WHO DO YOU SEE UPON THE CROSS?
I have made it a tradition these last four years or so to watch Mel Gibson’s movie The Passion. As Easter comes around each year I use tools like this movie to meditate upon what Jesus did for us. This year, however, something strange happened.
For our movie club we viewed The Passion as planned and endured the horror. But all through the movie my thoughts kept rolling over this one thought: that guy on the cross is Jim Caviezel, the actor. Everywhere I saw the Jesus character, I thought, that’s Jim Caviezel. Now I always knew that. But after watching this movie for countless times this time it struck me more so that I was watching actors.
As we have studied the gospel of John in the last few weeks I have found the opposite take place. Here in the gospel I saw Jesus large as life. No I can’t tell you what his nose looks like or what kind of jaw he had. It’s more of a spiritual vision that comes from reading the Word. As you become familiar with the person of Jesus and you are filled with the Spirit you begin to see the Jesus of the gospels.
Who do you see upon the cross? Let us not look with physical eyes as we recount the crucifixion, but with the eyes of our heart and our spirit. Who do you see?
1. Behold the Man (19:1-13)
The farce of a trial before Caiaphas, the high priest, had already taken place. Jesus was then sent to Pilate, the Roman governor for questioning. Pilate could find nothing to accuse Jesus of and wanted to release him, but the mob was so stirred up they wanted blood. They wanted Jesus’ blood.
a) The Man of Suffering – Jesus was genuinely a man. John writes in the beginning of his gospel, “the Word became flesh,” and the man Jesus was subjected to intense suffering. We read, “Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged” (19:1).
There is some uncertainty about what this punishment actually consisted of. We know that the Romans had three levels of flogging: the fustigatio, a lighter beating for lesser offences; the flogalletio, a brutal flogging for more serious crimes; and the verberatio, the most terrible of all, which usually preceded crucifixion. This last one involved being stripped and bound to a pillar and then being whipped to the point of near death.
We don’t need to get graphic to understand that Jesus suffered. Scripture tells us that his suffering was indeed physical and intense. We also know that his suffering was relational; that is, not only did he suffer intense pain, but he suffered it at the hands of others. The soldiers in charge of his punishment went further and put a crown of thorns on his head, dressed him up in a horse blanket and feigned their adoration of him. Then they beat him again.
His suffering was physical, it was relational and it was emotional. It was, in other words, humiliating. When the soldiers brought Jesus back to Pilate, he tried to appeal to the pity and compassion of the crowd. “Pilate said to them, ‘Here is the man!’” (19:5). But his appearance went beyond the pitiful to the ridiculous. Here was a broken figure in a tattered robe with a horrible headdress sprouting from his head. ‘More like a clown than a King,’ someone said. It was a picture that suited well the prophecy, “I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people” (Ps 22:6) and “he was despised and we esteemed him not” (Is 53:3).
Yet in this man is represented all the suffering that humankind has ever experienced. If you have known physical abuse or emotional abuse, you have here a man who knows how you feel. He experienced the worst kind of humiliation standing nearly naked before a crowd who rejected him and wanted nothing less than to throw him on the dung heap.
b) The Man of Sin – In this first picture of Christ’s suffering we see the God-Man ‘with us.’ Now we see the God-Man ‘for us.’ For as we see in the text two charges are brought against Jesus: blasphemy by the Jewish authorities who were offended by his pretense to be God “he claimed to be the Son of God” (19;7); and treason, which was the only charge that mattered to the Roman authorities who had the sole power to execute anyone “Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar” (19:12). Interestingly, blasphemy and treason are at the heart of all human sinning.
In Genesis 3 the sin of blasphemy is made quite clear. The serpent tells Eve that by eating the forbidden fruit, “you will be like God” (Gen 3:5). Sin can be defined as our pretense to be God and make our own decisions and ruling our own lives. And in this way sin is also treason: sin is treason in that it is an act of rebellion against God’s rightful authority. God told them not to eat of that fruit and they did anyway.
So it is precisely the charges against Jesus, blasphemy and treason that we are guilty of. Remove Caiaphas and Pilate and put God on the throne of judgment with Jesus standing before Him. Jesus takes our place to face these charges.
Behold the Man!
2. Behold the King (19:14-27)
We could do a study just on Pilate and his role in this affair but we will limit his part to his odd declarations. Having flogged Jesus, putting him on display and looking for any way out, Pilate ultimately declares, “Here is your king” (19:14). Someone said that if God can speak out of the mouth of Balaam’s dumb donkey, he can speak through Pilate too. Here we see three aspects of Jesus as king.
a) The Rejected King – Pilate presents Jesus as their king; the people make a startling reply: “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!” “Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked. “We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered. So Pilate condemned Jesus to be crucified.
What is so startling about their rejection of Jesus is the lengths they will go to be rid of him. To say they have no king but Caesar is a statement of heresy, almost atheism. To the Jewish mind a Jewish king represented the living God. When they governed themselves they were a theocracy where God was the Sovereign King. Isaiah wrote, “O LORD, our God,
other lords besides you have ruled over us, but your name alone do we honor” (26:13). To say that they have no king but Caesar is nothing less than the abandonment of the Messianic hope. In their desperation to kill Jesus the Jewish authorities were willing to side with the devil. The king is rejected and crucified.
b) King of the World – Jesus is taken to the Place of the Skull (Golgotha) and nailed to a cross. This agonizing death could take days while the victim suffocated slowly. Bruce Milne wrote, “Invented by the Persians, developed by the Carthaginians, perfected by the Romans, such was crucifixion.” It is the most wretched of deaths, the cruelest and the most indescribable. No Roman citizen was permitted to die this way, it was so terrible.
But here on the cross, Pilate nailed a sign for all to see. The Place of the Skull stood on the main road so that travelers from far and wide would see the victims and tremble. They would have read these words on the sign above Jesus’ head: “JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.” The sign was written in Greek, Latin and Aramaic.
Greek was the language of culture, beauty and art. Human creativity is the gift of him who made all things. Christ claims the world of culture and reigns over it.
Latin was the language of politics and government. Christ claims this world too, even though the Church has oftentimes made a mess of politics. Jesus reigns over the public life.
Aramaic, a Hebrew dialect, is the language of religion. In a world where everyone is looking for meaning in various kinds of religion, Jesus alone is the truth and calls on everyone to acknowledge his name alone.
Jesus said, “I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself” (John 12:32). Here at the crossroads in the common languages of the known world hangs the king for all to see.
c) Our Personal King – When kings have visions of empires and expanding territories, when they have broad plans and new legislation to pass, the individual is often forgotten. Barak Obama appealed to the common person in the U.S. and his ideas excited a nation so that they voted him President. But can Joe Plumber drop by the White House to have tea? No, the President is well guarded, has the nation to think about, and cannot sit with one man at the expense of the many.
Jesus on the cross, dying for the sins of the world, sees his mother. In his agony he made plans for her care. “When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, ‘Dear woman, here is your son.’ And to the disciple, ‘Here is your mother,’” (19:26-27). All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Jesus and yet he embraces each of one us in our area of need. He is able to meet his agenda and care for Joe Plumber, or any individual, at the same time.
Behold the King!
3. Behold your God (19:28-30)
Behold the man upon a cross! Behold the king crucified! Now behold your God!
a) Things only God could fulfill - “Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, ‘I am thirsty.’ A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus lips” (19:28-29).
There is a very strong implication here which John wants us to understand. Men may have beaten and whipped Jesus and placed a crown of thorns on his head; Pilate may have humiliated Jesus and sentenced him to crucifixion; the people and their leaders may have rejected Jesus…but this was how Jesus planned it. They were doing what they were expected to do according to the will of God. Jesus was in control and the timing of it is clearly in his hands. “Knowing that all was now completed…” John says.
Was Jesus thirsty? Yes. After hanging for hours in the sun with labored breathing, he was indeed thirsty. I recall coming out of the anesthetic of surgery for septoplasty, my nose bandaged so I could breathe only through my mouth, how thirsty I was. It was agonizing. Scientists tell us that thirst is the most agonizing of all pain. The nurse wouldn’t give me any water; it wasn’t allowed in post-op.
But Jesus was consciously fulfilling Scripture at the same time. The Psalmist said, “My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth…” (Ps 22:15), and “They put gall in my food and gave me vinegar for my thirst” (Ps 69:21). Jesus had the presence of mind to express this thirst as a prophecy.
Now lest we think that this was contrived we need to remember all the other things that John records as fulfilling prophecy that were done by others. The soldiers gambling at the foot of the cross for instance.
We know too that the crucifixion was done according to Christ’s timing. Throughout the gospel of John we read of this timing: Mary wanted Jesus to perform a miracle with water in Cana, to which Jesus replied, “My time has not yet come” (2:4); many other times Jesus said, “the time for me has not yet come” (7:6,8, 30; 8:20).
Jesus knew the time had come and was now completed.
b) A work only God could accomplish – The same word that John uses to say “all was now completed” Jesus utters with his last breath: “When he had received the drink, Jesus said, ‘It is finished.’ With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit” (19:30).
Full control is displayed here in Jesus’ death. He had earlier said, “The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life – only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father” (10:17-18).
All is now completed; it is finished. To what was Jesus referring? Three things were completed in the cross:
(1) Obedience to the Father – Jesus always spoke with a singular sense of doing his Father’s will. He said, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work” (4:34). Christ’s death was the completion of that obedience. On the cross he reaches that triumphant conclusion and brings glory to his Father. He gives up his life, not because of the nails or the thorns or the extreme suffering, but at the Father’s command.
(2) Revealing the heart of God – John’s gospel begins with the statement that no one has ever seen God, but Jesus has made him known. The work of making the Father known finds its completion in the cross. In it we see the holy heart of God that our sins matter terribly to him. All our efforts fall short in pleasing his holy nature. We see how holy he is and how sinful we are in the shadow of the cross. But we also see how loving he is in that he gave his only Son to take our place on that cross.
(3) Redeeming humankind – Not that the whole world will accept Jesus as Lord and Savior, but in the cross we see the grace that can save and redeem a fallen world. Because Jesus died he is the Perfect One to take away the sins of the world.
At Golgotha we hear not simply, “Behold the Man!” and “Behold the King!” but also “Behold your God!” Martin Luther said, “In Christ crucified is the true theology and knowledge of God…as long as man does not know Christ he does not know the true God, the God hidden in sufferings.”
We should never grow weary of hearing this story, for it is the stuff of life. To follow Jesus is to remember his sacrifice and to take up our cross and go where he commands.
Who do you see upon the cross?
A mere man of suffering? An unfortunate person who was cruelly tortured and killed?
An unacknowledged king of the Jews? Someone history notes as an error in judgment?
Or God? The God who loves you enough to hang there? The God who chose to give his life – it was not taken from him.
Who do you see?
AMEN
