Look at the
Man!
“Here is
the man!” Pilate said while standing in front of the crowds on the steps of the
palace. “Here is the man!” The man, of course, was Jesus. And the reason why Pilate was pointing him
out wasn’t because the crowds didn’t know who Jesus was, but because Pilate
wanted them to take a closer look. Jesus
was now battered and beaten much worse than they had seen him before; he had
been tortured and abused at the hands of Roman soldiers; blood was dripping off
of his face and pouring off of his back.
“Here is the man!”
Have you
ever seen something so gross or so painful or so repulsive that you had to look
away? When I was a sophomore in
highschool, our biology class watched a video of an open heart surgery. The doctor made a cut down the middle of the
sternum, they put an implement in place that grabbed the bone, and then they
split open the chest cavity like two petals of a flower. And I couldn’t take it! I had to look away! I felt light-headed and dizzy and there was
no way I could watch the rest of the video.
Now blood and cuts and injuries I could handle, but not the shock of
seeing open heart surgery for the very first time.
Pilate seemed
to be trying to do the same thing. He
was trying to shock the people into sympathy and convince them that the
punishment that he had already carried out on Jesus was enough. Because the crowds had been calling for Jesus’
crucifixion for hours. But Pilate
couldn’t find one crime that Jesus had committed and he did not want to
sentence him to death. And so 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 struck him in
the face. Once more Pilate came out and
said to the Jews, “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!”
“Look at
the guy! I just had him scourged! Many people have died from just that! He has a crown of thorns in his head! His face is bruised and puffed up from the
beating he just took! What more do you
need? I’ve punished him severely now just
let it go! Look at him! Aren’t you satisfied? Here is the man!” But the people looked at the man and they
were unmoved. “Crucify him! Crucify him!” they shouted. And there shouts won the day.
Look at What
You’ve Done!
Here is
the man! What goes through your mind
when you look at the man standing there?
He is battered and beaten. He has
been tortured and abused at the hands of the Roman soldiers. Blood drips from his face because thorns are
jammed into his skull and blood pours from his back because of the dozens and
dozens of open wounds from those metal tipped whips. Here is the man! Look at what you’ve done! Because this is just the start. This is just the beginning of the punishment
for your sinfulness. The Jewish leaders
aren’t the only ones at fault. The Roman
soldiers aren’t the only ones to blame.
Pilate isn’t solely responsible for what happened to Jesus. You are.
And I am. Here is the man! Look at what we’ve done!
If we
would have never set our faces in defiance against his will, Jesus’ face never
would have been struck. If we would have
never bowed our heads to other sources of happiness and satisfaction, Jesus’
head never would have bled. If we would
have never turned our backs on the Lord and his Word, Jesus’ back never would
have been scourged. If we could have
been faithful, if we could have been loyal, if we could have been the men and
women and children that we were supposed to be, that man never would have had
to be standing there in the first place.
But we haven’t been completely faithful, have we? We haven’t been completely loyal. We haven’t been the Christians we are
supposed to be. And so Jesus stands
there carrying what we have earned, suffering what we deserve. Here is the man! Look at what you’ve done!
Look at What He
Did!
But as
you look at this man standing here, don’t just think about what you’ve done. Look at what he did! Because this scene of Jesus standing in front
of the crowds next to Pontius Pilate battered and beaten, tortured and abused,
bloodied and hated, isn’t just of a man who is in the middle of suffering; this
is a man in the middle of saving. This
is not just a visual picture of the seriousness of your sin; this is a part of
the only solution for your forgiveness!
So do turn your eyes away from this horrible scene! Keep looking!
Keep watching! Here is the
man! Look at what he did! He carried the pain. And he carried it for you.
Years
ago, at the age of 14, I broke my left arm for the first time. And as I set on a chair in the emergency room
with my head down and my arm up on the table, the doctor had to reset it. And so he put his left hand on my wrist and
his right hand around my elbow and he pulled as hard as he could so the bone
could slip back together. And I threw up
everywhere. The resetting was more
painful than the actual break. And I
lost it because of the pain. And I’m
sure many of you could tell stories about excruciating pain: like giving birth
to a child or a serious injury or an unbearable operation. In fact, many of you could tell stories about
the pains you are going through right now, couldn’t you? Because backs aren’t as straight as they once
were and joints aren’t quite as fluid as they were in those younger years and
internal organs don’t function as well as they used to. Physical pain is part of this life. But Jesus carried those pains for you. He shouldered every ounce of pain that day,
and more.
He knows
what you’re going through because he carried it, and more. He knows how bad you feel because he carried
it, and more. He knows what makes you
grit your teeth, he knows what make you clamp your eyes shut, he knows what
makes you let out airy breaths laced with agony because he carried every bit of
it for you, and more. And because he
carried it for you, he also knows how to comfort you, to soothe you, to calm
you. And he comforts and soothes and
calms you with his love, his mercy, and his promise of a pain-free life to
come.
That
doesn’t mean he will take away all of your physical pain now. Because sometimes that physical pain draws us
closer to him, so it is something that your Lord will allow for the benefit of
your faith. But you can be sure that
Jesus will be right there with you to help you deal with that pain. He will be there to remind you of the
forgiveness he won through the pain he went through; he will reassure you of
the salvation that is now yours free of charge; he will convince you of the
eternal life that you have waiting for you in a Paradise that is beyond
anything you could ever imagine. And
although that pain may still hurt here, it doesn’t hurt quite as much with
Jesus by your side. And although that
physical suffering may not ever completely go away here, it’s a little more
bearable with Jesus holding your hand.
And although you may go through even more things in this life that make
your eyes water and your body curl and your stomach churn, it’s going to be
alright lying in Jesus’ arms. Because he
is the one that carried all of that pain for you already. And he is the only cure. Here is the man! Battered and beaten, tortured and abused,
bloodied and hated. The man who suffered
more pain than anyone else ever has. The
man who carried it for you. Here is the
man! Here is your Savior!
Amen.
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