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FOOD FOR THOUGHT

TAKING A BEATING

B Y PETER S T OFFBERG

ere you well behaved at school, or did you push the
boundaries? Can you remember getting caught and
Wproperly punished? I have an especially vivid memory
of that.
I don’t remember what I did wrong, but I was in grade eight and
new in school. My older sister had been there a while, and was in
matric. Her class just happened to be lined up and waiting for the
teacher to whom I had been sent for corrective attention, no fun
for a grade eight still drowning in a new uniform.
The matric boys taunted me into a state of complete and utter
panic, while the girls destroyed any last shred of dignity with their
overly dramatic and insincere chorus of “ah shame!”

When the teacher finally called me into his class, it was a relief.
That was, until he started talking. He was a solidly built man
with a kind face, calm voice and a cane which he affectionately
referred to as “Flesh Hungry” (roughly translated from Afrikaans).
A sense of inevitable pain descended, and suddenly being
outside seemed the better option. If only it was an option.

The multi-coloured welts and bruises inflicted by the cane cleared
up long before the pain of the whole ordeal did. I still think about
it today.

As Good Friday approaches, I think back on that day and imagine
a different scenario. One that helps me understand Easter.
I imagine standing in that classroom with my fate confirmed and
knowing I deserve what’s coming. Ice cold fear washes through
me. As the teacher draws back the cane, he’s interrupted by a
knock. The door opens behind me, and the deafening silence,
from those lined up outside, is interrupted by whispers of ON SITE SUNDAY SERVICES @ 9h30
disbelief. www.familychurch.online
Someone enters and quietly speaks to the teacher. Then, he DAINFERN COLLEGE AUDITORIUM
stoops beside me and tells me he doesn’t want me doing the
stuff that landed me here. He offers to help me, to show me a
better way of doing things, to keep me from coming back here. I expression confirms it, and I leave hurriedly. As I close the door,
gratefully accept. He smiles, and he tells me to go.
I hear the rush of the cane and its repeated impact on someone
else. Someone who chose to take my place.
What? Really? Just go free? I look at the teacher, his calm
At Easter we remember that Jesus took more than a beating for
us. He took the death penalty. Sin is sin and must be punished,
God is just. But in His love, God became flesh, in the person of
Jesus, and took that punishment for us, so that we can be free.
Free to love Him, free to learn from Him and free to become more
like Him. How awesome is He?

28 DPL issue 5 2025