The Sixth Station
Jesus is Scourged and Crowned with Thorns
Bible Reading
Then Pilate took Jesus and had him scourged. And the soldiers wove a crown out of thorns and placed it on his head, and clothed him in a purple cloak, and they came to him and said, 'Hail, King of the Jews!' And they struck him repeatedly. John 19:1-3
Meditation
Pilate had Jesus scourged - a truly cruel punishment. He was probably stripped to the waist and made to bend over a short pillar. Then he was lashed several dozen times with a whip, the first few of these strokes cutting open the skin of his back. After the scourging a wooden band, or crown, of long sharp thorns was pressed into his scalp. The pain had to be excruciating. When our own head hurts or we suffer some other bodily pain, it would do well for us to follow the advice in Paul's letter to the Hebrews: 'Let us.... keep our eyes fixed on Jesus.... For the sake of the joy that lay before him he endured the cross...' Hebrews 12:1-2
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