. To spit in the presence of a king or another dignitary would bring punishment. Mark says the soldiers were not merely spitting near Jesus or at His feet; they were spitting on Him, which was an intensely personal display of complete disdain.
This picture of abuse and ridicule is a graphic illustration of the world's rejection of its Creator (John 1:11,Colossians 1:16-17).
It is clear that Jesus's suffering was real. Even though at any time He could have called legions of angels to rescue Him, He endured this suffering "for the joy set before Him" which was to sit "down at the right hand of the throne of God" (Hebrews 12:2).
It was because of this joy that Jesus "endured the cross, despising the shame" (Hebrews 12:2).
To "despise" something means to give it little to no value. Although this suffering was horrific, and the abuse and rejection intense and terrible, Jesus fixed His eyes on the great objective.
He understood that to do His Father's will meant to gain His Father's reward (Philippians 2:5-11).
Therefore, Jesus humbly took this abuse without resisting their evil as His blood and their saliva ran down His face. As He did, He was following His own teaching to not resist an evil person and to turn the other cheek (Matthew 5:39).
Jesus loved His enemies (Matthew 5:44), but thought little of their mockery in comparison to the joy and eternal reign of glory set before Him (Hebrews 12:2).
The author of Hebrews exhorts believers to emulate Jesus's example in painful and/or humiliating circumstances such as this, so that we too can reign with Him:
"For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." (Hebrews 12:3)
As the Roman soldierswere spitting on Him (v 19), they were fulfilling Isaiah's prophecy regarding the Messiah's suffering:
"And [I gave] My cheeks to those who pluck out the beard; I did not cover My face from humiliation and spitting." (Isaiah 50:6b)
Mark also says that the soldiers were kneeling and bowing before Him.
But instead of respecting or honoring Jesus when they were kneeling and bowing before Him (v 19), they were scorning Him.
These same soldiers will bow before Jesus again, but there will be no hint of insult when they do:
"so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth." (Philippians 2:10)
The image Mark presents is full of irony.
The soldiers dress Jesus as a king. They place a crown on Hishead. Theyacclaim Him as King of the Jews (v 18). They kneel and bow before Him. They mean every gesture as mockery. But every gesture points to the truth.
Jesus is the King. He will wear a crown. Every knee will bow before Him. And every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:10-11).
He was the powerful and obedient Servant of the LORD who came "not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many" (Mark 10:45).
The Roman soldiers saw His refusal to resist as weakness. But Jesus's submission was an expression of His faithful obedience to God. He possessed the power to stop His suffering, but He chose to endure it because suffering and dying for the sins of the world was His mission.
Following this torturous mutilation and mockery, Jesus was summoned back to Pilate, who presented His disfigured and bleeding figure, still wearing the crown of thorns and colorful robe, to the chief priests and said:
The Roman governor apparently hoped that this punishment would satisfy the crowd's bloodlust and allow him to release Jesus without further incident (Luke 23:22).
Mark has already informed his readers that Pilate's hopes were not realized and that he capitulated to the crowd's demands to crucify Jesus (Mark 15:15). Mark continues his narration with the soldiers leading Jesus away to crucify Him (Mark 15:20).
John, however, goes into considerable detail about what happened after the scourging and humiliation of Jesus by the Romansoldiers up until the moment Pilate surrendered Jesus to the deadly demands of the crowd (John 19:4-16).
Set to dark mode
Mark 15:16-19 meaning
The parallel Gospel accounts of Mark 15:16-19 are found in Matthew 27:27-30 and John 19:1-3.
In Mark 15:16-19, the Roman soldiers take Jesus into the Praetorium where they dress Him in a purple robe, place a crown of thorns on His head, and mockingly acclaim Him as the King of the Jews where they repeatedly beat Jesus on the head with a reed, spit on Him, and kneel and bow before Him as a joke.
After Mark finished his account of Pilate's interaction with the chief priests and the crowd during Jesus's civil trial (Mark 15:1-15), the Gospel writer then presents his account of Jesus's mistreatment at the hands of the Roman soldiers.
According to John's Gospel, at least some of the soldiers' abuse and mockery of Jesus seems to have taken place immediately after He was scourged (John 19:1-3) and before Pilate decided to hand Him over to be crucified (John 19:16).
John's Gospel attests that Pilate presented Jesus to the crowds bloodied from the scourging and "wearing the crown of thorns" (John 19:5) as the governor appealed for His release. Pilate later would interview Jesus a second time (John 19:9-11) and make a final appeal which failed to win over the crowd (John 19:12-16). Pilate handed Jesus over after the chief priests committed blasphemy: "We have no king but Caesar" (John 19:15).
It is possible that at least some of the mockery which Mark describes occurred after Jesus was condemned, but it is likely that the main elements of His abuse by the soldiers occurred during the middle of the third phase of His civil trial, as indicated by John.
The three phases of Jesus’s civil trial were:
(Matthew 27:1-2, 27:11-14, Mark 15:1-5, Luke 23:1-7, John 18:28-38)
(Luke 23:8-12)
(Matthew 27:15-26, Mark 15:6-15, Luke 23:13-25, John 18:38 - 19:16)
To learn more about the timing and sequencing of these events, see The Bible Says article: "Timeline: Jesus's Final 24 Hours."
Mark concluded his account of Pilate's back and forth with the chief priests and the crowd by summarizing Pilate's major decisions of the third phase of Jesus's civil trial. Pilate:
(Mark 15:15)
Then Mark recounts how the soldiers had abused Him. Again, the majority of this abuse seems to have occurred after Jesus was scourged, but before Pilate condemned Him to be crucified. In other words, Mark's account of these things seems to have happened when Pilate punished Jesus (Luke 23:22) and took Him to be scourged (John 19:1). It seems that this scourging was part of Pilate's plan to create sympathy for Jesus so Pilate could release Him.
The commentary for this passage will therefore include an explanation about Jesus's scourging, which was mentioned in the previous verse.
The soldiers took Him away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium), and they called together the whole Roman cohort (v 16).
Throughout Mark 15:16-20, the pronouns--Him and His (v 19)--refer to Jesus.
Mark's description of the soldiers indicates that these were Roman soldiers who were under the direct command of Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea. At this time, the Roman Empire had two major categories of Roman soldiers--auxiliary soldiers and legionaries.
Auxiliary soldiers fought for Rome under the command of local authorities loyal to Rome. Auxiliary soldiers were often composed of foreigners or locals who wanted a way into Roman society. Military service of this nature was their path to citizenship. For instance, the soldiers of Herod Antipas were probably auxiliary Roman soldiers.
Legionaries were more esteemed and elite Roman soldiers. These soldiers were already full-fledged citizens of Rome, many of whom were descended from ancient Roman or Italian families. They served out of a sense of duty and devotion to their Empire. Legionaries were typically better trained and armed. As proud men of Italian heritage, legionaries were prone to look down on locals, including auxiliary soldiers, but especially local prisoners like Jesus. The soldiers of the Roman governor would have been legionaries.
Mark writes that the soldiers took Him away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium). Matthew similarly says that the soldiers took Jesus "into the Praetorium" (Matthew 27:27), and John also indicates that these events occurred there (John 18:28, 19:1, 19:9).
The palace or Praetorium was likely the palace built by Herod the Great--the father of Herod Antipas who tried Jesus earlier that morning. This palace/the Praetorium was built on the western side of the upper city along the city wall. The army barracks for Pilate's soldiers would also have been located in the Praetorium. The probable site of the Praetorium has been located by archeologists near the Jaffa Gate, just inside the current city wall. Its ruins can be visited at the time of this writing (2026).
Mark's parenthetical explanation of the palace--that is, the Praetorium--is consistent with his habit of explaining Jewish or local terms and customs for his Roman and Gentile audience. His Roman readers would have immediately understood what a Praetorium was and the type of place to which Jesus was being taken.
Mark says the whole Roman cohort was called together (v 16).
A Roman cohort during the first century is estimated to have been 480 soldiers. This does not necessarily mean that all 480 soldiers were paraded into the Praetorium for this moment, but rather, the whole Roman cohort that was on duty was called together to witness and/or participate in Jesus's scourging and mockery.
For Mark's Roman audience, this scene may have struck them as being especially ironic. Jesus, the powerful true King, was surrounded by the whole Roman cohort of soldiers, whose culture admired strength, conquest, authority, and pietas--the faithful fulfillment of one's duty. Yet these soldiers, like their governor, along with the Jewish priests, did not recognize Him (John 1:10-11).
Instead of recognizing Jesus for who He truly was, a powerful king, the whole Roman cohort was brought out to abuse and mock Him. They did not see Jesus as a figure of strength who was setting aside His own good in devotion to His Father by fulfilling His mission to redeem the world. In reality, Jesus was demonstrating a greater strength and pietas by faithfully submitting to suffering and fulfilling His mission from God. The soldiers mocked Jesus as a defeated king, but He was the true King willingly serving God and humanity by giving His life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45), and thereby overcoming sin and the curse that entered the world and fell heavy on all men because of Adam (Romans 5:12, 18-19, 1 Corinthians 15:21-22, 54-57, Galatians 3:13, Philippians 2:5-8, Hebrews 12:2).
Before Jesus was taken away into the Praetorium, Mark has already said that Pilate had Him scourged (Mark 15:15).
Matthew, Mark, and John explicitly say that Jesus was scourged (Matthew 27:26; Mark 15:15; John 19:1). Luke's Gospel discretely acknowledges Jesus's flogging when it records Pilate's order: "I will punish Him" (Luke 23:22). However, none of the Gospels describe in detail what it meant for Jesus to be scourged.
Flogging as a Form of Punishment
The likely reason that none of the Gospels go into descriptive detail about the scourging or punishment Jesus received is because it would have been unnecessary. Their readers as subjects or citizens of the Roman Empire would have been horribly familiar with its brutality.
This would have been especially true of Mark's original Roman audience who did not need an explanation of what Roman scourging was or what it did to its victims.
Until modern times, flogging was a common form of punishment throughout the world. The Jews scourged criminals as a type of punishment. The Jewish scourging entailed using a whip with short leather lashes that put stripes on the wicked man's back according to his guilt. Jewish scourging was certainly painful, but never cruel and never deadly. It was always meant to be restorative, never merely punitive.
To ensure that Jewish flogging was not cruel or deadly, Moses strictly directed how this style of scourging was to be carried out:
"if the wicked man deserves to be beaten, the judge shall then make him lie down and be beaten in his presence with the number of stripes according to his guilt. He may beat him forty times but no more, so that he does not beat him with many more stripes than these and your brother is not degraded in your eyes."
(Deuteronomy 25:2-3)
The offender was made to "lie down" to ensure that only his back was whipped. And in case the person doing the counting made a mistake, Jewish tradition stopped lashing a wicked man after thirty-nine times as a precaution to guarantee that Moses's limit of "no more than forty times" was not transgressed. The intent behind Moses's command, and the Jewish tradition surrounding it, was to punish the wicked man, but preserve his humanity as a fellow person made in God's image.
But Jesus did not receive a Jewish flogging. He suffered a Roman flogging.
Roman flogging purposefully stripped away a person's humanity along with their flesh. It was deliberately cruel and often deadly. There was no limit to how much a person could be whipped under Roman law--but because it was so harsh, victims likely received fewer than forty lashes if their abusers wanted them alive.
Victims of Roman flogging were bound to a post and the whips they used had long leather lashes which could wrap around a person’s entire body. The victim was usually stripped naked, exposing every bit of their body to the torture--including the groin and face. Attached to the leather lashes were metal beads to tenderize the flesh, as well as sharp pieces of bone, iron, glass, or nails to rip flesh from the body. After only a few lashes, deep wounds were made which profusely poured out blood. After several more lashes, the victim's back, ribs, stomach, chest, legs, and face were a bleeding mess and their figure was barely recognizable as human.
The Scourging of Jesus
Instead of describing the gory details of the flogging, Matthew, Mark, and John all focus on the mockery that Jesus suffered by the Roman soldiers both while and after He was scourged by them (Matthew 27:27-31; Mark 15:16-20; John 19:1-3).
The whole Roman cohort watched the Jewish Messiah be stripped of His clothes and saw Him naked. This would have been deeply degrading.
Jesus was probably out of view of the crowd of Jews waiting outside the Praetorium. In an immense irony they stayed outside so they could avoid being "defiled" (John 18:28). Nevertheless, they were ceremonially unclean for committing murder.
But the scourging was likely within earshot to them. They could probably hear each lash of the whip; the grunts and jeers of the soldiers who were doing the flogging; the cries of Jesus as His flesh was ripped from His body.
This might have been a part of Pilate's plan to conjure sympathy for Jesus so he could let Him go. The entire episode shows the cold and calculating cruelty of Rome. Rome served itself and its own power and privilege.
But Jesus, the Servant of God, did not use His power to serve Himself. He faithfully fulfilled His mission and endured the suffering required to serve His Father and save the world.
Jesus was able to withstand this physical brutality because He trusted the LORD absolutely:
"For the Lord GOD helps Me,
Therefore, I am not disgraced."
(Isaiah 50:7a)
Jesus did not fear those who could destroy His body, yet could not harm His soul:
"Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul."
(Matthew 10:28a)
Jesus was able to withstand this excruciating torment because He had spent the night praying with His Father--that He might not enter into temptation (Luke 22:40)--seeking His Father's will so that He would be able to accomplish His Father's plan and not His own desires (Luke 22:42).
At any moment during this severe torture, Jesus could have summoned "more than twelve legions of angels" to rescue Him (Matthew 26:53). But He did not choose to be saved from death. Jesus chose to obediently follow His Father's plan to save the world through His suffering and death (Philippians 2:6-8).
The aftermath of the Roman scourging--where Jesus hardly looked human--was likely what Isaiah meant when he prophesied of the Messiah:
"So His appearance was marred more than any man
And His form more than the sons of men."
(Isaiah 52:14)
Isaiah also prophesied of the Messiah:
"I gave My back to those who strike Me."
(Isaiah 50:6a)
"The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,
And by His scourging we are healed."
(Isaiah 53:5b)
Pilate's order to have Jesus, the Messiah, scourged (John 19:1), was in fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecies seven centuries earlier. Other translations of Isaiah 53:5 say "by His stripes we are healed" to visually describe how the lash of a flogging leaves bloody stripes all over the victim's body.
Jesus also alluded to the terrible punishment He would undergo during His Seder celebration of the Passover with His disciples the evening before:
"And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, 'This is My body which is given for you.'"
(Luke 22:19)
With this expression from His Passover Seder meal, Jesus claimed that the unleavened bread, called "Matzah," represented His broken body. Matzah bread must be made according to tradition, "pierced and striped" in order to prevent it from being puffed with leaven.
[PICTURE OF MATZAH]
Because Matzah is made without leaven it is an image of sinlessness, like Jesus, because leaven represents sin and pride in the Bible and in Jewish culture. Deuteronomy, looking back to Israel's suffering in Egypt and looking forward to the Messiah being broken by the scourge, refers to Matzah as "the bread of affliction" (Deuteronomy 16:3).
To learn more about how Matzah represents Jesus and depicts His sinless suffering, see The Bible Says article: "Jesus and the Messianic Fulfillments of Passover and Unleavened Bread."
Jesus not only alluded to His chastisement under the Roman scourge, He explicitly predicted it.
Mark records one of these predictions:
"Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death and will hand Him over to the Gentiles. They will mock Him and spit on Him, and scourge Him and kill Him, and three days later He will rise again."
(Mark 10:33-34)
Every part of this prediction was now coming to pass.
Jesus had been delivered to the chief priests and scribes. They condemned Him to death. They handed Him over to the Gentiles. And now the Roman Gentile soldiers were scourging, mocking, and spitting on Him. Soon they would kill Him. And three days later, Jesus would rise again.
Following the Roman scourging, Jesus's body would have been in shock from the blood loss and the excruciating pain screaming through Him, as the soldiers mocked and abused Him for their pleasure.
The Purple Robe
They dressed Him up in purple, and after twisting a crown of thorns, they put it on Him (v 17).
After Jesus was scourged in this manner, He was also mocked and abused by the soldiers, just as He predicted He would be (Mark 10:34).
Mark tells us that the Roman soldiers dressed Him up in purple (v 17).
They dressed Jesus in purple to mock Him as a fake king as they cruelly laughed at Him for the charges which alleged that He went around telling everyone "that He Himself is Christ, a King" (Luke 23:2).
Mark later says that the purple garment they (the Roman soldiers) dressed Jesus up in was a "purple robe" (Mark 15:20).
In the ancient world, the color of a person's clothing designated their station in life for others to see. Purple was the color of rulers and royalty. The purple robe that the soldiers put on Jesus was meant to further insult and mock Him as a king.
A purplish colored robe was also worn by the Jewish high priest. This was likely an unintended but nevertheless poignant irony by the Roman soldiers--that Jesus as the Messiah was both a King, like David, and Priest, in the order of Melchizedek. According to Mark and John, as the Roman soldiers mocked Jesus, they dressed Him in the colors of both these Messianic roles.
Matthew describes the robe as "scarlet" (Matthew 27:28), while Mark and John describe its color as purple (Mark 15:17; John 19:2, 5).
So, what are we to make of these different descriptions of the robe's color? Was it scarlet as Matthew said, or was it purple as Mark and John report?
Moreover, Luke also indicates that when Jesus was before Herod Antipas, He was mockingly dressed in "a gorgeous robe" by the tetrarch (Luke 23:11) before being sent back to Pilate. The Greek language in Luke indicates that the robe Herod dressed Him may have been white, which was the color worn by heirs to the throne who were not yet in power. Luke does not describe Jesus’s scourging or the Roman legionaries' mockery of Him.
There are several ways these different accounts of the robe's color can be harmonized.
First, there seems to be at least two robes--a white one from Herod Antipas and another put on Jesus by the Roman soldiers. But if the robes were the same, then Herod's white robe would have changed from white to scarlet as it covered Jesus's bleeding body.
Second, the robe the soldiers put on Jesus could have been multi-colored: scarlet and purple.
Third, purple and scarlet are similar colors. Therefore, it could be that what Matthew describes as scarlet was the same color that Mark and John factually describe as purple.
The colors of scarlet and purple also seem all the more similar when faded. And the robe the Roman soldiers put on Jesus very well may have been faded as they were unlikely to put a gorgeous new robe on Jesus as Herod Antipas had.
Fourth, Matthew may have been describing the color as it appeared--the scarlet cloak of a Roman legionary--while Mark and John described the color as the soldiers intended it to be perceived within the context of their mocking--the purple robe of royalty.
Finally, the robe may have looked more purple initially, but as Jesus's body continued to bleed from the scourging, the robe's purple fabric began to take on a more scarlet hue.
It is also possible that the three authors used several of these reasons for why they chose to describe the robe in the color which they did.
On a related note, the fact that Matthew, Mark, and John each record the same event with similar but not identical terms further demonstrates how the Gospel writers each wrote from their own unique perspectives and did not conspire in their narratives.
One would expect slight variations to be present if multiple people are describing the same event, rather than a verbatim match. And this is exactly what we have here, as well as throughout the four Gospels. A verbatim match would not only be redundant, it would also open up the Gospels to criticism that one or more of them was a forgery, or collusion was somehow involved.
Matthew, Mark, and John identifying different shades of the robe as purple (Mark 15:17; John 19:2) or scarlet (Matthew 27:28) is but one of many unique perspectives that authenticate the historical accounts of Gospel events.
The Crown of Thorns
After saying the soldiers dressed Him up in purple, Mark writes that after twisting a crown of thorns, they put it on Him (v 17).
The soldiers continued their ridicule of Jesus by taking branches with thorns and twisting them together to fashion a scornful crown. Along with the purple robe they dressed Him up in, this crown of thorns put on His head made Jesus appear to be a bloodied, absurd king. Matthew’s account specifies they put the crown of thorns "on His head" (Matthew 27:28).
The crown of thorns put on His head was physically painful as well, as the sharp thorns pierced His skin and created wounds around His head.
From a theological perspective, the crown of thorns is loaded with symbolism, though this was not the Roman soldiers' intent.
Thorns are first mentioned in Scripture in reference to the LORD God's curse upon the ground and the man's work:
"Cursed is the ground because of you;
In toil you will eat of it
All the days of your life.
Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you."
(Genesis 3:17b-18a)
Jesus was suffering and dying because of the curse of Adam's sin when He wore this crown of thorns. He was literally suffering to redeem the world from the curse--to break the curse by becoming sin and assuming all of God's wrath against the sins of the world (2 Corinthians 5:21).
In His suffering and death, Jesus became the object of the curse and His Father's fierce wrath (Isaiah 53:10a; Mark 15:34).
In wearing the crown of thorns on His head, Jesus became the king of our curses. He did this because He loved us (Mark 10:45; John 15:13). When He bore our griefs and carried our sorrows (Isaiah 53:4), Jesus both obeyed His Father and served all humanity.
Through His only begotten Son, whom He gave for the life of the world (John 3:16), God demonstrated "His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8), so that having been justified by His blood we may be saved from the wrath of God through Him (Romans 5:9).
Jesus suffered and died for our sins and assumed our due penalty and curse upon Himself.
The crown of thorns the soldiers put on His head, with its connection to the curse in Genesis 3, also evokes the prophetic hope God gave Adam and Eve when He punished the serpent:
"And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her seed;
He shall bruise you on the head,
And you shall bruise him on the heel."
(Genesis 3:15)
The Messiah, Jesus, was the seed of the woman--"her seed." The expression "your seed" is a reference to Satan. God was warning Satan that one day Jesus will crush his head, even as Satan will bruise Jesus on the heel.
This scourging was part of the Messiah's bruising by Satan. But the Messiah's suffering unto death was also a part of how Jesus would defeat Satan. Thus, the scourging, humiliation, and crucifixion of Jesus was a double fulfillment of this prophecy in Eden.
The crown of thorns is a visual reminder that God was breaking the curse through the suffering and death of Christ.
The curse was broken, and all authority was given unto Jesus (Matthew 28:18). Hebrews says Jesus was made a "Son," meaning He, as a human, was granted the earth as His realm to reign over (Hebrews 1:5, 8, 13).
Hebrews goes on to quote Psalm 8, noting that although humans were made lower than angels, they were originally appointed to have dominion over the earth (Hebrews 2:5-8). However, Hebrews points out: "But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him" (Hebrews 2:8).
Because of the Fall, apparently Satan recovered the right to reign (John 12:31). But Jesus regained that right for humanity "because of the suffering of death" (Hebrews 2:9).
We now live in a sort of time warp, a delay between the time when Jesus gained authority and when He will fully implement His authority to take physical rule of the world. But it is certain that He will return to earth and set up His reign.
Amazingly, He invites all believers to join Him and promises He will reward those who are faithful witnesses and endure rejection from the world, even as He endured, by sharing His throne even as He shares the throne with His Father (Revelation 3:21).
The Mocking and Abuse of Jesus
And they began to acclaim Him, "Hail, King of the Jews!" (v 18).
The Roman soldiers now began to play along in their cruel charade.
Mark says they began to acclaim Him.
The expression acclaim Him describes the soldiers mockingly greeting and honoring Jesus as a king. They pretended to pay homage or allegiance to the bloodied King.
As they acclaimed Jesus, the soldiers said: Hail, King of the Jews! (v 18).
Hail is a term calling for respect, attention, and reverence. But the soldiers were using it sarcastically in such a way that it was disrespectful.
The soldiers used the term King of the Jews as a way to cruelly satirize the Jewish leaders' charge against Him--a charge which the Roman governor of Judea and the tetrarch of Galilee had personally acquitted Him of.
The Jewish leaders had brought Him before Pilate on the accusation that Jesus went around "saying that He Himself is Christ, a King" (Luke 23:2). If those chief priests or elders were able to witness or hear any of these insults, they must have felt insulted also--not for Jesus's sake--but for their own pride.
In other words, the same scorn the Roman legionaries had for Jesus was similar to the scorn they had for the local inhabitants of Judea.
There is another profound irony in the soldiers' mock acclaim. They did not believe Jesus was a king. They intended their words--Hail, King of the Jews! (v 18)--to be a joke. But Jesus really was and is the King.
The Roman soldiers thought they were humiliating a powerless Jewish prisoner. In reality, they were mocking the One through whom all things were created and by whom all things hold together (Colossians 1:16-17).
Mark's Roman audience would have understood the power and majesty represented by emperors, governors, armies, cohorts, and soldiers. But the true King in this scene was not Caesar, Pilate, or the soldiers who appeared to have power over Jesus.
The true King was the suffering Servant whom they mocked. And Jesus demonstrated a greater kind of power than the Romans understood--meekness (Matthew 5:5). Jesus had the power and the right to destroy His enemies, but instead He submitted Himself to suffering in obedience to His Father and in service to the world.
The soldiers did not stop with merely acting out their cruel charade making fun of Jesus as a preposterous king. They used it as an occasion to further abuse and beat Him:
They kept beating His head with a reed, and spitting on Him, and kneeling and bowing before Him (v 19).
Mark indicates that this abuse was constant and ongoing.
The soldiers kept beating His head with a reed (v 19).
Matthew explains that the soldiers had previously placed this reed in Jesus's right hand as a mock scepter (Matthew 27:29). Mark omits the detail of the soldiers placing the reed into Jesus's hand, but he records how they repeatedly used it to beat Him.
As part of their charade of humiliation, they were beating Jesus, the King of the Jews, with His own mock-scepter. Their blows were all the more painful as they further drove the crown of thorns into Jesus's head.
The soldiers were also spitting on Him.
Spitting is a sign of gross disrespect. To spit in the presence of a king or another dignitary would bring punishment. Mark says the soldiers were not merely spitting near Jesus or at His feet; they were spitting on Him, which was an intensely personal display of complete disdain.
This picture of abuse and ridicule is a graphic illustration of the world's rejection of its Creator (John 1:11, Colossians 1:16-17).
It is clear that Jesus's suffering was real. Even though at any time He could have called legions of angels to rescue Him, He endured this suffering "for the joy set before Him" which was to sit "down at the right hand of the throne of God" (Hebrews 12:2).
It was because of this joy that Jesus "endured the cross, despising the shame" (Hebrews 12:2).
To "despise" something means to give it little to no value. Although this suffering was horrific, and the abuse and rejection intense and terrible, Jesus fixed His eyes on the great objective.
He understood that to do His Father's will meant to gain His Father's reward (Philippians 2:5-11).
Therefore, Jesus humbly took this abuse without resisting their evil as His blood and their saliva ran down His face. As He did, He was following His own teaching to not resist an evil person and to turn the other cheek (Matthew 5:39).
Jesus loved His enemies (Matthew 5:44), but thought little of their mockery in comparison to the joy and eternal reign of glory set before Him (Hebrews 12:2).
The author of Hebrews exhorts believers to emulate Jesus's example in painful and/or humiliating circumstances such as this, so that we too can reign with Him:
"For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart."
(Hebrews 12:3)
(See also: Matthew 5:10-12, 10:32-33, 39, 19:27-30; Romans 8:16-18; 1 Corinthians 3:11-15; 2 Corinthians 4:16-18; 2 Timothy 2:11-13a; James 1:12; 1 Peter 1:6-7; Revelation 2:10-11, 3:21).
As the Roman soldiers were spitting on Him (v 19), they were fulfilling Isaiah's prophecy regarding the Messiah's suffering:
"And [I gave] My cheeks to those who pluck out the beard;
I did not cover My face from humiliation and spitting."
(Isaiah 50:6b)
Mark also says that the soldiers were kneeling and bowing before Him.
But instead of respecting or honoring Jesus when they were kneeling and bowing before Him (v 19), they were scorning Him.
These same soldiers will bow before Jesus again, but there will be no hint of insult when they do:
"so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth."
(Philippians 2:10)
The image Mark presents is full of irony.
The soldiers dress Jesus as a king. They place a crown on His head. They acclaim Him as King of the Jews (v 18). They kneel and bow before Him. They mean every gesture as mockery. But every gesture points to the truth.
Jesus is the King. He will wear a crown. Every knee will bow before Him. And every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:10-11).
Jesus continued to submit Himself to His Father's will (Isaiah 50:7-9a; Mark 14:36).
He was the powerful and obedient Servant of the LORD who came "not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many" (Mark 10:45).
The Roman soldiers saw His refusal to resist as weakness. But Jesus's submission was an expression of His faithful obedience to God. He possessed the power to stop His suffering, but He chose to endure it because suffering and dying for the sins of the world was His mission.
Following this torturous mutilation and mockery, Jesus was summoned back to Pilate, who presented His disfigured and bleeding figure, still wearing the crown of thorns and colorful robe, to the chief priests and said:
"Behold, the Man!"
(John 19:5b)
The Roman governor apparently hoped that this punishment would satisfy the crowd's bloodlust and allow him to release Jesus without further incident (Luke 23:22).
Mark has already informed his readers that Pilate's hopes were not realized and that he capitulated to the crowd's demands to crucify Jesus (Mark 15:15). Mark continues his narration with the soldiers leading Jesus away to crucify Him (Mark 15:20).
John, however, goes into considerable detail about what happened after the scourging and humiliation of Jesus by the Roman soldiers up until the moment Pilate surrendered Jesus to the deadly demands of the crowd (John 19:4-16).
To see The Bible Says commentary about how Jesus's civil trial concluded from this moment on, start with The Bible Says commentary for John 19:4-5.
To continue Mark’s account of Jesus being led away to the cross, see the next section.