Jesus was 'Pierced for our transgressions'…(Isaiah 53:5)
I don't know about you, but I had never thought of the fact that Jesus was 'pierced' being anything except the physical nails piercing physical hands and feet with physical pain, and moreover as John 19:37 states, the physical piercing of Jesus' side in fulfillment of Zechariah 12:10.
However, it is amazing how living cross-culturally can open one's eyes to parts of Scripture that have been there all along, hidden in plain sight from 'one-eyed' Westerners like me, who don't even have a clue there is anything else to recognise.
Some years back I was fascinated to realise that when a Motswana (person of Botswana - sing.) speaks about being shamed, it isn't just one word that is used... Well many concepts in Setswana (language of Botswana) are collections of words, kind of an explanation for something, rather than having just a single word... Instead its a phrase…. a phrase which means to be 'pierced with shame'. So someone isn't just shamed, they are pierced with shame.
According to biblehub, the word used for 'pierce' in Scripture is 'chalal' - and is also used for contexts such as to defile or pollute or 'violate the honour of/dishonour'
So isn't this interesting!…
The Zechariah Context
It gets even more interesting when you go back and read the end of Zechariah.
Chapter 12:10 mentions that people will mourn when they look 'on him whom they have pierced'. We take that on the basis of it foretelling how Jesus would die - that his body would be pierced, as per John 19:37. And I don't doubt that for one moment.
But did the people of Zechariah's day only understand it in the physical sense. And in relation to expecting the Messiah's side to be speared, did the piercing only have physical connotations, or is there a greater context that is culturally assumed within and surrounding such a physical 'piercing'?
Since we must keep in mind there are no chapter divisions in the original Scriptures, it makes sense to read the context of the text prior to and following Zechariah 12:10. So it shouldn't be surprising that just a few verses later in 13:3 it talks about a prophet who speaks lies and will have his mother and father 'pierce' him through when he prophesies.
What is that all about? Will they physically spear his body through and kill him or just punch a hole in his hand or foot or earlobe…or what?
Well whatever, it is, the prophet wasn't expected to be dead afterwards. The purpose wasn't to kill him, - at least not have him dead physically - instead, we are told in the next verse, he is still very much alive because he has a reaction to this terrible state.
Immediately after in the next verse (verse 4) it says 'on that day every prophet will be ashamed of his vision'. (Italics mine)
The purpose of the piercing, whatever it was, was in order to bring shame on the prophet of lies.
In other words, for the guilt of his wrongdoing - (his 'lies') - he was to suffer shame - the shame of piercing…piercing shame!
It turns out that in the following verses we get a bit more of a context when we are told that such a prophet ends up with wounds on his back. He was going to have to live with these wounds forever and thus the accompanying shame forever, as they prompt questions from onlookers which he has to answer about how he got such wounds. Every time he had to explain, the shame would be exposed again like it was just yesterday. He would live with ongoing, constant, unescapable shame.
So he was shamed for the guilt of his lies, - in other words the punishment is the shame, he bore the shame to pay for the guilt.
The John Explanation
What I am thus prompted to ask is: whether the piercing of Jesus' side was the only thing that fulfilled the 12:10 prophecy or was it the final 'piercing' act in a series? First the 'stripes' on his back that would have ripped into (ie 'pierced') his flesh, then an even further piercing of his hands and feet, and then finally even his side.
From the Zechariah prophecy it seems to me that the Jews wouldn't have had too much trouble maybe connecting the dots from 12:10 to his 'stripes' and the subsequent wounds he would carry on his back forever after. But Jesus' shame wasn't just the life-long shame of a whipping 'at the hands of family and friends' as in Zechariah 13. He also suffered the extreme humiliation of pierced hands and feet on the cross in the hands of his enemies - a death that the Romans perfected to deliver not only the most physical pain but also the most extensive public shame possible. But not even that was the whole story.
Why didn't John comment on the piercing connection when he wrote of Jesus being whipped like a lying prophet, or when his head was stabbed by painful thorns, or even when he had his hands and feet punctured and was humiliated by his friends and enemies and family on a utterly shameful Roman cross? Instead John only commented on it when Jesus' side was pierced. That piercing was not usual in any context and seemingly not even as extreme in the original Zechariah context. The Roman soldiers only did it because they didn't have the 'normal' signals of whether Jesus had actually died, since he wasn't overcome by death, but gave himself up to death, so he died more quickly than normal. They would normally have just broken the legs of the person to speed up their death by suffocation.
This was, we could say 'a one-off' piercing of the highest most extreme and unexpected level.
This was even beyond the Roman piercing. Not only was his back ripped apart to be scarred with shame forever, not only were his hands and feet pinned down torturously and excruciatingly immobilising him, but his insides were then also ripped apart by a spear. His body was destroyed in its function to the very core, not just its appearance and movement. This was unique. This was ultimate. This was beyond even the most extreme human torture and shaming process. He was made 'nothing' - nothing except a mangled, bleeding destroyed lump of human flesh - for you, for me.
While this makes the resurrection even more amazing, it also makes his death something far greater than even what the cruelest humans could do. Now we also know that not breaking his legs was also part of fulfilling Scripture as the Passover lamb (Numbers 9:12), but this also took the punishment of 'piercing' to a whole new level - a level that clearly made him a unique God-appointed sacrifice who took a 'piercing shame' punishment like no one has taken before or since. Was this physical piercing (of a whole new level), demonstrating a shame piercing that was also being borne (also of a level greater than any other)?
He wasn't taking a 'piercing shame' punishment for his own transgression, such as the prophets in Zechariah were, Jesus was taking a 'piercing shame' punishment for the sin of the whole world (1John 2:2).
According to Zechariah 13:6-7, the purpose of the 'piercing' was so that the prophet would forever after carry the shame - the scars that would require explanation, an explanation that would be humiliating. The purpose of the physical pain event was in order to have perpetual relationship-impacting 'shame pain' through the perpetual scars. He could never walk with full honour ever again.
It is therefore an incredibly humbling thought that Jesus still carries the scars of his physical suffering. It is, and will be, an ever present reminder to us all for all eternity, that someone else was shamed for us. He was our substitute.
The Shame Becomes Honour
But the amazing fact is that his shame actually brings honour - to him, to God and to us. God has exalted him, and we are clothed in him, and every time we will see those scars, like Thomas, we will just be overcome with worship - with giving glory and honour and praise and adoration to him as our king…as we join with Thomas in saying 'my Lord and my God'. Because those scars, unlike the lying prophets, will not be proof he is still the shamed one, but that he is the One who despised the shame - he shamed sin's shame by rising from the dead. Even the most extreme measures could not keep him physically dead, nor can the most extreme shame of sin, keep him defeated. Even with his scars, he is not rejected by his Father, but welcomed back to the Father's right hand, the position of honour, where he reigns for all eternity…and one day we will reign with him………..and all to the glory of God!
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