Watching people get beaten up is awful. I have done that regularly over the last week on the news coverage of the riots. I always wince when I see someone struck in the head, especially when they don’t fight back. It ignites within me emotions of sadness, injustice, anger and a desire to protect them.  

Many people were moved by the scenes of Muhammad Asyraf Haziq Rossli who was assaulted then robbed during the riots. People have offered all sorts of gifts to replace what he lost and repair the damage done to his confidence. It is natural for the plight of innocent victims to stir us to action. 

The same is true when people read or hear the story Jesus being beaten and crucified. People have often told me about how hard they found it to watch the Passion of The Christ. Matthew’s account of events in his gospel says,

“Then the Governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand. Then they knelt in front of him and mocked him. ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’ they said. They spat on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.” Matt: 27:27-31

In many ways, reading this account is similar to watching Muhammad Asyraf Haziq Rossli. The difference is that Jesus was completely blameless and his punishment, although not deserved, was not meaningless. It was the beating and the death that we all should receive, but can be exempt from because Jesus stood in the way and took it himself. 

Let’s be moved to action and stirred in prayer for this generation in the face of the riots. But let’s not forget the King who was beaten in the head and killed for us. And remember he was arrested secretly because the authorities were scared that arresting him in public would cause....riots.