Behold the man

Scripture Lessons

Isaiah 52:13 – 53:12

Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9

John 18:1-19:42

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

As is our custom, we read the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ from John’s gospel, chapters 18 and 19. In the midst of the Passion, Pontius Pilate said something profound. He probably didn’t realize it, but God can work through pagans to bring about His purposes. “Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, ‘Behold the man!’” Pilate confessed the humanity of Jesus. He is man. The Jews called for his crucifixion and their reason was, “he has made himself the Son of God.”

As we say in the creed, “God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God…was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary and was made man.” Jesus is 100% God and 100% man. The math doesn’t compute according to our reason. The Jews insisted that the man Jesus cannot be equal to God. Pilate said, “behold the man.”

John’s gospel is 21 chapters and it can be essentially split in half. The first half is the life of Jesus up to the week of His Passion. The second half is the Passion week beginning with the triumphal entry on Palm Sunday and ending with His resurrection and the restoration and commissioning of the apostles. In John 12, after the triumphal entry into Jerusalem, John tells us that some Greeks came to the apostles saying, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” The apostles relayed this request to Jesus and He answered, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit….Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” John 12:21, 23-24, 31-32.

It may sound like Jesus didn’t answer their request. They wanted to see Jesus. Doesn’t that mean that they just wanted an audience with Him? But He did answer their question. To see Jesus is to see Him “lifted up,” that is to say, on the cross, suffering for the sins of the world, redeeming humanity, fulfilling the promises of God the Father. “Behold the man.” Yes, He is the man who was lifted up on the cross and thereby glorified. “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” Reason and intellect cannot comprehend the cross. It looks like failure. It looks like a catastrophe. It certainly doesn’t look godly to the unbeliever. To the Jews the crucifixion was proof that He was not the Son of God. But the eyes of faith see that the cross is the glory of God because it is the fulfillment of God’s will to save lost and condemned sinners. Jesus came for the sick and the lost. He came for sinners like you and me.

Unbelief looks on the cross and laments the failure. ‘Such a nice man. Such a peaceful worldly leader.’ No! As C.S. Lewis said, Jesus is Lord, liar, or lunatic. The Jews understood his claims to deity. The pagans could plainly see that He was a man. The Holy Word of God reveals that He was both. The eyes of faith believe the Word of God and look upon the cross and see that Jesus reigns supreme from the cross. Who is a god like our God? Our God is not far removed from our lives, He has come in the flesh and “in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” He is able to sympathize with our weaknesses. “Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him.”

Good Friday is rightly called “good.” You haven’t come to a funeral. You have come to see with the eyes of faith that Jesus reigns from the cross. It is on the cross that Christ laid down His life for your sins and the sins of the whole world. This is the love of God made manifest in the redemption of lost sinners like you and me.

The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.