The soldiers take Jesus away. But before they take him to Golgotha, they lead him to the courtyard where they beat him and mock him. Why do they do this? Why do the writers of the Gospel accounts include this detail?
Those who study human behavior have noted that before we can do inhumane things to others we must find a way to distance ourselves from them. We have to find a way to convince ourselves that they deserve the treatment we have decided to inflict on them.
The soldiers (perhaps) could not murder a man they had no reason to harm unless they first convinced themselves this was an acceptable thing to do.
What this story in Mark might encourage us to discern is how we get to the point of inhumanity against others. Do we start to accept the mistreatment because we have first ignored the other as a child created and loved by the same God who loves and created us? We are unlikely to mistreat others (most mistreatment is due to indifference) when we have not allowed ourselves to become indifferent in the first place. We would put an end to cruel treatment (indifference) when we acknowledge our kinship and our oneness.
It is John's Gospel account that Jesus' High Priestly Prayer includes the plea that "they might all be one." What a difference it makes, when that oneness is achieved.
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