Mark 15:16-20
And the soldiers led him away into the hall, called Praetorium; and they call together the whole band.  And they clothed him with purple, and platted a crown of thorns, and put it about his head, And began to salute him, Hail, King of the Jews!  And they smote him on the head with a reed, and did spit upon him, and bowing their knees worshipped him.  And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple from him, and put his own clothes on him, and led him out to crucify him.

The soldiers mockingly called Jesus King of the Jews and proceeded to hit Him, spit on Him, and mock Him in a cruel way.  They could do all of those things because they did not see Him as a king.  It would have been unthinkable to do such things to a general in their army or the ruler of the empire.  Their lowly view of Jesus causes them to treat Him that way.  They see Him as a criminal, someone worthy of death, worthy of punishment, worthy of mockery.

But in reality, Jesus is worthy of all glory, honor, and praise.  He is worthy of worship and adoration.  He is worthy of thanksgiving and blessing.  He is worthy of surrender and worthy to be Lord of our lives.  Our view of Jesus affects how He treat Him and respond to Him.  He is Lord and King and God always and forever, but we have a choice whether to worship or mock, whether to obey or disobey, whether to please Him or hurt Him.

Jesus also had a different perspective than we might have had in His place.  The Bible recounts what others did to Jesus, because He willingly submitted to it all.  He didn’t resist.  He didn’t say anything.  He didn’t fight back.  They led Him along a painful, humiliating path, and He walked it with grace, loving those men all the while.  As they showed Him the worst that was in the hearts of men, He willingly laid down His life and demonstrated the true and powerful love of God.

Can we see Jesus there being mocked and beaten?  Can we imagine Him hanging on the cross?  Can we understand what He was doing and why?  Will that affect us?  Will that change us?  Will that prompt a decision from us?  Jesus is King, but He endured the fate of a criminal.  Jesus is Lord, but He was willing to suffer.  Jesus is God, but He died for us.  So have we seen Jesus as a Savior and accepted His gift of salvation?  Have we seen Him as Lord and bowed before Him as His servant?  Have we seen Him as God and offered praise and worship to Him?  Have we seen Him as our King who we are willing to dedicate our lives to?