“BEHOLD THE MAN!”

Sermon Text: St. John 19:4-6. Pilate then went out again, and said to them, “Behold, I am bringing Him out to you, that You may know that I find no fault in Him.” Then Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said to them, “Behold the Man!” Therefore, when the chief priests and officers saw Him, they cried out, saying, “Crucify Him, crucify Him!” Pilate said to them, “You take Him and crucify Him, for I find no fault in Him.”
Lord, this is Your Word and these are Your words. Purify us by the truth; Your Word is truth. Lord Jesus, as Pilate presented You to the Jewish people with the words, “Behold the Man!” please now let Yourself be presented to us. Whenever we see our sins, grant that we see You, our Savior, having borne our sins away. Then present us to Your Father, not drowning in our sins but dressed in Your righteousness; not hideous because of our sin, but beautiful by Your grace. Amen.

In the name of the Man Christ Jesus, our Mediator: Grace, mercy, and peace will be yours in truth and love. Amen.

Pontius Pilate had been trying everything to avoid having Jesus crucified.

He first had a private interview with Jesus, determined that He was not guilty of anything deserving of death, and declared he would set Him free – but he didn’t, not yet.

He gave them the choice of Jesus or Barabbas, but they demanded he set Barabbas free, instead of Jesus; then Pilate washed his hands of it all and “de-livered Jesus to be crucified.” But they didn’t go on the road to the cross yet.

Then Pilate had Jesus scourged, and they made a crown of thorns for Him; again it says at this point, in Matthew and Mark, that then they “led him out to crucify Him.” But before they did this, there was actually one more thing Pilate did, in a final-ditch effort to get out of having to crucify Jesus.

Pilate went out of his private chamber, and said to the crowds below once again that he found no fault in Jesus. He said, “I am bringing Him out to you.” Jesus came out behind Pilate “wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe.” Now you have to picture what Jesus looked like at this point after all that He had been through.

From being walked roughly from here to there, and from standing through the entire night, first before the high priest and then before Pilate, He was weak. From the slaps and beatings He had endured, His body was bruised and battered. Then there was the terrible scourging of His back that the Romans did. Now they had pressed a crown of thorns into His head so that He not only was bleeding all over from the lashing but now He was also losing blood from His head. He was disfigured, He was bleeding profusely, He was battered and disfigured. He was faint, could barely stand. His body was entering, or already had entered, into a state of shock.

Pontius Pilate figured that if they saw Jesus like this, they would know that He was not a King or anything to be feared; and even more than that, they would be sure to have compassion, at least someone would beg for mercy for Jesus. So John writes: “Pilate said to them, ‘Behold the Man!’ ”But they only responded with more insistent yelling to have Him crucified.

This is a fulfillment of Isaiah 53: “He has no form or comeliness; and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him.” We want to argue with these words. You would say, “I don’t feel that way about Jesus. I would speak out so they would spare Him. I love Him! His appearance doesn’t repulse me, I am only drawn to Him and I want to cradle His head and to give Him comfort.”

It’s natural to think this. It’s hard to look at Jesus’ suffering in this way and not feel this. But we have to realize why God wants us to see this, why Jesus is presented not only to the Jewish people by Pilate, but really He is being presented – or rather, He is presenting Himself – to you, for your faith to see. So what should your faith see? This – that your compassion for Jesus won’t accomplish anything. The point isn’t your compassion for Him, it’s His compassion for you. See what Hiscompassion does accomplish for you!

With the words, “Behold the Man!” – the brief sermon put into the mouth of cruel Pilate – God is telling you to “behold,” to see, what “man” really is.

This is a preaching of the Law, first. Jesus is a stand-in for the whole human race. In seeing Him being so disfigured and hideous, you’re seeing what every person is because of sin. This is the true picture. We paper over our sins. We don’t see the true ugliness of our sins. Jesus shows the true picture. This is what has become of Adam and his children. They were to rule over the earth with pure blessing, they were created for glory, they were made to love one another and to live in constant praise and thanks of God.

But “behold the Man” – see what the Suffering Servant looks like – and see how far man is fallen, what sin and its corruption look like, how even the best that we do must only fail, and our sin mars our very appearance. This is what lies beneath the surface in our sinful corruption. We can’t comprehend this. We judge by appearances. We focus on trying our best. But Jesus in His suffering shows how deep is our corruption. And as there isn’t even one voice asking for mercy for Jesus, the condemnation that you deserve due to your sin is such that there would only be incessant torture and beating for you, and there would never be a drop of mercy extended to you.

But secondly, “Behold the Man!” is a beautiful preaching of the Gospel. He is being presented to you – Jesus is presenting Himself to you – so that you see that He takes all of the beating, all of the lashes, all that the devil wants to do to you and keep doing to you eternally, and all that God’s anger over your sin must punish you with, and Jesus steps in between and takes it for you, He takes all of it. So the devil’s plan is thwarted. In spite of your sins you suffer nothing for them, Jesus suffered it for you. He does raise His voice, for you to receive mercy from God. His blood pleads and God listens.

In His death, Jesus took all your sin – and its ugliness – away from you, to be His own. “He who knew no sin became sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2Co 5:21). He was disfigured in His Passion,
for you to receive His beauty, His righteousness, and be dressed in it by faith; so that you’ll be beautiful – you’ll have His beauty and glory – for all eternity.

“Behold the Man!” Look at Jesus, suffering this way for you. Look at Him when you are weighed down by your sins. Look at Him when you are unsure if God loves you. Look at Him when you’re afraid that your faith will fail. Look at Him when you’re being tempted to leave Him and follow the world. Why would you ever leave Him, when you see what He suffered for you? How can your faith fail, when you are seeing Him this way? Why would you be unsure at all that God may not love you, when you see Jesus bleeding for you? How can you feel guilty and burdened by your sins, as you see Jesus suffering this way because He lifted them from you? Believe in Him.

When you hear the Gospel you are “behold(ing) the Man,” the Man Christ Jesus, who suffered for you. Having presented Himself to you, He now presents you to the Father, actually being, and looking, “glorious, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but holy, without blemish” (Eph 5:27). Amen!