Now the men who were holding Jesus began to mock him and beat him; they also blindfolded him and kept asking him, “Prophecy! Who is it that struck you?” They kept heaping many other insults on him.
On the way to his crucifixion, Jesus was mocked by those who had captured him. Mockery is a way of hiding from people we don’t agree with or don’t like. But the way of Jesus is inconsistent with mockery that closes hearts, builds walls, and tears down other people. We who seek to follow Jesus mustn’t make fun of those who are different from us in beliefs, politics, lifestyles, or religious practice. We must follow Jesus in the way of love, loving both our neighbors and our enemies. There is no room in love for mockery.
As Jesus was being held before his mock trial – by which I mean, not a genuinely fair trial – those who were guarding him “began to mock him and beat him” (Luke 22:63). They played a cruel game with him, blindfolding him and then hitting him, saying, “Prophesy! Who is it that struck you?” (22:64). Obviously, they knew of Jesus’s reputation as a prophet and they were enjoying the chance to make fun of him while they hit him and insulted him.
I’d like to think with you for a few moments about mockery. The English verb “to mock” means “to treat with contempt or ridicule, to make fun of.” The Greek verb translated in verse 63 as “mock” meant “to deride, ridicule, make fun of, mock.” When we read today’s passage, we rightly imagine crude laughter, rude joking, and explicit humiliation, the sort of behavior that is part of mockery.
These days, followers of Jesus are sometimes the victims of mockery. The leading atheist's lovemaking believers look like fools. Certain popular comedians make fun of Christians (and sometimes, I’m sad to say, we rather deserve it). In the past few years, I’ve even read the statements of certain government officials that deride all believers as being dimwitted and unscientific. Though this is distressing, to be sure, it shouldn’t surprise us that we who follow Jesus are sometimes treated as he was.
But I must confess that I’m even more concerned about ways that Christians can use mockery to put down others and hide from their humanity. I’ve never heard a believer make fun of Jesus, but I have heard Christians put down people with whom they disagree. Believers on one side of the political spectrum can put down people on the other side—and this is a two-way street, by the way. Christians of one church or denomination can make fun of those who are not in their tribe, who worship differently than they do. Believers in Jesus can ridicule folks from other religious traditions, especially when their practices seem strange to us. In addition to being unkind and inconsistent with the example of Jesus, this sort of behavior prevents us from truly engaging with other human beings. We can hide behind our mockery so we don’t have to deal with ideas that stretch us or human beings whom we find difficult to love.
When I mock someone, I am slamming the door on walking the second mile with them. I am sealing off my heart from empathy. And I am making sure there is no chance I will love my neighbor or my enemy. The way of Jesus is not a humorless way. But his way is inconsistent with mockery that closes hearts, builds walls, and tears down other people.
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