Matthew 27:28-31

The Sanhedrin and or its servants had abused Jesus as a false Messiah (Matthew 26:67-68). Now Pilate’s soldiers abused Him as a false king. Ironically Jesus was all they charged Him with being. The scarlet robe (Gr. chlamys) they put on Jesus (Matthew 27:28) was probably the reddish purple cloak that Roman military and civil officials wore. Perhaps the thorny spikes that the soldiers wove into a circle to resemble the one on Tiberius Caesar’s head on Roman coins consisted of palm branches. The imperfect tense of the Greek verb translated "beat" means they beat Jesus on the head repeatedly (cf. Isaiah 52:14). Typically four soldiers plus a centurion accompanied a condemned prisoner to his crucifixion. The criminal normally carried the crosspiece to which the soldiers would later nail his hands (cf. John 19:17; John 19:23). [Note: Carson, "Matthew," p. 573.]

This pericope shows sinners at their worst mocking and brutalizing the very person who was laying His life down as a sacrifice for their sins (cf. Matthew 20:19).

"Few incidents in history more clearly illustrate the brutality in the desperately wicked heart of man than that which was inflicted on Jesus the Son of God." [Note: Walvoord, Matthew: . . ., p. 231.]

"The ultimate explanation of the cross is neither Jewish hostility nor Roman injustice, but the declared purpose of God." [Note: France, The Gospel . . ., p. 1060.]