Empire continues to respond to Jesus and his kingship following his sentencing by Pilate as the soldiers gather to give him a hard time. Mark (15:16-21) tells us that they called a whole battalion together, which could have been in the region of 500 men. Whether Mark intends for this to be taken literally as the whole cohort or just as a figurative term we cannot tell. What it does tell us is that a greater number gathered around Jesus to abuse him.

The abuse is based on Jesus’ kingship – or rather what the soldiers thought kingship meant. For they dress him up to look like a king that they would recognise. They put a crown on his head and a purple robe on his back. The colour purple was representative of power in the Roman Empire. Originally worn by triumphant generals it was then worn by emperors as a symbol of their status. And then they honour him in the imperial way, saying ‘Hail, King of the Jews.’ Their abuse then becomes physical as they hit his head with a staff and spit at him, all while mocking him with false honour.

So what could be going on here? Is it merely a group of hardened soldiers having some brutal fun at Jesus’ expense, something that they would often do in similar circumstances? Or is there something deeper here? I want to suggest that partly what we see here is that the deep feelings of resentment that have built up over time within the soldiers towards empire are now spilling over. The dress him up as an emperor and because they have only negative feelings about their ruler all these feelings are projected upon Jesus. They will never get to vent their anger against a real emperor, but the anger will always come out somewhere and that day it came out upon Jesus.