Good Friday, Behold the Man

From our family devotional time this morning.

"Pilate said unto them, “Behold the man!” John 14:5

We cannot do better than obey Pilate’s word.

“Behold the man!” Let us fix our eyes in loving gaze upon Jesus as He is led out from the palace and stands before the multitude. On His head He wears a crown of thorns; around His bleeding body is thrown a purple robe, mock emblem of royalty.

“Behold the man!”

Behold the man… enduring shame and contempt, set forth before the people as a spectacle of mockery, in order that we may be presented in glory, honoured before angels and the Father.

Behold the man… wearing a crown of thorns, in order that we may wear a crown of glory and of life.

Behold the man… robed in mocking purple in order that we may wear the white garments of righteousness.

Behold the man… in the majesty of meekness, reviled, yet reviling not again; hated, yet still loving on; wronged yet speaking no resentful word.

We should study the character of our Lord as manifested amid the terrible scenes of that morning. How His sublime patience shames our miserable impatience! We fret and vex ourselves with our sickly discontents over the smallest discomforts; let us behold the blessed peace of Jesus in the midst of the sorest trials. We fly into anger and cherish bitter resentments when others slight us or wrong us in the merest of trifles; let us behold the sweet spirit of Jesus; loving, gentle, meek, under the greatest cruelties and wrongs ever inflicted on any life.

Behold the man!

The God man, divinity manifesting itself in humanity, humbling Himself unto shame and death that He might save our souls.

Behold the man.

Holy, undefiled, separate from sinners, yet bearing upon His own head the sin of the world.

Behold the man.

Look.

Weep.

Love.

Trust.

Rejoice.

And that is what we chose to do today.