The Roman soldiers had a job to do.  They had been given the job of torturing and finally executing Jesus of Nazareth.  They tended to be very good at their job.  They had the right tools to do their job.  They had that tool called the scourge.  It was a handle with strips of leather attached.  Attached to the leather were jagged pieces of bone or metal.  The scourge was used like a whip.  The victim was stretched out, back exposed.  The scourging began.  Those jagged pieces of bone would rip and gouge flesh.  It was a horrible tool!  But it did the job!

For our mid-week Lent service, Pastor Scott Schwertfeger from Zion Lutheran, Leeds and Lodi preached on our Lenten theme Baptized into His Death.

In order to understand and apply our text, we need to understand an ancient custom.  Long ago, a person might show deep sorrow or anger by grabbing hold of their robe, or whatever garment they were wearing, and tearing it.  We have many examples of this in the Bible.  We mention only a couple.  When Joseph’s brothers presented Joseph’s blood-stained coat of many colors to their father and told him the lie that Joseph must have been killed by a wild animal, Jacob grabbed his robe and tore it.  He was devastated! 

What were Adam and Eve’s physical capabilities before the Fall into sin?  It’s an intriguing question.  What was the human body capable of before sin?  Theories abound.  There is one theory that holds that before the Fall into sin our world had a hyperbaric atmosphere.  That means the air pressure would have been higher.  This would mean that Adam would have had super-oxygenated blood.  One result of this would be that Adam could have run great distances without getting tired.  That is only speculation!  But it is fun to think about.  Wouldn’t it be fun to run and run and run and never get winded?

Paul was nuts!  That’s what some people thought.  The miles he traveled around the northern Mediterranean countries, the zeal, the focus, the determination with which he proclaimed the kingdom of God, the sufferings he endured.  Who does that?  “He’s not right!”  That was the conclusion of some.  Paul addresses this in the verse before our text.  He wrote, If we are out of our mind, it is for the sake of God. (2 Corinthians 5:13)