Spit and Slaps

During His trial, the high priest asked Jesus if He was the Messiah, the Son of God. After Jesus affirmed that He was indeed the Son of God, the high priest said that Jesus’ statement was all that was necessary to condemn Him to death and the others who were at the trial agreed. What happened next is recorded in the following verses:

 Then they spat in His face and beat Him; and others struck Him with the palms of their hands, saying, “Prophesy to us, Christ! Who is the one who struck You?” (Matthew 26:67-68)

Now, as best you can, try to imagine that you were one of these men who spit on Jesus and slapped Him with such disrespect and anger. Then, imagine that sixty days after Jesus’ trial, God opened your eyes and made you alive spiritually. Suddenly, you believed and immediately, you begin crying because of how you treated Jesus. Even though you quickly realize that you had received forgiveness of all your sins, memories of you hitting Jesus keep coming back and your heart overflowed with regret over what you did to Him.

I write all this to say that in reality, every single Christian should be able to look back on their life with the same regret over how they treated Jesus. Yes, we did not spit on Him and slap Him during His trial that night. But by our attitudes and actions, we did indeed spit in His face and slap Him often with the same type of anger and disrespect those men possessed that night. Truly, this is how Jesus perceived our countless acts of rebellion and vile attitudes toward Him every time we committed them.

If any of those men did indeed believe in Jesus subsequently, rest assured that they clearly understood and felt the love of Christ that is beyond comprehension. They often broke down in tears whenever Jesus’ parting words came to their mind, “Forgive them for they know not what they do.” Only when we realize that we also spit in Jesus’ face and slapped Him can we know and feel the love of Christ which is beyond all comprehension.