Slapping the Savior’s Face

For centuries, Christians persecuted Jews and called them “Christ killers.” But who killed Christ? Who is really to blame for His death? Was it the Roman soldiers who did the actual bloody work of scourging Him and nailing Him to the tree? Was it Pilate, who had the power to release Him but instead condemned Him to be crucified? Was it the Jewish religious leaders who persuaded Pilate to condemn Him to crucifixion?

     All of these people share part of the blame for Yeshua’s death, but none of them can be singled out as the only ones to blame. As a matter of fact, Yeshua said these words about His death:  “I lay down My life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of My Father” (John 10:17f).

     No one single man nor one single ethnic group is to blame for killing Christ. We are all “Christ killers,” because He willingly chose to lay down His life to pay the penalty for our sins. It was our sins that made His death necessary. It was our sins that killed Him.

     Every single individual who has ever committed a sin shares part of the blame for the Savior’s death. Certainly the Roman soldiers who drove the heavy nails into His hands and feet and then hung Him up to die a slow, excruciating death share part of the blame. Certainly the Roman governor Pilate, who sentenced Him to be scourged and then condemned Him to be crucified, shares part of the blame. Certainly the Roman soldier whose hand held the Roman whip, which typically had sharp bits of metal, bone, or glass tied to the cords to cut the flesh, shares part of the blame. Certainly the Roman soldiers who pushed the crown of thorns down on His head and mocked Him and struck Him after the scourging share part of the blame. And certainly the Jewish leaders who pressured Pilate to sentence their Messiah to crucifixion share part of the blame.

     Have you ever wondered about the Roman soldier who drove the first nail into His hand? Have you ever wondered what it will be like for that man on Judgment Day, when he stands before his Maker to give an account for his sins? What awful terror will go through his soul when he looks up into the face of his Judge and sees the face of that Jew that he nailed to the cross?

     Or have you ever wondered what it will be like on Judgment Day for the Roman soldier whose hand held the whip that scourged Him? What awful terror will go through his soul when he looks up into the face of his Judge and sees the face of that Jew whose back he cruelly shredded to ribbons?

     Or have you ever wondered what it will be like on Judgment Day for Pontius Pilate, who testified “I find in Him no fault at all”? Pontius Pilate, who was afraid when he heard that Yeshua claimed to be the Son of God, who knew that the chief priests had delivered Yeshua for envy, who received a message from his wife, warning him, “have nothing to do with that just man, because I suffered many things in a dream because of Him.” Pontius Pilate, who knew all these things, yet to please the people ordered Yeshua scourged and then crucified. What awful terror will go through Pilate’s miserable soul when he looks up into the face of his Judge and sees the face of that Jew that he condemned to scourging and crucifixion, knowing He was innocent?

     Or have you ever wondered what it will be like on Judgment Day for the Jewish religious leaders who had Him arrested, put Him through a mock trial with false witnesses, then pressured Pilate to crucify Him, even though Pilate was willing to let Him go, and then came to mock Him as He hung on the cross, suffering and dying for the sins of the world? What awful terror will go through the souls of these men when they look up into the face of their Judge and see the face of their Messiah whom they rejected and sentenced to die?

     Judgment Day will be an awful day of abject terror for all these men who carried out the details of the Crucifixion of the Son of God. But did you know that the very first act of physical violence inflicted on the flesh of the Lord was not the scourging ordered by Pilate. There is someone else in the Bible who bears the guilt  and the shame and the ignominy of being the very first individual to inflict physical violence on the sinless Son of God.

     A mob with torches and weapons came to the Garden of Gethsemane to arrest Yeshua, but no one used a weapon against Him there, because it was not necessary. He went with them willingly, like a lamb being led to the slaughter. They took Him to the high priest to be interrogated. This was when the first act of physical violence was inflicted on the flesh of the Lord:

     “The high priest then asked Yeshua of His disciples, and of His doctrine. Yeshua answered him, ‘I spake openly to the world; I ever taught in the synagogue, and in the temple, whither the Jews always resort; and in secret have I said nothing. Why askest thou Me? Ask them which heard Me, what I have said unto them: behold, they know what I said.’  And when He had thus spoken, one of the officers which stood by struck Yeshua with the palm of his hand, saying, ‘Answerest thou the high priest so?’  Yeshua answered him, ‘If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil: but if well, why smitest thou Me?’” (John 18:19-23).

     I would hate to be in the shoes of this unnamed officer on Judgment Day. Can you imagine the fear, the horror, the absolute terror that will fill the soul of this man? This was the first man to inflict physical pain on the Son of God, the first to strike the Son of God. Can you imagine how his knees will turn to jelly when he looks up into the face of his Judge and sees the face that he slapped, and realizes that the slap of his hand was the beginning of the physical suffering of the Son of God?

     The words that his Judge spoke to him on that long-ago day will be replayed as they echo in his mind. “If I spoke evil on that day long ago, bear witness of the evil. But if I spoke well, why did you slap Me? Before the Roman soldiers nailed Me to the cross, before they scourged Me and tore My back to shreds, before the Romans inflicted any physical harm on Me, you slapped My face. You were the one who first initiated physical violence upon Me. Why did you slap Me?”

     You might be thinking, Daniel, why are you making such a big issue over a slap on the face? Sure, it’s going to be bad news for that man on Judgment Day, but a slap on the face doesn’t draw any blood or leave any permanent scars. Getting slapped on the face is bad, but it’s minor compared to being scourged with a Roman whip and being nailed to a cross.

     That’s all true, but I’m focusing on this slap for three reasons. One reason is because this man’s slap was the first physical violence inflicted on the Savior.

     A second reason is because a slap on the face is more than the infliction of some mild, temporary physical pain. A slap on the face is an act of defiance, a challenge, an insult that says you are a worthless piece of trash. In past centuries, a slap on the face often resulted in a duel to the death, even if the challenging slap was administered with a soft, flimsy glove. I view a slap on the face as more of an insult than a punch with the fist. I have been both slapped and punched in the face. The punches brought more physical pain and long-lasting bruises, but the slaps were more degrading, more insulting, and more humiliating.

     A third reason I want to focus on this slapping of the Savior’s face is to point something out, namely, that sin is a slap in the Savior’s face. Every time you sin, you are in effect slapping the Savior’s face, like the unnamed officer of the high priest did. Every time you sin, in effect you are saying, “I don’t need Your commandments. I don’t need to obey You. I don’t need to take orders from You.”

     The BIble defines sin as “the transgression of the law” (1 John 3:4). Every time you transgress God’s law, you are slapping the Savior’s face. Yeshua said, “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15). Every time you transgress the law and disobey one of His commandments, you are saying, “I don’t need Your law. I don’t need Your commandments. This is about relationship, not rules. I have a personal relationship with You, so I don’t need Your rules. To hell with Your rules. I can love You without keeping Your commandments.”

     Yet 1 John 5:3 says “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments: and His commandments are not grievous.” And 1 John 2:4 says “He that saith, I know Him, but keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” And 1 John 3:24 says “And he that keepeth His commandments dwelleth in Him, and He in him.” Yet in spite of these Bible truths stated in 1 John and in many other verses, some Christians think they can love the Lord as they continue to habitually break His law.

     That sort of attitude toward God’s law is a slap in the Savior’s face. “For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses. Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? For we know Him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto Me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge His people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Heb. 10:26-31).

     On that day when “the Lord shall judge His people,” I do not want to hear my Judge ask me, “Why did you slap My face? Why did you disobey My commandments and transgress My law?”

     I want to hear HIm say, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.”

| DB