Here Is The Man

Scripture: John 19:1-6 (Click link for scripture in Bible Gateway)

1 Then Pilate had Jesus flogged with a lead-tipped whip. 2 The soldiers wove a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they put a purple robe on him. 3 “Hail! King of the Jews!” they mocked, as they slapped him across the face. 4 Pilate went outside again and said to the people, “I am going to bring him out to you now, but understand clearly that I find him not guilty.” 5 Then Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said, “Look, here is the man!” 6 When they saw him, the leading priests and Temple guards began shouting, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” “Take him yourselves and crucify him,” Pilate said. “I find him not guilty.” (John 19:1-6 NLT)

Sentencing Jesus to be flogged with a whip may not have been an act of cruelty in Pilate’s mind (a mind shaped by the cruelty and brutality of the times). Pilate was giving him a lesser punishment than death by crucifixion in hopes that the Jews would have pity and accept that as sufficient suffering. When the beating was completed, Pilate brought Jesus, battered, wounded, and bloody, out to the crowd and said, “Understand clearly that I find him not guilty!”

What Pilate said next could be read this way: “Look! Here is the man (or what’s left of him)! We’ve beaten him within an inch of his life already! Do you guys have an ounce of pity in you? How about we give him a break and let him go?”

Friends, bear with me for a purely personal comment. Thanks! I’m really not enjoying working my way through John 18 and 19, but it’s got to be done and we’ll do it! As I read and prayed and worked through Matthew’s account of the crucifixion in chapters 26 and 27 of his Gospel for two weeks in June of this year, I noticed something different about how it was affecting me. The effect is even more pronounced as we’re reading John’s mostly eye-witness memories of the event. I’m struggling with my active imagination of the brutality Jesus endured. I’m struggling with the reminder of the evil that resides in the human heart. Maybe it’s partly my age, and maybe it’s that Jesus is actually changing my heart as I endeavor to learn his ways. Whatever it is it takes a toll! Stay with me and we’ll finish this up soon! Jesus comes back to life and he comes back for us! Remember that! Here’s something from Joel Chernoff. (Apology for the white Jesus!)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zue9Dfbmxos

Prayer:

Father, Thank you for The Man who paid the price for our redemption. Forever!