- Mar 5, 2021
- 2 min read

Lent '21 Day 17: Prison of Christ

(#FG035)

We journey with Christ; re - living the days of His Passion, Death and Resurrection - over these 40 days of Lent.

They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand. Then they knelt in front of him and mocked him. “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said. They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him.

(Mathew 27:28 -31, NIV)

An image depicting the posture of Christ in the prison | Mercy Chronicles

In his book, Jesus of Nazareth - the Holy Week, Pope (emeritus) Benedict reflects thus:

The soldiers are playing cruel games with Jesus. They know that he claims to be a king, but now he is in their hands; now it pleases them to humiliate him, to display their power over him, and perhaps to offload vicariously onto him their anger against their rulers.

Him whose whole body is torn and wounded they vest, as a caricature, with the tokens of Imperial majesty; the purple robe, the crown plated from thorns and the reed scepter.

They pay homage to him: Hail, King of the Jews" ; their homage consists of blows to his head, through which they once more express their utter contempt for him.

The history of religions knows the figure of the mocking king - related to the figure of the "scapegoat". Whatever may be affecting the people is offloaded onto him : in this way it is to be driven out of the world.

Without realizing it, the soldiers were actually accomplishing what those rites and ceremonies were unable to achieve : "Upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed."

Like a lamb led to slaughter | Mercy Chronicles

Simply be present to the image and allow it to speak to your heart, without any particular agenda.

How do you feel looking at the image?
If you had to describe the image in a sentence or two silently to yourself, what would you say?
If you were in the image, where would you place yourself ?
Do you get a glimpse of the sacred from this image? Is God speaking to you in this image?
Does a name for God arise for you from this image? In silence, sit with what you have received.