April 1
“Pilate then went out again, and said to them, ‘Behold, I am bringing Him out to you, that you may know that I find no fault in Him.’ Then Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said to them, ‘Behold the Man!’” John 10:4-5.
According to what Pilate himself said, he was saying that his next move was to prove to the people that he found no fault in Jesus. Well, if he found no fault in Jesus, how could that be proven by putting the thorn-crowned, scourged Jesus on public display? If he was totally convinced that Jesus was completely faultless and did not deserve to die, should he not have said hours earlier, “I’m setting Him free!”?
“Behold the Man!” Was this just one more attempt to move that angry crowd to show a little compassion for the thorn-crowned, beaten and bruised Jesus? Pilate’s lips must have quivered as he pointed at Jesus and spoke the words, “Behold the Man!” He was telling the multitude, “Have some mercy on this miserable Man!” What a demonstration by that angry, loveless, mocking multitude to show how cold and merciless hardened sinners can be!
As we behold the silent, suffering Savior, in our pride we might say that had we been there, we would not have stood by silently and allowed such injustice to continue. There is an old German proverb that, translated into English, reads: “He who says, ‘You would never catch me doing anything like that,’ has already done it!” Yes, think of how often we have seen someone being put down, and we felt that the person was getting what he or she deserved. Our sinful nature is inclined to rejoice when someone whom we do not like is trampled on when he or she is already down!
We can hear Jesus breathing the words of the Messianic Psalm 69: “You know My reproach, My shame, and My dishonor; My adversaries are all before You. Reproach has broken My heart, and I am full of heaviness; I looked for someone to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none. They also gave Me gall for My food, and for My thirst they gave me vinegar to drink,” Psalm 69:19-21.
“Behold the Man!” On the one hand, these words must move us to shed tears of repentance for our many sins for which Jesus suffered much pain for our redemption. On the other hand, these words move us to rejoice when we see in His suffering how much God loved us! “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life,” John 3:16.
I gave My life for thee, My precious blood I shed,
That thou might’st ransomed be, And quickened from the dead.
I gave My life for thee; What hast thou giv’n for me?
I suffered much for thee, More than My tongue may tell,
Of bitt’rest agony, To rescue thee from hell.
I suffered much for thee; What canst thou bear for Me?
And I have brought to thee, Down from My home above,
Salvation full and free, My pardon and My love.
Great gifts I brought to thee; What hast thou brought to Me? Amen.