John 19:1 Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged him. Like every great historical picture, this one contains special points for special attention. It contains three lifelike portraits. I. THAT OF OUR LORD HIMSELF. We see the Saviour scourged, crowned with thorns, &c. Yet this was He whom angels delighted to honour, and who spent His time in going about doing good. Surely the sun never shone on a more wondrous sight. 1. Let us admire that love of Christ which "passeth knowledge." There is no earthly love with which it can be compared, and no standard by which to measure it. 2. Never let us forget, when we ponder this tale of suffering, that Jesus suffered for our sins, and that with His stripes we are healed. 3. Let us diligently follow the example of His patience in all the trials and afflictions of life, and especially in those which may be brought upon us by religion. When He was reviled, He reviled not again. II. THAT OF THE UNBELIEVING JEWS. We see them for three or four long hours obstinately rejecting Pilate's offer to release our Lord — fiercely demanding His crucifixion — declaring that they had no king but Caesar — and finally accumulating on their own heads the greater part of the guilt of His murder. Yet these were the children of Israel and the seed of Abraham, to whom pertained the promises, &c. These were men who professed to look for a "Prophet like unto Moses," and a "Son of David," who was to set up a kingdom as Messiah. Never, surely, was there such an exhibition of the depth of human wickedness. Let us mark the danger of long-continued rejection of light and knowledge. There is such a thing as judicial blindness; and it is the last and sorest judgment which God can send upon men. He who, like Pharaoh and Ahab, is often reproved but refuses to receive reproof, will finally have a heart harder than the nether millstone, and a conscience past feeling, and seared as with a hot iron (Proverbs 1:24-26; 2 Thessalonians 2:11). III. THAT OF PONTIUS PILATE. We see the Roman governor — a man of rank and high position — halting between two opinions in a case as clear as the sun at noon-day, sanctioning from sheer cowardice an enormous crime — and finally countenancing, from love of man's good opinion, the murder of an innocent person. Never perhaps did human nature make such a contemptible exhibition. Never was there a name so justly handed down to a world's scorn as the name which is embalmed in all our creeds. 1. Let us learn what miserable creatures great men are, when they have no high principles within them, and no faith in the reality of a God above them. The meanest labourer who fears God is a nobler being than the king, ruler, or statesman, whose first aim is to please the people. 2. Let us pray that our own country may never be without men in high places who have grace to think right, and courage to act up to their knowledge, without truckling to the opinion of men. (Bp. Ryle.) Parallel Verses KJV: Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged him. |
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