BEHOLD THE MAN

#446                                                                    BEHOLD THE MAN                                                                                           

Scripture  John 19:1-7, NIV                                                                                                             Orig. Date 12/24/1967

                                                                                                                                                                   Rewr. Dates 2/5/1985

Passage: Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. 2 The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe 3 and went up to him again and again, saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” And they slapped him in the face.

4 Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews gathered there, “Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him.” 5 When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!”

6 As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!”  But Pilate answered, “You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him.”  7 The Jewish leaders insisted, “We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God.”

Purpose: To examine, through the exclamation of Pilate, the potentials that people see in Christ.

Keywords:                           Christ, Manhood                              Sin                          Revival

Introduction

                An unclear picture fuzzes its way into our minds here.  Jesus has just come through the experience of having been scourged by these Roman soldiers. Yet, Pilate presented him to the multitude as if he were the keynote speaker at some national convocation:  “Behold, the man!”  Most of us would have trouble imagining what Jesus had been through.  He is a beaten, bloody mass of cuts, bruises, and abrasions.  Yet, Pilate says “Behold, the man!”  Over that beaten body, the Romans had placed an old, faded purple robe.  On his head was a crown of thorns, “Behold, the man!”

                It was mockery, of course.  Shock treatment say some.  Pilate’s attempt to rid himself of a politician’s dilemma.  It was his way of saying, “Look at this poor wretch!  You don’t really find him a threat, do you?”

                But seeing the robe, and the crown, they were incensed.  Thus, their answer to Pilate’s exclamation:  “Crucify!  Crucify Him!”

                It is to this vengeful spirit in man that this message is addressed.  “Behold, the man.”  It is to remind us all that there is a quality to the life of Jesus that cannot elsewhere be found.  “Behold, the Man.”  It is to remind us that the man whom we here “Behold” is none other than the same man who “His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree. . .” (I Peter 2:24).

I.             It is Here that We See the Vitality of Man at His Best.  V4 “Behold, I bring him forth to you that you may know that I find no fault in him.”

                He was a man admired and  respected by other men.  A man of truth—John 1:14 “. . .We beheld his glory, . . . full of grace and truth.” John 5:33 “Ye sent unto John, and he bare witness unto the truth.”  A man of courage—1/4 of the gospel is from Jesus’ last week, half of that the last 24 hours; the garden better shows courage than cross: Man’s existence began in a garden; his social structure; his sin and separation; his rebirth.  He was a man of vision—a new image of God, a new understanding of God’s way.

                He had the marks of character most admired by women:  Tenderness—don’t confuse with weakness, impotence.  Gentleness set in the rough; it seems that few of us can stand by their guns without pulling the trigger.  Even with the prostitute, the publican, he was kind. Understanding—Hear him with the woman at the well.  Masculine—openness and honesty, showing our true selves.

                Not only was he a man’s man, and a woman’s man, he was God’s man.  He was sinless.  2 Corinthians 5:21 “He hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin.”  Incorruptible—Corruptibility is a fact of life; it did not exist in Jesus.  Obedience—Compare Simon who when bidden to go and pray with Jesus was too weary.  But too weary to lift his sword though not bidden.

II.            But We See Here also the Victim of Man at His Worst.  V6 “When the chief priests, therefore, and officers saw him, they cried out, saying, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!”

                He was victim of a dissolute religion.  Nothing goes sour as fast as bad religion.  The problem was one of interpretation, not with system.  Hebrew religion was man’s noblest.  But it had disintegrated into a soulless ethic.  The Baptist faith was a Holy Ghost faith long before the Pentecostals came into being.  If we die it will be the death of soulless ethic denying the Holy Spirit His rightful place.

                He was victim of a malicious mob.  We know of mobs, but they are not new:  At Lot’s door when he entertained angels;  in Thessalonica threatening Paul and Silas at Jason’s; here at Jesus’ cross.

                A good question to ask today is “Where would I be if such a mob formed in my town?”

                He was victim of a conscienceless civil power.  To Pilate Jesus was an inconvenience.  All he had to do to go free was bend a little. Compromise!  To the soldiers, Jesus was relief for their boredom, an object of amusement.

                He was victim of man in the madness of sin.  Suppose with me for a moment: The religious leaders became reconciled, the unruly mob came to their senses, civil government stood up against injustice.  But one unkempt rowdy yelled “Crucify Him!”

                Jesus came to seek and to save the lost.

III.           Finally, He was the Vehicle, the Visible Embodiment, of God’s Saving Grace.  V7 “The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.”

                Clearly, He was that.  John 3:16 “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son.”  I John 4:9 “God sent His only begotten son into the world that we might live through him.”  Hebrews 1:1,2 “God . . . hath in these last days spoken to us by His Son.”

                But not because he made himself to be what he was not.  With courage and truth he declared himself to be what he was.  With tenderness and manhood he declared his link with the Father.  In sinless, incorruptible obedience he was the fulfillment of all that God demanded of Him.

                Thus, he became the instrument (vehicle) of God’s saving power.  Matthew 1:21 “Thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sin.”  Romans 1:16, “The gospel of Christ . . . is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth.”

Conclusion

                R.G. Lee (1)(T43P114) “No artist can frame a picture large enough to include all the glories of the evening sunset—when human eyes see the glory of God’s robe where the last fires of sunset burn.  So no voice can compass, no pen include, the full statement of Christ’s character. But what he was toward the child and the  mother, to the publican, to the prodigal, the hypocrite, the harlot; toward sinner and disciple, that is God toward all men, in all times, in all places. . . Be not hard to convince, not slow of heart to believe . . . .”

(1) Lee, R.G.  (1935).  A Greater than Solomon. Le Roi Publishers