Behold The Man

Father, we pray that prayer.

World depart.

Let Jesus in.

God, as we come now to hear another reading from your word,

would you help us to grasp with fresh eyes

and a humble heart

the reality of Jesus, your Son, our King.

We pray this in his name and by your Holy Spirit. Amen.

Amen.

So our next scripture reading comes from John 19, verses 1 through 16.

John 19:1–16

Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him.

And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns

and put it on his head

and arrayed him in a purple robe.

They came up to him saying,

Hail, King of the Jews,

and struck him with their hands.

Pilate went out again and said to them,

See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know

that I find no guilt in him.

So Jesus came out,

wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe.

Pilate said to them,

Behold the man.

When the chief priests and the officers saw him,

they cried out,

Crucify him,

crucify him.

Pilate said to them,

Take him yourselves and crucify him,

for I find no guilt in him.

The Jews answered him,

We have a law,

and according to that law,

he ought to die,

because he has made himself the Son of God.

When Pilate heard this statement,

he was even more afraid.

He answered his headquarters again

and said to Jesus,

Where are you from?

But Jesus gave him no answer.

So Pilate said to him,

You will not speak to me?

Do you not know that I have authority to release you

and authority to crucify you?

Jesus answered him,

You would have no authority over me at all

unless it had been given you from above.

Therefore, he who delivered me over to you

has the greater sin.

From then on, Pilate sought to release him.

But the Jews cried out,

If you release this man,

you are not Caesar's friend.

Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.

So when Pilate heard these words,

he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat

at a place called the Stone Pavement

and an Aramaic Gabbatha.

Now it was the day of preparation of the Passover.

It was about the sixth hour.

He said to the Jews,

Behold your king.

They cried out,

Away with him.

Away with him.

Crucify him.

Pilate said to them,

Shall I crucify your king?

The chief priests answered,

We have no king but Caesar.

So he delivered him over them

to be crucified.

Well, consider with me tonight

Pilate's words in verse 5.

Behold the man.

What sort of man, I wonder,

do you see?

Do you behold

when you behold the crucified Jesus?

At this moment in the Passion narrative,

in John 19,

the Jewish authorities in Jerusalem

have arrested Jesus,

questioned and condemned him,

and then drug him before Pilate,

the Roman governor.

These authorities behold in Jesus a threat,

a blasphemer,

to be gotten rid of.

Pilate, for his part,

not seeing in Jesus any real danger,

has him flogged and mocked,

and then drug out before the crowd again,

saying,

Behold the man.

Pilate's words, of course,

are dripping with sarcasm

and with scorn.

Don't you hear it?

He's saying there,

So here's the man you find so dangerous,

so threatening.

Look at how I've beaten him.

Look at how he wears his crown of thorns.

Look at his purple robe.

Can't you see he's harmless,

even ridiculous?

Behold the man.

But you know,

in John's gospel,

again and again,

the characters often speak better

than they know.

There's a deeper irony

and meaning in Pilate's words.

Behold the man.

On Pilate's lips,

they're mocking words.

But in the sweep of John's gospel,

they ring out

with a deeper truth.

For as John's gospel shows us,

Jesus is the true incarnate man.

God become flesh,

dwelling among us.

Behold the man.

So as we behold the man,

Jesus,

what are we meant to see?

Especially at this moment,

on the verge of crucifixion,

standing condemned.

Well, it would seem that we're meant to see

at least two things.

First,

we see here that Jesus

is a real man.

In becoming flesh,

Jesus hasn't just taken

sort of a little sip

of our humanity,

but he's drunk it down

to the very bottom.

He has experienced

the depths

of being human,

and especially,

he has entered completely

into our human sufferings.

friends tonight,

do you know

physical suffering?

So does he.

Behold him,

beaten,

bruised.

Do you know

relational suffering?

So does he.

Behold him there,

his own people,

rejecting him,

his friends having abandoned him,

and denied him.

Do you know

emotional suffering?

So does he.

Think of the shame

and humiliation

of this moment.

Behold him

as he stands there

mocked and scorned.

Jesus knows

our human suffering.

Listen again

to the prophet Isaiah's words

written hundreds

of years before,

but perfectly fulfilled

in the incarnate

and crucified Jesus.

Isaiah writes,

he had no form

or majesty

that we should look at him

and no beauty

that we should desire him.

He was despised

and rejected by men,

a man of sorrows

and acquainted with grief,

and as one

from whom men

hide their faces,

he was despised,

and we esteem him not.

You know,

in our suffering,

we can often feel

like God

is very far away,

but tonight,

behold the man.

in your suffering,

God is not far away.

In fact,

Jesus is closer

to you there

perhaps than ever before,

like the friend

that sticks closer

than a brother or sister.

So did you bring

any sorrow

with you tonight?

How heavy

does it weigh upon you?

The gnawing ache

of being alone

or being forgotten

by friends,

the shame

of public humiliation

or wrongful accusations,

the physical pain

of old age

or perhaps

chronic illness

when you

should still feel

so young.

Do you bring

any sorrow

with you tonight?

If so,

behold the man.

Do you see

in the crucified Jesus

a God

who can indeed

sympathize

with all your weaknesses

and who willingly

came down

to be with you

not just

in your joys

but even

in your sorrows?

There's comfort

here for the afflicted,

a God

who not only sees

but who shares

our suffering.

So can you see

in his wounds

your own?

And will you draw

near to him tonight

to find his presence

in the midst of it?

Johnny Erickson Tata

was paralyzed

at the age of 17

in a diving accident

and she recounts

in her autobiography

how she wrestled

in those early years

with anger

and depression

and even suicidal thoughts

and religious doubts.

But she also writes this.

She says,

I discovered

that the Lord Jesus Christ

could indeed

empathize

with my situation

on the cross

for those agonizing

horrible hours

waiting for death.

Jesus was immobilized,

helpless,

paralyzed.

Jesus did

know what it was like

not to be able

to move,

not to be able

to scratch your nose,

shift your weight,

wipe your eyes.

He was paralyzed

on the cross.

Christ knew

exactly

how I felt.

Same is true

for you, friend.

If you will behold

Jesus long enough,

you will see

that he has shared

your suffering too

and that will give you

strength and comfort

even in the darkest moments.

But there's more

to see here.

As we behold

Jesus,

the crucified one,

we see that he is

not just a real man

sharing the sorrows

of our humanness,

but Jesus is also

the representative

man,

the truly human one.

who can stand

in the place

not just of suffering

humans like you and me,

but of sinful humans

like you and me.

Consider the charges

being leveled at Jesus

here as we've read

this passage.

On the one hand,

he's being charged

with blasphemy.

He's made himself

the son of God,

they say.

And on the other hand,

he's being charged

with political treason.

He claims to be a king,

but we have no king

but Caesar.

What a sad moment

in the gospel narratives.

Of course,

Jesus is guilty

of none of these things.

He is the son of God

and he is the world's

rightful king.

So what's going on here

in this moment?

Is this just some

tragic accident?

Is this just simply

a miscarriage of justice

before a kangaroo court?

No.

At a much deeper level,

Jesus here

is stepping under

the sentence,

the condemnation,

not that he deserves,

but that we deserve.

Because consider,

consider these charges

of blasphemy

and treason.

Have we not all

in our own way

put ourselves

in the place of God

and committed

cosmic treason

as we seek

to live our own way,

ignoring the God

who made us

in the world

that God has made?

And in this,

are we not following

in the steps of Adam,

the first human?

Remember what we read

earlier from the book

of Romans?

Just as sin came

into the world

through one man

and death through sin,

so death spread

to all men,

to all people,

because all sinned.

And one man, Adam,

all humanity fell

and none could

right the wrong.

We all stood condemned

until Jesus,

the second Adam,

the new human,

the second Adam

who would undo

the first Adam's sin,

the righteous one

who would pay the penalty

for the unrighteous.

Again, as Romans 5 says,

if many died

through one man's trespass,

how much more

have the grace of God

and the free gift

by the grace

of that one man,

Jesus Christ,

abounded for the many.

Behold,

the man.

As Tyler mentioned,

this is why we call this day

Good Friday.

Because on this day,

our King

released us

from the guilt of sin

and the sentence

of death.

So friend,

do you bring

not just sorrows

with you tonight,

but do you bring

your sins?

Do you bring the guilt

of having fallen short

of your own standards,

of God's standard?

Do you bring with you

that weight

of a heavy conscience?

Not just

because you've hurt

the people around you,

but because you know

you've broken fellowship

with your God.

If so, friend,

then hear the good news

that Jesus

has released us

from the guilt of sin

and the sentence of death.

And how did he do it?

Not by ignoring

or making light

of our blasphemy

and our treason.

Not by minimizing

the holiness

and goodness of God.

No, he lifts

this sentence

by taking it

in our place.

By representing us

and by representing

all who would ever

trust in him.

The King dies

so that we might live.

So when you behold

Jesus tonight,

what do you see?

Tonight,

will you look at him

with fresh eyes,

with eyes of faith,

with eyes of trust?

You know,

perhaps like Pilate,

perhaps like Pilate,

you haven't really

given much thought

to Jesus.

Maybe just another

religious leader,

just another teacher.

What's the big deal?

But tonight,

would you behold him

differently?

See in his wounds

your wounds.

See in his death

your death.

See in this man

the God who made you,

who loves you,

and who took on flesh

to redeem you

from sin and death

and to give you

new life.

We're going to sing

a song together

called,

When I Survey

the Wondrous Cross.

And the last verse

says this,

Were the whole realm

of nature mine,

that were an offering

far too small.

Love so amazing,

so divine,

demands my soul,

my life,

my all.

make those words

your prayer tonight.

Give to Jesus

your soul,

your life,

your all.

Let's pray together.

Father,

help us

to behold in Jesus

not just the one

who shares

our sufferings,

but the one

whose sacrifice

forgives our sins

and makes peace.

and may we live

tonight

and going forward

in the peace,

joy,

and righteousness

that Jesus gives

through the Holy Spirit.

Amen.