"I Did Not Hide My Face."

John 19:1-3 Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. 2 The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe 3 and went up to him again and again, saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” And they struck him in the face.
 
THIS is the first of three days on John 19:1-16. It is good to contemplate our suffering Lord’s humiliation, so we can more fully know the cost of our sin and the depth of his love.
 
ISAIAH spoke several prophecies of Jesus’ suffering. One is Isaiah 50:6 I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting. This passage acutely describes Jesus’ experience in Pilate’s court.
   It seems that Pilate hoped that flogging Jesus would keep Jesus from the cross. His soldiers added more misery to Jesus with the awful crown of thorns. How strange it is that Pilate, the man of absolute power in Jerusalem, could not use his authority to free an innocent man. Evil cannot be appeased. The more we abide with it, the more it will control us.
   Then perhaps with hope for Jesus’ pardon, Pilate presented Jesus to Caiaphas and the mob: John 19:4 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.” 5 When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!”
   Pilate tried to diminish Jesus in the Jews’ eyes. With, “Here is the man.” Pilate declared Jesus is a man who has received his just punishment. He’s counting on the Jews to be sympathetic to the brutalized, barely recognizable man before them. But evil was anchored in the Jews’ heart, and their quest for Jesus’ death only increased.
   John 19:6 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.”
   Once more Pilate was unwilling to use his authority to free Jesus. So he put pressure on the Jews to do their own dirty work against this innocent man. But the Jews gave Pilate their reason: John 19:7 The Jews insisted, “We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God.” 8 When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, 9 and he went back inside the palace. “Where do you come from?” he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer.
   “Pilate was even more afraid.” Why was Rome’s ruler afraid? Suddenly he seemed caught between two very strong forces. Did Jesus’ claim as the Son of God mean this man was some deity who had the powers of gods to avenge his abuse? And was Pilate afraid the Jews would begin to riot? Was he afraid he had no control at all?
   Pilate struggled to appease the Jews, and he struggled to appease his conscience. And it seems he even wanted to appease Jesus. Without a firm place to stand, he could only react to the circumstances. And the circumstances began to control him.
   Of course, God was in control that day. He had said this would happen. He used the Jews and the Romans to brutalize his Son. We can scarcely know the depths of God’s love that he would make us whole through Jesus’ broken body.