Matthew 27:27

 Matthew 27:27 says, Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers.  There was a whole band of soldiers gathered around Jesus, but that would not have been enough if He had chosen not to go.  No matter how much opposition we face in our walk with Christ today, as long as we continue to put our faith in Him it will never be enough to overcome us spiritually.  Verse twenty eight adds, And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe.  Then soldiers then attempted to humiliate Jesus, stripping Him and putting a scarlet robe, the color of royalty, on Him.  Verse twenty-nine continues, And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews!  Then, they platted a crown of thorns and put it on Jesus' head, put a reed in His right hand, bowed their knee before Him, and mockingly proclaimed Him King of the Jews.  They did this all to mock Jesus by putting the signs of royalty on Him, but what they didn't know was that they were correct.  Someone may mock Jesus today, but He is the King of the Jews, and one day every knee will bow to Him for real.  Verse thirty adds, And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head.  They spit on Jesus and beat him on the head with a reed.  People are still mocking and spitting on Jesus spiritually today, and yet like with those in that day, He still died for them and they can find forgiveness and salvation if they only believe in Him.  Verse thirty-one concludes, And after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him.  After mocking Jesus, they took off the robe and put His own clothes back on Him, but they did not change the fact that He is the King of the Jews, and of all who put their faith in Him.  Verse thirty-two states, And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: him they compelled to bear his cross.  The soldiers found a man from Cyrene named Simon and compelled him to carry the cross of Jesus.  Still, he could only physically carry it and could never carry the redemption that would be made available by Jesus.  We may attempt to physically carry the cross of Christ today, but can never carry His cross.  The cross of Jesus brought salvation, and even if we do as we are told to do and take up our cross daily, it can only mean dying to self and not dying for all of humanity.  Verse thirty-three adds, And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull,  They crucified Jesus at Golgotha, the place of the skull.  Verse thirty-four continues, They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink.  They attempted to give Jesus a drink of vinegar mixed with gall, but He tasted it and would not drink it.  Verse thirty-five declares, And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots.  The soldiers, after crucifying Jesus, cast lots for His clothes, which also fulfilled a prophesy about the Messiah.  I am sure that these Roman soldiers did not say to themselves that they must do this to fulfill a prophesy.  Verse thirty-six adds, And sitting down they watched him there;  The soldiers then begin to watch Jesus, I believe to see what He was going to do.  It is never enough to just watch Jesus to see what He might do to prove that He is the Savior, but we must put our faith in the fact that He is without any physical signs.  Verse thirty-seven concludes, And set up over his head his accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.  What the soldiers meant as a mockery with the sign over His head  proclaimed the truth of Who Jesus really is.  No matter how much people attempt to mock and discredit Jesus today, they will never change Who He really is, and that is the Redeemer of all.  Of course, even though Jesus died to redeem all, unless we individually put our faith in Him, we will not receive the benefit of that redemption.