There’s a quiet horror in our selected passage. It moves swiftly—almost too swiftly—from injustice to violence to death. Yet within those few words lies the weight of our redemption. Pilate, knowing full well that Jesus was innocent, chose public approval over truth. And so the sinless Son of God was flogged. Stripped, tied, and struck with brutal cords until His back was torn open.

Mark 15:15 (BSB) says, “So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed Him over to be crucified.”

These are the stripes that Isaiah spoke of, centuries before—“by His stripes we are healed.”

Let that sink in. The lash that fell on His flesh was not random cruelty—it was substitution. What we deserved for our sin, He bore in His body. The punishment that brought us peace was laid upon Him. These were not meaningless wounds. They were the visible evidence of love in action—God’s justice and mercy meeting in the battered frame of His Son.

Mark records it without embellishment. He doesn’t dwell on the pain. But he makes it clear. Jesus was scourged before the cross. Not only crucified, but flogged. The One who touched lepers with healing hands now receives stripes from the hands of sinful men. He had created every fiber of their being—yet He allowed those very creatures to tear His own flesh.

It is a moment of unspeakable sorrow, and yet also the foundation of all our hope. Because the stripes He bore were for us. For every shameful thought, every bitter word, every rebellious act—He received the blow. Not reluctantly, but willingly. Out of love.

So when you feel condemned, or when the weight of your sin presses heavy on your heart, remember this: the stripes of Jesus speak a better word. They speak of a debt paid, a guilt removed, a healing offered. The crowd cried out for Barabbas—an insurrectionist, a murderer—and he walked free while Christ went to the scourge. What a picture of the gospel. The guilty released. The righteous condemned.

Does this truth stir you today? Have you paused lately to consider what it cost Him to make you clean? In the flurry of life, we can forget. But the gospel never grows old. Those wounds remain, not to shame us—but to call us to worship. To remind us of a love that did not stop short of suffering.

Cross References:
Isaiah 53:5 – “But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.”
1 Peter 2:24 – “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By His stripes you are healed.”
Romans 5:8 – “But God proves His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”