2

THE SCOURGING
AT THE PILLAR

Jesus is arrested, stripped and beaten.
Blood begins to flow down his back.
Prison brutality.

The Lamb stands there silently
before being led to the slaughterhouse.

Why this extra cruelty?

Why does the human heart have this extra cavity of evil,
this extra beat of brutality?

Salt in the wounds.
Kicking a person when they are down.
Stabbing the already dead (in the back).
Rubbing it in.

Not just betrayed by Judas,
but kissed by him,
and in the very act of betrayal.

Not just whipped by soldiers,
but mocked by them as they hit him.

Why are people like this? Why?

Jesus’ back slashed like a tire, cut,
and the soldiers continued
with their nervous laughter called evil.

Why do people seem to treat religious
and political prisoners worse?

Who are the people down through the years
who have had to face the same tortures
that Jesus had to face?

Did Jesus’ death make any difference?

Does each person give pain differently?

Does evil and cruelty spill over
onto how a person treats a wife,
or husband, or child,
or the people one bumps into in the market place,
or in traffic on the way home from hurting a someone?

Does each cruel lash of the whip
effect the one who does the whipping,
the one who does the laughing,
the one who gives the orders?

Lord, have mercy on us in our cruelty?