Sharper scourges tear His heart!

(Charles Spurgeon)

"He had Jesus scourged, and handed Him over to be
 crucified." Mark 15:15

Pilate delivered our Lord to the lictors to be scourged.
The Roman scourge was a most dreadful instrument of
torture. Sharp bones were inter-twisted in the whip, so
that every time the lash came down, these pieces of bone
inflicted fearful lacerations, and tore off the flesh! The
Savior was, no doubt, bound to the column, and thus
beaten. He had been beaten before; but this scourging
by the the Roman lictors was probably the most severe
of His flagellations. My soul, stand here and weep over
His poor stricken body!

Believer in Jesus, can you gaze upon Him without tears,
as He stands before you--the picture of agonizing love?

He is at once fair as the lily for innocence--and red as
the rose with the crimson of His own blood. As we feel
the sure and blessed healing which His stripes have
wrought in us, does not our heart melt at once with
love and grief? If ever we have loved our Lord Jesus,
surely we must feel that affection glowing now within
our bosoms!

"See how the patient Jesus stands,
Insulted in His lowest case.
Sinners have bound the Almighty's hands,
And spit in their Creator's face!

With thorns His temples gored and gashed,
Send streams of blood from every part.
His back's with knotted scourges lashed,
But sharper scourges tear His heart!"

We would readily go to our chambers and weep and
pray our Beloved to imprint the image of His bleeding
self upon the tablets of our hearts--and sorrow that
our sin should have cost Him so dear!

"With His stripes we are healed!" Isaiah 53:5