Suffering Ridicule

As a teenager I was uncomfortable with speaking up for Jesus, maybe afraid that it did not fit the world around me. It was common for educators in the Universities to attack Christian moral principles. Parents who dared to discipline their children the old fashioned way were ridiculed as not being modern, not keeping up with new teaching about child development. Dr. Benjamin Spock was teaching people to raise their children to encourage individual expression. Many parents became excessively permissive, and raised a few generations of children who did not know the importance of discipline and self-control. My mother was not afraid of being ridiculed for being old fashioned. She read Spock’s book, but decided that the Bible was a better authority.  She switched my bare legs when I needed it, and once made me apologize to my teacher in front of my classmates for leaving school without permission.

That day the County Heath Department nurses came to school at Pleasant Grove to give inoculations for Typhoid, Tetanus, and other required shots. Some of the older boys decided that it was only fair that we go home, because the shots had made us ill.  So several of us started up the road, and as we looked back, others were beginning to follow. Soon we saw the teachers gathering up the stragglers, but we were far away by that time, and we left the road and went to the creek where we could proceed without being seen from the road. After walking two miles home, I went to bed to justify my pretension of being sick. But my mother did not respect my way of expressing myself.  She took me back to school, and I made an apology to the teachers in front of the students. My mother was not worried about what people would think about her actions. She was concerned about teaching me the difference between right and wrong.

Those who stand for principles of righteousness will often be scorned by the world. Some may suffer loss, as did Judge Roy Moore for his stand for the Ten Commandments. But no one ever suffered scorn for the cause of righteousness as did our Lord Jesus Christ. Matthew chapter 26 records the insults: “Then they spit in his face and struck him with their fists. Others slapped him and said, ‘Prophesy to us, Christ. Who hit you?’" ------

“They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand and knelt in front of him and mocked him. ‘Hail, king of the Jews!’ they said. They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again.  After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.” ------

“Above his head they placed the written charge against him: THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS. Two robbers were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, ‘You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!’" ------

“In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. ‘He saved others,’ they said, ‘but he can't save himself! He's the King of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, 'I am the Son of God.'"

Somehow Jesus restrained himself, and did not use His power to destroy the mocking people. How could He show such restraint in the face of such ridicule? He did it because of the expected outcome, that this display of His love through suffering would touch the hearts of those who read, hear, and see the story, and that they will believe in Him and have eternal life.  It is a powerful message. I am no longer ashamed of Jesus, and gladly confess my dependence on Him for life.

By: Randolph Gonce