Lenten Reader | Day 38

March 28th, 2024

Behold the Man

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

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.” When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!”

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.”

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.”

John 19:1-7

“So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to the crowd ‘Behold the man!’” Can you picture it? Jesus has just been physically tortured, publicly humiliated, and mocked. He is not a pretty sight to behold, yet these are Pilate's words; “Behold the man!” Pilate says these words to the crowd hoping that by seeing Jesus like this they will take pity on him and want to release Him. However, Jesus knew what He was doing and how this would end. He does not need our pity.

As believers do we say, behold the man who is Lord! Behold the man who takes away my sins! Behold the man who is ruler over heaven and earth! Behold the man who loves me enough to die for me! Or do we try to minimize who Jesus is as Pilate does? Do we think, Jesus was just a good guy with good morals? When we read this passage, we must remind ourselves of who Jesus is: He is God. We must ask, am I seeing Jesus for who He truly is? 

When Pilate presents Jesus to the crowd, they have two responses. The first, “crucify him!” The second, “away with him!” Many of us look at this Scripture and say, I wouldn’t have been yelling that! Or it’s awful that they would do such a thing to Jesus. Yet, how often in our own lives do we tell Jesus, either directly or indirectly, to go away? How often do we try to create space between us and Jesus? Or know that what we’re doing is not what Christ would want and therefore try not to think about Jesus? Why do we do this? Because of our shame? Fear? Or belief we can do it better than Jesus? As believers, we should be crying out asking Jesus to come closer. Like a lost child crying out to be held by their father. Yet in the midst of us turning our back on Christ, he still stands firm in front of Pilate, the crowd, and us, willing to die the death we deserve. He does this so that we, God’s children, can behold the man, God in human form. God our Father.  

Lydia Price