Who Hit You?
It’s a little before 6:00 am on Good Friday. By now, the “trial” is wrapping up and the Pharisees have been able to manipulate things to the point where they feel comfortable going to Pilate and demanding that Christ be crucified.
There was a breakthrough at one point, when things weren’t lining up in a way that promoted the Pharisees intention when they finally felt as though they had gotten Christ to admit something they could legitimately label as heresy.
62 Then the high priest stood up and said to Jesus, “Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?” 63 But Jesus remained silent.
The high priest said to him, “I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.”
64 “You have said so,” Jesus replied. “But I say to all of you: From now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”
65 Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, “He has spoken blasphemy! Why do we need any more witnesses? Look, now you have heard the blasphemy. 66 What do you think?”
“He is worthy of death,” they answered.
67 Then they spit in his face and struck him with their fists. Others slapped him 68 and said, “Prophesy to us, Messiah. Who hit you?” (Matt 26:62-68)
The word, “excrutiating” literally means “out of the cross.” It’s a term used to describe an unbearable pain and Jesus was knew it was coming. In addition to the cross, He would be flogged according to a Roman approach that didn’t stop short of 41 lashes. Rather, He would be beaten until those responsible for “chastising” Him felt like they were through.
Last night, He had His last meal with His disciples where He revealed all of the symbolism that had been instituted centuries beforehand when Moses introduced the Passover Meal. He was the Passover Lamb. And while the disciples were not quite sure of what Jesus meant when He said, “This is my body broken for you…” their uncertainty would deteriorate into shock, fear and disbelief as they watched their Teacher be tortured and put to death.
After the Passover Meal, Jesus went to the Garden of Gethsemane where He would pray with the kind of terrible passion that accompany’s a man’s complete confidence that soon He will be subjected to an unimaginable amount of pain and suffering.
Hematidrosis is a rare medical condition where the subject perspires drops of blood. When you blush, your emotions trigger blood flow to a point just below the surface of your skin, hence the reddish tint to your complexion. In this instance, your emotions force blood out through your pores and you appear to be sweating blood (Luke 22:44). In the aftermath, your skin is sensitive to even the slightest touch. Luke says that this anomaly was experienced by Christ when He was praying. That means the pain from every punch, every lash, every slap, every cut was going to be amplified 100 fold.
It’s easy to gloss over verse 68 in the above text because we’re already familiar with what is getting ready to happen which, admittedly, is going to be far more dramatic.
But this is where it starts.
This is more than a “sting” or a solid punch to the face. This is the kind of pain that must’ve made Jesus wonder how He was going to endure the next several hours.
It’s hard not to get emotional when you meditate on the cruelty and the pain that was exacted on the Son of God that was willingly absorbed in order to pay a debt on behalf of the one who asked, “Who hit you?” Especially when you realize that, given the reality of our rebellion and need for redemption…
…we were the ones who hit Him.
