scourgingFirst thing in the morning, the chief priests together with the elders and scribes, in short the whole Sanhedrin, had their plan ready. They had Jesus bound and took him away and handed him over to Pilate.

Pilate questioned him: ‘Are you the king of the Jews?’

He answered, ‘It is you who say it.’

And the chief priests brought many accusations against him.

Pilate questioned him again: ‘Have you no reply at all? See how many accusations they are bringing against you!’

But, to Pilate’s amazement, Jesus made no further reply.

At festival time Pilate used to release a prisoner for them, anyone they asked for. Now a man called Barabbas was then in prison with the rioters who had committed murder during the uprising. When the crowd went up and began to ask Pilate the customary favour, Pilate answered them, ‘Do you want me to release for you the king of the Jews?’ For he realised it was out of jealousy that the chief priests had handed Jesus over. The chief priests, however, had incited the crowd to demand that he should release Barabbas for them instead.

Then Pilate spoke again: ‘But in that case, what am I to do with the man you call king of the Jews?’

They shouted back, ‘Crucify him!’

Pilate asked them, ‘Why? What harm has he done?’

But they shouted all the louder, ‘Crucify him!’

So Pilate, anxious to placate the crowd, released Barabbas for them and, having ordered Jesus to be scourged, handed him over to be crucified.

Mark 15.1-15

This Mystery presents us with the brutality with which Jesus was treated – truth and compassion were trampled and vicious physical violence done to him.

Again, we accompany Jesus in this pain and the attempts to humiliate and diminish and injure him. We cannot over estimate the hurt done to this supremely sensitive and loving man, the blasphemy committed against God in flesh. And all this for us.

As we accompany him, this is our consolation: that all this is for us…

Having gathered your thoughts, pray a decade of the  Rosary:

  • Say the Lord’s Prayer once.
  • Say the Hail Mary ten times.
  • Conclude this decade of the Rosary by praying the Glory be once.

If you wish to extend your time of prayer and reflection , you might like to pray the following poem by Emily Dickinson:

No Rack can torture me —
My Soul — at Liberty —
Behind this mortal Bone
There knits a bolder One —

You cannot prick with saw —
Nor pierce with Scimitar —
Two Bodies — therefore be —
Bind One — The Other fly —

The Eagle of his Nest
No easier divest —
And gain the Sky
Than mayest Thou —

Except Thyself may be
Thine Enemy —
Captivity is Consciousness —
So’s Liberty.

Detail from The Sorrowful Mysteries: Rosary Triptych by Arthur Fleischmann, presently on loan to the Church of Our Lady, St John’s Wood. Photo (c) 2011, Allen Morris