Crucify the Son of God Afresh

After Pilate released Jesus to be crucified, the Roman soldiers took the opportunity to mock the Savior.  We read, “Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers. And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe. And when they had plaited a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews! And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head” (Matt. 27:27-30).  This was certainly cruel treatment and just one small piece of unimaginable suffering for the Savior during these last hours of His life.  Someone mentioned in our gospel doctrine class that they wouldn’t want to be these soldiers at the judgment day, and I certainly agree: I would not envy them as they stand next to the Savior and account for their actions in abusing Him.  And yet, someone else made the insightful comment that in fact it doesn’t matter that it was Jesus Himself they were persecuting.  No matter who it may have been that they mocked and beat—it would still have been as if they were hurting Him. 

               This is of course exactly what the Savior taught shortly before His death.  In the parable of the sheep and the goats, we read these sobering words: “For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink…. Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me” (Matt. 25:43-45).  If those Roman guards had been abusing some person unknown to history, their guilt and responsibility at the judgment day would be no different than for doing it to Jesus.  For to do it to any child of God is to do it to Him, for He is the one who has “bought with a price” all men (1 Corinthians 6:20).  King Benjamin taught a similar principle when he told his people, “When ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God” (Mosiah 2:17).  Surely the corollary would likewise apply for us: when we are in the disservice of our fellow beings, we are in the disservice of God.  Any time we mistreat anyone, any time we mock or criticize or injure or act unfairly towards our fellow beings then it is as if we are doing it to the Savior.     

             Jesus Christ is the Light of the world, the “true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world” (Doctrine and Covenants 93:2).  Mormon witnessed that “the Spirit of Christ is given to every man”—whether they realize it or not, all men and women have been enlightened and blessed by the Savior (Moroni 7:16).  When we do something to dim that light in anyone, to offend that Spirit of Christ that is in them, then we are working against Him who gave all light and sent His Spirit to us all.  John Donne’s famous poem suggest that we should not “send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee.”  We might similarly say that we should not wonder for whom the bell tolls, for it tolls for the Savior, He who suffered literally for all.  If we cause any of children of our Father in Heaven pain or suffering, then we indeed “crucify… the Son of God afresh” alongside those Roman soldiers two millennia ago (Hebrews 6:6).