TRANSLATION MATTHEW 27:27

Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus inside the praetorium and gathered the whole cohort around him. They stripped him of his clothes and put a scarlet military tunic around him. Pleating together a crown from thorns, they put it on his head and a reed in his right hand, then kneeling before him they mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Judaeans!”

They spat upon him and took the reed and kept beating him on the head. And when they had mocked him they stripped him of the tunic and put his own clothes on him, and led him off to be killed on the stake

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Although the details of this bullying are sadly coherent, we should note throughout the description of Jesus’ suffering and death the influence of Isaiah 53.which for example says that he “did not open his mouth” and that he “did not hide his face from shame and spitting.”

The Roman mockery focuses on the assumption that Jesus claimed to be the Messiah, king of the Judaeans. The legionnaires would have been familiar with this title as potentially leading to armed rebellion. Their behaviour is still current, as at Abu Ghraib.

If anyone is tempted to think that this bullying is not so bad, they should remember that Jesus had just been flogged: that is, struck with a multi-headed whip in the ends of which bits of bone or metal had been embedded. Jewish Law limited its use to a maximum of 39 blows. Many victims died during flogging or soon after. It was sometimes nevertheless regarded as merciful as such a death made hanging on a stake unnecessary.

Matthew, like all the gospel writers, recounts the brutality calmly and without comment. A holy life was being systematically torn to shreds by those whose job it was to do so. Many before and after Jesus had suffered the same penalty. No misunderstood magic could make any difference to this reality.