Holy Thursday - The Humility of Jesus
Today is Holy Thursday, the day we remember the Last Supper and the washing of the disciples feet—both acts of great humility. But in keeping with our timeline, I’d like to look at another act of great humility further along in the story. Yesterday we looked at the unjust trial that Pontius Pilate oversaw, but today we are looking at the suffering that Pilate caused.
The wounds Jesus received clean our souls, much like the washing of the disciple’s feet cleaned their soles. (See what I did there?) 😂
Pilate Has Jesus Flogged
I’ve often wondered why Pilate would order Jesus to be flogged, especially if he was going to crucify him later. It seems a bit redundant to me. This is just my personal speculation, but I wonder if Jesus was flogged because that was Pilate’s attempt to save Jesus…in a spineless sort of way.
Pilate’s Lack of Moral Courage
Pilate flogs Jesus because he is trying to get the best of both worlds—keep the innocent man alive, but hurt him just enough to make the crowd happy. He probably figures a good old-fashioned flogging will get the angry mob off his front doorstep. But that doesn’t satisfy the crowd and instead they yell, “crucify him.”1
Pilate believes that Jesus is innocent and yet we see that he lacked moral courage—he was the governor of the area and had the authority to let Jesus go free, and likely had more than enough soldiers around to prevent an uprising, but instead was swayed by the mob and sends Jesus off to be crucified.
Foretelling of Jesus’ Death Fulfilled
Pilate’s lack of courage inflicted great suffering on Jesus and yet it was not a surprise to Jesus—he knew he would be beaten because he had told his disciples about it beforehand.2 Pilate’s choices were his own, but they brought about the fulfillment of God’s plan of salvation. Jesus humbly accepted all this for our sake.
Preparing Our Hearts
We pray that God would give us humility and moral courage today and everyday.
A note about the art
Purple is the liturgical colour for Lent, a colour of preparation and repentance. I wanted a special reminder as we enter what is known as the Triduum, the three days of Easter. Tomorrow is Good Friday and that is the day Lent has prepared us for.