June 16

JESUS’ MARRED FACE

(Old Testament Prophecy - Isaiah 52:14)

“But many were amazed when they saw him. His face was so disfigured he seemed hardly human, and from his appearance, one would scarcely know he was a man.”

(Fulfilled in Jesus - Mark 15:16-19)

“The soldiers took Jesus into the courtyard of the governor’s headquarters (called the Praetorium) and called out the entire regiment. They dressed him in a purple robe, and they wove thorn branches into a crown and put it on his head. Then they saluted him and taunted, ‘Hail! King of the Jews!’ And they struck him in the face with a reed stick, spit on him, and dropped to their knees in mock worship.”

Thought:

Many soldiers beat Jesus on the head and face with what equates to a police officer’s nightstick. Such a beating would have inflicted many wounds and would have caused Jesus to be almost unrecognizable and horribly disfigured.

Prayer:

Jesus, I cannot imagine how I would feel if, at this moment, I was witnessing the beating You took, knowing that it should be me who was being beaten. Oh, so incomprehensible is Your love for me. May all my days be lived in gratitude and in humility that only by Your grace and sacrifice am I alive. Amen.