Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 2333
“Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Common Hall and gathered unto Him the whole band of soldiers.” Matthew 27:27.
I HAVE not observed that anyone has turned to account the fact that “the whole band of soldiers” gathered in the Praetorium, or Common Hall, for the purpose of mocking our Lord. That they did mock Him has often been noticed and preached upon, but that they should have gathered unto Him the whole garrison—that all should have been there—is mentioned both by Matthew and by Mark. And this being twice recorded cannot have been without some meaning and some lesson for us.
To begin, then, our blessed Lord, being condemned to die, was given over to the brutal soldiers who garrisoned Jerusalem. They lived in quarters round about the palace of the governor and when the Savior was delivered to them to be put to death, they made Him the center of their mockery and derision before they executed the terrible sentence upon Him. Does it not strike you that any man condemned to die ought to be protected against such usage as that? If he must die, some respect should be paid to one who is about to endure the death penalty. I think that there should be great indulgence shown in such a case—at any rate, nothing should be done or said to hurt the feelings, or to wound the sensibilities. Pity seems to say, “If the man must die, then so be it, but let us not, for a single moment make jest of him. Let there not be mirth—that is a brutality not to be thought of at such a time as this! And to make a man, about to die, the subject of scorn is a superfluity of cruelty and wickedness.” I think that even a devil might be ashamed of such savagery as this!
But there was no law to protect the Savior from these soldiers. Every man’s heart seems to have been steeled against Him—the common dictates of the most ignorant humanity appear to have been violated. They said by their actions, if not in words, “He shall not only die, but He shall be stripped of all His honor. He shall be robbed of every comfort. He shall become the butt and target of all the cruel arrows of contempt that we can shoot at Him.”
Still, why is it said that, in order to make Him the object of derision, they gathered together, “the whole band”? I do not know how many soldiers constituted the garrison, or how many were barracked round about the governor’s palace, but they gathered together, “the whole band”—not merely a few of them who were on duty that day, but all were summoned to make a mockery of Christ. It was not because He needed to be guarded lest He should escape, for He had no desire to be set free. It was not because the soldiers would have needed to keep Him securely guarded lest the people should attempt to rescue Him, for the Jews did not want Him to be rescued. On the contrary, it was by their clamor that He was doomed to die. They had cried, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” He had no friends to stand up for Him, no band of disciples to come and force the soldiers away and set Him free. Therefore these soldiers did not guard Him with the whole strength of the band on that account.
Nor were they all needed to execute the death sentence. With a people eager for His death, four soldiers, a single quaternion, sufficed. He carried His own Cross and they had but to drive the nails into His hands and feet and fasten Him to the tree. That could have soon done it to a Victim so defenseless, so inoffensive—it did not need that they should gather together, “the whole band,” and so we are told it as a remarkable circumstance which did not rise necessarily out of the narrative. It must have a meaning of its own, “They gathered unto Him the whole band of soldiers.”
I shall speak thus upon it. First, it would appear that the soldiers were unanimous in mocking their Prisoner. Secondly, so are men united in opposing Christ. And, thirdly, what shall we say of both the facts of which we are to speak tonight?
I. First, then, it is clear that THE SOLDIERS WERE UNANIMOUS IN MOCKING THEIR PRISONER.
Upon this, I remark, first, that men are very apt to go together when they go wrong. You notice, in a workshop, how the religion of Christ will be despised and how certain men will lead the way in uttering calumnies against it. And then the rest will follow. When men go astray, they are like a flock of sheep—one gets through the hedge and all the rest go after it. We have heard of one sheep leaping the parapet of a bridge into a river—and the whole flock went after it and all were destroyed. Men are such curious beings, not only the creatures of their own habits, but the imitators of other men’s example! I know not how it is, but persons who, alone and apart, would seem to have some good inclinations, will shake them all off when they get into evil company. At home, they will talk reasonably, but, in the crowd, they speak madly. At home and alone, they are amenable to rebuke and conviction. But when they got with other men, they will not hear a word of it—they shut their ears to anything like good teaching—and they run greedily to do mischief. I do not, therefore, so much wonder that when our Lord was given over to the soldiers, they gathered together the whole band, for it is so usual for men to go together when they go wrong.