29. The Man of Love
Thursday 21st March
(for more details see here)
Pause:
Behold, Lord,
an empty vessel that needs to be filled.
My Lord, fill it.
I am weak in the faith;
strengthen me.
I am cold in love;
warm me and make me fervent,
that my love may go out to my neighbor.
I do not have a strong and firm faith;
at times I doubt and am unable to trust You altogether.
O Lord, help me.
Strengthen my faith and trust in You.
In You I have sealed the treasure of all I have.
I am poor; You are rich and came to be merciful to the poor.
I am a sinner; You are upright.
With me, there is an abundance of sin;
in You is the fullness of righteousness.
Therefore I will will remain with You.
MARTIN LUTHER
Sorry, your browser is unable to play this type of file.
You can still
download it
In a final desperate attempt to avoid the road of crucifixion, Pilate calls upon another tool of torture at his disposal - a public flogging.
Surely the crowd's lust for blood will be satisfied with the sight of Jesus beaten to within an inch of His life.
The soldiers dutifully and mercilessly follow Pilate's command.
Jesus endures the brutal beatings of the heartless experts in fear and pain.
He is chained to a post and whipped repeatedly with leather belts containing fragments of nails, bone and glass.
The flesh on His back and legs is torn to threads, exposing raw valleys of blood.
The Roman's had perfected this. It was said that they could kill a man in forty lashes. A "flogging" was a technical term which had earned the nickname - "forty minus one", meaning one more blow would finish a person.
But the soldier's are not finished with Him.
Evil has gripped them - and they persist in mocking Jesus, who is barely breathing now, even further.
Onto His back, stinging and twitching in unimaginable agony, they place a purple robe.
Onto His already bruised head they force a crown they have made out of thorns, driving sharp shards of pain right around His blood stained brow.
To humiliate Him yet further, they mock Him with cries of: "Hail, king of the Jews!" before spitting on Him and slapping Him full in the face.
In the garden Jesus had said to the soldiers: "Every day I was with you in the temple courts, and you did not lay a hand on me. But this is your hour—when darkness reigns." (LUKE 22.53). Darkness.
Here in the extreme mockery of a tortured Saviour we see the full horror of the powers of darkness. The full ugliness of our sin.
Over these whole few chapters I cannot help but hear the old hymn ringing in my spirit:
He could have called ten thousand angels
To destroy the world and set Him free
He could have called ten thousand angels
But He died alone for you and me
Ray Overholt
Then Pilate brings Jesus back out before the people:
“Look, I am bringing Him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against Him!”
There wasn't absolutely nothing in Pilate's that warranted
any charge against Jesus.
Nothing.
No deed, no action, no word.
Nothing.
I find nothing wrong with Him.
Even Jesus' enemies had to admit it - He is entirely perfect, undeniably holy, completely free from sin.
Reflection: The Man of Love
Then we have these words from Pilate, as Jesus' tortured and mocked form is presented in front of the mob: “Here is the man!”
Some translations have the phrase: Behold the man!
In some of Pilate's final desperate pleas we have the invitation to look at Jesus - at the man Jesus.
Yes fully God.
But also - fully human.
A man.
"Just as we are, yet without sin." (HEBREWS 4.14)
The blows of the whip would have affected Him in the way they would have affected any man.
The blows to His face of their hands.
The scars to His soul of their spit.
A human being - just as we are.
Maybe Pilate was trying to humanize Jesus to this crowd who simply saw Him as a sacrificial lamb - which of course He willingly is - but this Lamb has a name, and this Lamb can be known and loved.
Look at Him.
Behold the Spotless Lamb.
Behold the Sinless Son of Man.
"Now that we know what we have—Jesus, this great High Priest with ready access to God—let’s not let it slip through our fingers. We don’t have a priest who is out of touch with our reality. He’s been through weakness and testing, experienced it all—all but the sin. So let’s walk right up to him and get what he is so ready to give. Take the mercy, accept the help."
HEBREWS 4. 14-16 (THE MESSAGE)
Question for today:
-
When I see the cross of Calvary - do I see the man Christ Jesus?
Prayer:
My Lord, what love is this
That pays so dearly,
That I, the guilty one,
May go free!
Amazing love, O what sacrifice,
The Son of God given for me.
My debt He pays, and my death He dies,
That I might live, that I might live.
GRAHAM KENDRICK
I prayed this.
My prayer for today: (if you would like to, please feel free to add your own prayer here):