And the soldiers led him away into the court which is [called the] praetorium, and they call together the whole band.
Pilate has passed sentence, and the soldiers march Jesus away to carry it out. What happens next inside the governor's headquarters says less about Roman procedure than about the human heart.
Mark names the building by its Roman title. That title marks it as the governor's own house.
The word is πραιτώριον, praetorium, which is how Mark 15:16 renders it. It was the official residence of Pilate the governor in Jerusalem. John 18:28, 33; John 19:9; Acts 23:35. In Philippians 1:13 it is translated "palace" — the barracks of the Praetorian soldiers, the body from which Paul's guards were chosen. In Matthew 27:27 it is "common hall," and in John 18:28 "hall of judgement."
Another writer separates it from the high priest's court:
In the corrected wording of these accounts it is the high priest's "court" that is in view, not a palace. The word "palace" belongs more properly to the governor's residence, the praetorium (Matthew 27; John 18). That building no doubt had a court of its own as well, as Mark 15:16 also hints.
The soldiers do not simply receive a prisoner and get on with the job. They call out the whole company. One writer weighs what did not drive them to it:
A new class of men are the soldiers to whom Pilate has given Him up, and in them man comes to a new trial. They have heard the judge justify the One whom he sends as innocent to an agonising death. These soldiers are not Jews. They care nothing about the Sanhedrin, the Jewish ruling council. The chief priests do not push them to what they do, and neither do the shouts of a people they despise as senseless and bigoted fanatics. There was not only in general no love between them and the Jews, but the fiercest scorn and enmity. Their office as executioners does not force them to it either. They gather the whole band for a mocking and an insult all their own — sport that none of them would willingly miss.
Nothing in their duty called for this. One writer finds the cause in the Prisoner Himself:
In the way the soldiers treat the Lord we see the brutality of man, which takes its pleasure in abusing a defenceless person. It was no part of a soldier's duty to mistreat a prisoner. But the lowly grace and perfection of this Holy Prisoner brought God near to them, and fallen man could not bear that.
The same writer watches these men give themselves away, and names the one thing they cannot touch:
Through this whole scene the various classes of men are made to bear witness against themselves. They act out the very depths of their hearts, while God's purpose overrules it all to display the glory of the Man who seems so helpless in their hands. These are the men of blood and iron, the men for whom might is right. They delight to pull others down from their high place. They have no wrongs, even imagined, to repay. They are simply at their business, and they throw themselves into it with the zest of the amphitheatre — the cruel Roman frenzy that gripped every class of the people. Now they have a king in their hands — a King! — and a dignity about Him beyond understanding, which nothing man has done can touch.
The cruelty here is not a Roman fault alone. One writer draws Jew and Gentile into a single verdict:
In what follows we find the story of the brutality of the human heart. It takes its pleasure in abusing those who are handed over to its will and cannot defend themselves. Besides, the Lord must be despised and rejected of men, both by the Jews and by the Gentiles. This proves that man would not have God in His goodness.
The mockery aimed wider than the one Man in front of them:
Again, the Jewish nation had to be humbled — and the soldiers mocked the whole nation in mocking its King. The Lord was dressed in purple as a king, struck and mocked with pretended honours, and then led away to be crucified. On the cross was written "King of the Jews," and the Lord was numbered among the transgressors too. What stands out here is the humiliation of the king of Israel.
- Place. The praetorium is Pilate's official residence in Jerusalem. Elsewhere the same word is given as "palace," "common hall," and "hall of judgement." Roman ground, Roman authority.
- Band. The soldiers call the whole company together. Nothing in their orders demanded it; they did not want to miss the sport.
- Motive. Cruelty here has no grievance behind it. His grace and perfection brought God near to them, and fallen man could not bear it.
- Reach. Priests handed Him over, soldiers took Him up. Both Jew and Gentile despised Him, proving that man would not have God in His goodness.
- King. They mock a King, and in mocking Him they humble His nation. Yet His dignity stays beyond the reach of their hands.
And they clothe him with purple, and bind round on him a crown of thorns which they had plaited.
Roman soldiers take the condemned prisoner into their courtyard and dress Him up as a king for a joke. Yet the robe and the crown both say something true: commentators see here the depth of man's contempt, and the curse Jesus came to carry.
Mark packs the whole insult into a few lines: the robe, the crown, the salute, the blows. One writer sums up how far the mockery went.
They clothed Him with purple and tied on Him a crown of thorns they had woven. They began to greet Him: "Hail, King of the Jews!" No contempt was too gross for them to show Him. "They struck His head with a reed, and spat on Him, and knelt down and worshipped Him."
Mark calls the garment purple; Matthew calls it scarlet. One writer explains the difference from what the garment was.
After the cruel flogging they clothed Him with a purple robe in mockery. Matthew reports a scarlet cloak. This is not a contradiction. "A scarlet military robe stood for the imperial purple, so it was called a purple robe. And because that is what the robe stood for, there is no contradiction" (Lange).
The differences between the accounts are read as fitting each Gospel's portrait of Christ.
Matthew, the Gospel of the King, tells us that Pilate's soldiers mocked Him with a short "scarlet cloak" of royal military design. They put a reed in His right hand and a crown of thorns on His holy brow (Matt. 27:27-29). Mark, the Gospel of Jehovah's devoted Servant, adds the "purple" (Mark 15:17). Herod's troops put a shining or "splendid robe" on the Son of Man in mockery in Luke, the Gospel of the perfect Man (Luke 23:11).
The thorns were more than cruelty. One writer ties them to man's sin, and to what Jesus was taking on Himself.
They made the crown of thorns to drive cruel pain into His brow. Thorns came because of man's sin; they are the signs of the curse. He took the curse upon His own head.
One writer sets that crown against the world's need — and against our own part in it.
He had come to redeem the world; to remove the curse and bring in the blessing, and to do this He must bear the curse. He has redeemed us "from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us — for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree'" (Gal. 3:13), but the original curse fell upon Him, and the sign of this was the crown that He wore. Oh the shame and the glory of it! Shame to man, who crowned Him: to us all, for we all had our part in it, but glory to Him, who in divine compassion, for God's glory and our salvation, took the curse on Himself so that by His death He might remove it.
Mark presents Jesus as the Servant, and here the Servant answers none of it — which was written of Him long before.
Mark next carries his readers from the judgment seat to the Praetorium. In its courtyard the soldiers make the Lord their sport. He endures fresh insults and mockery in silence, just as Isaiah had prophesied: "He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth" (Is. 53:7).
The soldiers were only one group among many in this chapter, and the spread of participants is itself part of the point.
All classes combined against the Lord. Pilate already had scourged Him. The Roman soldiers mocked Him in ways that were cruel as well as contemptuous. The ordinary people — just passers-by — railed at Him. The priests mocked Him with sarcasm. The two crucified thieves — the criminal class, the very scum of humanity — reviled Him. High-born and low-born, Jew and Gentile, were all involved. Yet the result was that they all helped to fulfil the Scriptures, though no doubt without knowing it.
The titles the soldiers gave Him in fun are titles He will hold in fact.
The day will come when the One Whom men crowned with a crown of thorns, and mocked as the King of the Jews, will come forth wearing many crowns as the King of kings. The One Whom men clothed with a purple robe will come to earth "clothed in a robe dipped in blood," and the One Whom men struck with their wicked hands will strike the nations with a rod of iron.
- Cause. Thorns came into the world through man's sin. They are the sign of the curse, and that curse was pressed onto His head.
- Crown. He wore the curse to remove it, so that blessing could come in.
- Colour. Scarlet in Matthew, purple in Mark: the soldiers' military cloak stood in for imperial purple, so the accounts agree.
- Calm. Mark's Servant takes all of it in silence, just as Isaiah had foretold.
- Crowds — and crowns. Soldiers, priests, passers-by, criminals: every class shared the guilt. One day they will all see the mocked King wearing many crowns.
And they began to salute him, Hail, King of the Jews!
The soldiers have dressed Jesus in purple and pressed a crown of thorns onto His head. Now they line up to greet Him as royalty, and every word is meant as a joke.
The greeting was an ordinary Greek word, and its usual sense was not "hail" at all:
As a secondary meaning the verb is used for "saluting," and so for "farewell." But this sense is held within narrow limits of context, as in Matthew 26:49; Mark 15:18; Luke 1:28; John 19:3... Everywhere else it means "rejoice," or "be glad."
So the soldiers were shouting something close to "Joy to You, King of the Jews!" They said it to a bleeding prisoner they were about to execute. The joy was the joke.
The insult had a wider target than the Man in front of them:
The Jewish nation had to be humbled — and the soldiers mocked the whole nation in mocking its King. The Lord was dressed in purple as a king. He was struck and mocked with pretended honours, and then led away to be crucified. On the cross was written "King of the Jews"; the Lord was numbered among the transgressors as well. What is especially brought out here is the humiliation of the King of Israel.
The soldiers were one group among many. Every level of society took its turn:
All classes combined against the Lord. Pilate had already scourged Him. The Roman soldiers mocked Him in ways that were cruel as well as contemptuous. The ordinary people — just passers-by — railed at Him. The priests mocked Him with sarcasm. The two crucified thieves — representatives of the criminal classes, the very lowest of humanity — reviled Him. High-born and low-born, Jew and Gentile, were all involved. Yet in the end they were all helping to fulfil the Scriptures, though no doubt without realising it.
Mockery wants a reaction. They got none, so they pushed further — and they were not the ones in control:
It seemed that the Holy Sufferer was wholly in their hands. Yet who can fail to see that behind all they did, a higher power ordered the details and caused the wrath of men to praise Him? They bowed the knee saying, "Hail, King of the Jews," and since no retaliation came from that blessed One, their satire and mockery turned into sheer brutality. They spat on Him in derision and struck Him. All this only fulfilled the words of the prophet: "I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard. I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting" (Isaiah 50:6).
Why treat a prisoner this way at all? The answer exposes the mockers, and the defeat turns out to be theirs:
Before His crucifixion the Roman soldiers add their malicious abuse. This was not done to criminals, but again it exposes the cruel hatred of man toward his Creator. His own perfect truth and goodness seem to be the very reason for their harsh violence, contempt and mockery. The believing heart can easily picture the calm dignity with which the blessed Lord of glory bore all this. In reality His was a precious moral triumph. His enemies little realised how great a defeat they were suffering when their wickedness rose to such a height.
The soldiers picked the one title that was true. Believers repeat their words and mean them:
We take up those very words which they uttered in blasphemy, and make them the expression of what is divinely true. He is a crowned King; the crown of thorns is the crown of glory now. They write over the cross His accusation. It was the truth about what He was, "The King of the Jews," for what charge could there be against the all-perfect One?
Bent knees and a royal greeting will return to this same Man — but not as theatre:
Those who mocked Him in this way will yet see Him in His glory as King of Israel. They will be compelled to bow the knee before Him. From His lips they will receive the righteous sentence on their mockery and on all their sins. He is indeed Israel's King... Soon the day will come when He will take the kingdom that the leaders of Israel refused Him when He came the first time.
- Salute — the Greek word normally means "rejoice"; the soldiers were wishing joy to a Man they were about to kill.
- Nation — in insulting the King, they were insulting the people whose King He was.
- Everyone — Pilate, soldiers, crowd, priests and criminals all joined in, and all helped fulfil Scripture without knowing it.
- Silence — He did not hit back, so the mockery turned into brutality, just as the prophet had said.
- Knee — the same knees that bent as a joke will bend for real, and the title they used as sarcasm is His by right.
And they struck his head with a reed, and spat on him, and, bending the knee, did him homage.
Roman soldiers have already dressed Jesus in purple and pressed a crown of thorns on His head. Now the mockery turns into blows, spitting and a bent knee — and the question is who is really losing here.
One writer follows the mockery from the mock salute to the moment they lead Him out, and finds no limit to it.
But, further, they heaped every indignity on Him along the way... "And they began to salute Him, Hail, King of the Jews!" There was no contempt too gross for Him. "And when they had mocked Him, they stripped Him of the purple cloak and put His own clothes on Him. And they led Him out to crucify Him."
Soldiers had no duty to treat prisoners like this. One commentator finds the reason in what the Prisoner Himself was — and sees who really lost that morning.
This was not done to criminals, but again this exposes the cruel hatred of man toward his Creator. His own perfect truth and goodness seems to be the very reason for their harsh violence, contempt and mockery... they add to it the striking of His head with a reed, clearly meant to press the thorns further into His flesh. They spit on Him and mock Him with worship... In reality, His was a precious moral triumph, and His enemies little realised how great a defeat they were suffering when their wickedness rose to such a height.
The spitting was written down long before the soldiers did it. One writer reads Isaiah's words here and points to what gave men their opening: the very proof of His love.
"I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting." How solemn the thought, and what a picture of God in the presence of man! His humiliation should have made Him infinitely more precious, since it was the incomparable proof of His love. Instead it gave man, under Satan's leading, the chance he wanted to insult to the utmost the One who did not revile in return.
Read the whole passage and one thing is missing: any recorded word from Jesus. That silence is not weakness but the mark of the Servant.
All men in that hour were showing themselves in their darkest colours. In these verses we do not read of one thing that He said. It was just as the prophet had said, "like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth." It was man's hour, and the power of darkness was at its height. We see the perfection of the holy Servant of the Lord in this: He suffered in silence all that men did to Him.
Each detail of the mockery has an exact opposite waiting in the future. One writer lines them up one by one — crown, reed, knee.
A righteous God will yet crown Him with many crowns. Here He submits while wicked men crown Him with thorns. He who will rule the nations with a rod of iron allows poor wretched man to strike Him with a reed. In mockery they bow the knee before the One to whom they will have to bow in the day of judgment.
Mark, unlike Matthew, does not put a reed in His hand as a mock sceptre — here the reed only strikes. One writer sees in that blow a picture drawn from Israel's wilderness journey.
As in Matthew, He is crowned with thorns, the sign of the curse, and clothed with the purple. But here there is no reed-sceptre: the reed only strikes Him. And it is indeed only a reed that strikes the Rock. Yet soon, through the marvellous working of God, the waters will flow out. They will become a great river, going out on every side to gladden the earth.
The soldiers were only one voice in the chorus. One writer counts who else joined in.
All classes combined against the Lord... The Roman soldiers mocked Him in ways that were cruel as well as contemptuous. The ordinary people — just passers-by — insulted Him. The priests mocked Him with sarcasm... High-born and low-born, Jew and Gentile, were all involved. Yet in the end they all helped to fulfil the Scriptures, though no doubt without knowing it.
- Cause. His goodness, not any crime, drew out the violence. What should have made Him precious gave men their chance to insult Him.
- Silence. He answered nothing — the Servant's perfection showed in bearing it all without a word.
- Reach. Soldiers, passers-by, priests, high and low, Jew and Gentile all had a hand in it — and each one helped fulfil the Scriptures without knowing it.
- Reversal. The thorn-crown answers to many crowns, the reed to a rod of iron, the mocking knee to the knee that must bow in judgment.
- Result. The reed struck the Rock — and from Him the waters flow out to gladden the earth.
And when they had mocked him, they took the purple off him, and put his own clothes on him; and they lead him out that they may crucify him.
The soldiers finish their game. They pull the mock robe off Jesus, put His own clothes back on Him, and march Him out of the city to die. Commentators ask what that moment exposes in man, and what the outside place means for us.
Commentators read this verse as the end point of all that came before.
These are solemn words. They were written as the climax to the world's rejection of the Son of God. Israel's leaders had plotted the death of Jesus. They made a bargain with Judas Iscariot to betray Him. When He allowed them to take Him, they heaped on His holy head every insult their wicked hearts could invent. How awful was the treatment of the Creator by the creature. How horrified the angels must have been to see man's dark rebellion. How puzzled at their Lord's meek submission to all the dishonour.
Mark calls the robe purple. Matthew calls it scarlet. There is a simple reason for the difference.
After the cruel scourging they clothed Him with a purple robe in mockery. Matthew reports a scarlet cloak. This is not a contradiction. "A scarlet military robe was made to imitate the imperial purple, so the description, a purple robe. And because this is the symbolic meaning of the robe, there is no discrepancy" (Lange). They made the crown of thorns to inflict cruel pain on His brow. Thorns came because of man's sin; they are the signs of the curse. He took the curse on His own head.
Through the whole scene of abuse Mark records nothing that Jesus said.
All men in that hour were showing themselves in their darkest colours. In these verses we do not read of one thing that He said. It was just as the prophet had said, "like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth." It was man's hour, and the power of darkness was at its height. We see the perfection of the holy Servant of the Lord in this: He suffered in silence all that He endured at the hands of men.
Each piece of the mockery has a real counterpart still to come.
In the way the soldiers treated the Lord we see the brutality of man, which finds pleasure in abusing a defenceless person. It was no part of a soldier's duty to mistreat a prisoner. But the lowly grace and perfection of this Holy Prisoner brought God near to them, and fallen man could not bear it. A righteous God will yet crown Him with many crowns; yet He submits as wicked men crown Him with thorns. He who will rule the nations with a rod of iron allows poor wretched man to strike Him with a reed. In mockery they bow the knee before the One to whom they will have to bow in the day of judgment.
They led Him out of the city. That outside place becomes a call to His followers.
So we come to the practical exhortation, "Therefore let us go to Him outside the camp." But note: that outside place is no longer seen as the place of judgment from God. It is the place of reproach from man, and we are called to go there to the very limit. He suffered as the holy victim under the judgment of God: He endured as the patient martyr under the reproach of men. We cannot share His sufferings at the hand of God, but it is our privilege to share the insults He received at the hands of men. He went outside the camp to bear our judgment: we go outside the camp to bear His reproach.
The same writer sets this scene against the resurrection, where Jesus leads people out for a very different purpose.
In the rejection of Jesus there is a background of darkness, evil and hatred. But in the resurrection of Jesus, we see His actions in the light of the love shown in His death. We see this as the blessed Lord leads out His disciples as far as Bethany, for "lifting up his hands he blessed them."
- Climax. The mock robe comes off and the walk to death begins. This is the high point of the world's rejection of the Son of God.
- Costume. The purple robe was a soldier's scarlet cloak, mocking imperial purple. The thorns are the sign of the curse, and He took it on His own head.
- Silence. Man's hour was at its darkest, and Mark records not one word from Him. The perfect Servant suffered it all without answering.
- Reversal. They crowned Him with thorns; God will crown Him with many crowns. They struck Him with a reed; He will rule the nations. They knelt in mockery; they will kneel in judgment.
- Outward. He went out to bear our judgment; we go out to bear His reproach. And the same Lord leads His own out to bless them.