October 31, 2023
Shining In The Spotlight
(Some information may be too graphic for small children)
“Pilate came out again and said to them, ‘Behold, I am bringing Him out to you so that you may know that I find no guilt in Him.’ Jesus then came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, ‘Behold, the Man!’” John 19:4-5 (NASB)
There have been times when I felt sorry for those committing crimes. When I brought a person in for an interview, I was able to get to the bottom of the case pretty quickly. In the last five years of my career, I began to get very good at it. I normally (not bragging) got a confession from almost all who came in. On one occasion I interviewed a drug addict. He was so hooked it seemed he would never break it. He passed a counterfeit check at a bank. Later I discovered he was instructed to take the counterfeit check, cash it, and bring the proceeds back so they would split it. He thought it was a pretty deal. It gave him his next “fix.” When he came in, he initially denied the offense. After showing him the bank photos, he later confessed. What sealed the confession in his shame (as he hung his head) was the following: When the person gave him the check, he told him, “Put baby oil all over your face.” “It will distort the camera so the picture won’t be clear.” Well, it didn’t. The picture was of him with a greasy face. Although caught, I felt sorry for him. He had been duped. He was hooked and couldn’t find a way out. Later intervened on his behalf to help him get the help he needed during his sentencing.
Kent Hughes summarizes these passages very well; “Then he presented Jesus. “Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe” (v. 5a). What the crowd saw must have made some of them faint. David, writing prophetically of the cross 1,000 years prior, moaned, “I can count all my bones; people stare and gloat over me” (Psalm 22:17). The scourge had done its work. The flesh had been cut away from Christ’s ribs as well as from his back. Some ribs were exposed. Add to this the prophetic words of Isaiah 52:14: “His appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and his form marred beyond human likeness.” The soldiers had hit him in the face with the mock scepter until his features were unrecognizable. Pilate had reason to hope he would succeed. Surely the crowd would be filled with revulsion at the sight, hopefully followed by sympathy. So Pilate shouted, “Here is the man!” Literally, from the precedence of Greek classical examples, this can be translated “the poor man” or “the poor creature.” Pilate was saying, “Look at this poor, bruised, bleeding creature. Haven’t you hounded him enough?” In saying, “Behold, the Man!” (NASB) Pilate said more than he would ever know. It was and is a call to reflect on the Incarnation, for it was the Man standing before them. God had become a man, and this is what he looked like. And we are enjoined to behold that Man. John says in 1:18, ‘No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father,’”[1] Pilate used mockery toward the Jews when he said, “… so that you may know that I find no guilt in Him.” He knew it was a travesty of justice and the dignity of Jesus, but he used it to turn the mob back to the Sanhedrin. Even though Pilate mocked Jesus, he didn’t realize he called attention to the greatest figure in human history. Jesus the True King!
When someone is guilty, they incur the judgment. When someone is innocent, you let them go. Jesus, being innocent in all accounts, still stood strong when falsely accused. Can you?
[1] (Jn 1:18). (1995). The Lockman Foundation.