{"id":37473,"date":"2025-09-24T22:00:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-25T05:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/?p=37473"},"modified":"2025-09-16T14:00:48","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T21:00:48","slug":"mark_15_1-15","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/mark_15_1-15\/","title":{"rendered":"Barabbas and The Flogging"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mark 15:1-15 (CLICK HERE FOR BIBLE VERSES)<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Mark 15:1-15.\u00a0 With an open mind and a humble heart, read this passage and see what sticks out to you in this passage.\u00a0 Is there a verse, a phrase, or a lesson you think the Holy Spirit may be highlighting for you in this passage?\u00a0 After you\u2019ve thought about the passage yourself a bit, read the GAME sharing below.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Mark 15:1-5 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Very early in the morning, the chief priests, with the elders, the teachers of the law and the whole Sanhedrin, reached a decision. They bound Jesus, led him away and handed him over to Pilate.
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“Are you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate. “Yes, it is as you say,” Jesus replied.
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The chief priests accused him of many things.
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So again Pilate asked him, “Aren’t you going to answer? See how many things they are accusing you of.”
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But Jesus still made no reply, and Pilate was amazed.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 1-5:\u00a0 \u201cAs a lamb before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth\u201d (Isaiah 53:7).\u00a0 That\u2019s Jesus for you.\u00a0 In the face of so many accusations, Jesus remained silent.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 It\u2019s not because Jesus was guilty of any sin or crime.\u00a0 This was Jesus submitting to the Father\u2019s will, and in so doing fulfilling the mission His Father gave him and the prophecy about him in Isaiah 53:7.<\/p>\n

Mark 15:6-15a (NIV)<\/strong>
\n6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Now it was the custom at the Feast to release a prisoner whom the people requested.
\n7\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0A man called Barabbas was in prison with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the uprising.
\n8\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The crowd came up and asked Pilate to do for them what he usually did.
\n9\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate,
\n10\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0knowing it was out of envy that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him.
\n11\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas instead.
\n12\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews?” Pilate asked them.
\n13\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“Crucify him!” they shouted.
\n14\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate. But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!”
\n15\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 6-15a:\u00a0 What can we learn from this?<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0\u00a0You and I are like Barabbas.<\/strong>\u00a0 We were guilty of insurrection, that is, revolting against established authority.\u00a0 In Barabbas\u2019 case it was the Roman government he revolted against.\u00a0 In our case it was God Himself.\u00a0 Like Barabbas, we deserved to die for our sin, but instead we were set free because in our place Jesus was crucified.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0\u00a0You and I are like the crowd.<\/strong>\u00a0 At some point each of us has chosen someone or something over Jesus.\u00a0 \u00a0We are in far greater need of mercy than Jesus, who is blameless.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0\u00a0Like Pilate, sometimes you need to choose between satisfying the crowd and doing what\u2019s right.\u00a0 In Matthew 10:28, Jesus tells us which choice to make: \u201cDo not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.\u201d\u00a0 The benefit you get from pleasing the crowd will not last.\u00a0 The benefit you get from doing what\u2019s right and serving Jesus lasts much longer.<\/p>\n

Mark 15:15b (NIV)<\/strong>
\n15<\/sup>\u2026He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse 15b:\u00a0 Mark does not go into detail about what flogging is because it was widely understood in Mark\u2019s day what flogging was. But for us today flogging is a foreign concept.\u00a0 But flogging was no small form of punishment.\u00a0\u00a0When a person was sentenced to crucifixion, the first thing the Roman government would do is flog them.\u00a0 They would first take them to a room, tie them to a post and whip them.<\/p>\n

By the time Jesus is sentenced to crucifixion, Jesus has already been whipped once (John 19:1).\u00a0 Many scholars believe that Jesus didn\u2019t go through one flogging, but two.\u00a0 The first one was a light flogging in verse 1 called\u00a0fustigatio<\/em>.\u00a0 It was just Pilate\u2019s way of appeasing the Jews.\u00a0 But it didn\u2019t work.\u00a0 The chief priests want Jesus dead, and Pilate gives in.\u00a0 Now that Jesus is officially sentenced to crucifixion, that\u2019s when the most severe flogging begins.\u00a0 It\u2019s called\u00a0verberatio<\/em>.\u00a0 Since crucifixion was a long process,\u00a0verberatio\u00a0<\/em>was meant to speed the execution process, to tenderize the meat, if you will, before the crucifixion even began.<\/p>\n

In\u00a0verberatio<\/em>, the Romans would use what\u2019s called a flagellum.\u00a0 It\u2019s a leather whip that has attached to it bits of metal, glass, and bone.\u00a0 They would take Jesus, expose his back, and whip him with this flagellum.\u00a0 In the process, the metal, the glass and the bone would penetrate his flesh, rip his skin, and shred his body into strips.\u00a0\u00a0History records that the\u00a0verberatio<\/em>\u00a0floggings were so brutal they could leave victims with their arteries, organs and bones exposed.\u00a0 Sometimes victims died from that alone.<\/p>\n

If you want to get a sense of just how brutal that\u00a0verberatio\u00a0<\/em>flogging was, watch a movie like\u00a0The Passion of the Christ<\/em>.<\/p>\n

For us today, let us not take those words lightly: \u201cHe had Jesus flogged\u2026\u201d.<\/p>\n

Jesus, thank You for taking the place of a Barabbas like me.\u00a0 Thank You for having mercy on a Pilate like me.\u00a0 Thank You for Your mercy which covers all of my mistakes.\u00a0 Thank You for paying the highest price so that I could be set free.\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n

copyright \u00a9 2022 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Mark 15:1-15.\u00a0 With an open mind and a humble heart, read this passage and see what sticks out to you in this passage.\u00a0 Is there a verse, a phrase, or a lesson you think the Holy Spirit may be highlighting for you in this passage?\u00a0 After you\u2019ve thought about the passage yourself a bit, read the GAME sharing below.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Mark 15:1-5 (NIV)
\n1\u00a0\u00a0Very early in the morning, the chief priests, with the elders, the teachers of the law and the whole Sanhedrin, reached a decision. They bound Jesus, led him away and handed him over to Pilate.
\n2\u00a0\u00a0“Are you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate. “Yes, it is as you say,” Jesus replied.
\n3\u00a0\u00a0The chief priests accused him of many things.<\/p>\n

On verses 1-5:\u00a0 \u201cAs a lamb before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth\u201d (Isaiah 53:7).\u00a0 That\u2019s Jesus for you.\u00a0 In the face of so many accusations, Jesus remained silent.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37475,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37473"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37473\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37476,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37473\/revisions\/37476"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}