As I was reading an old Harper’s, I found an article about the treatment of political prisoners under the Noriega regime. It stated that all prisoners were routinely raped, regardless of age, sex or attractiveness.
All tyrannies being equal on the need to debase their opponents, and every society having its sadists seeking opportunity in the employ of the state, I wondered if you the respondents might weigh in with your thoughts on the following possibilities:
Do you think it possible that the Roman soldiers maybe went a little beyond scourging Jesus and crowning Him with thorns?
And, this being so, what would’ve been the possibility of the early Church Fathers hushing it up? The only people privy to such information would’ve been the women close to Jesus, not the men: a Roman soldier disclosing it in a brothel to a contact of Mary Magdalene, or physical evidence of rape known by the women who prepared Him for burial. Bear in mind, Christ’s common, illiterate followers like whores and fishermen didn’t get directly in the record - only the literate ones like Luke (a doctor), Matthew (a civil servant), and Paul (a scholar).
Blow holes in what must be my errant Biblical knowledge, but please don’t stop there: my request is that you resond to the possibility of Jesus, who was made mortal to suffer for our sins greater than what any mortal need suffer, in fact endured an abuse not disclosed, and this cover-up’s effect on the continuing shame and stigma of sexual abuse.
To her fair works did Nature link / The human soul that through me ran; And much it grieved my heart to think, What man has made of man