5.4

Behold the Man (John 19:5)

Jesus’ appointed hour was always with Him but others could not see it until His death. In a secluded garden in Jerusalem, Jesus was attacked and arrested by a violent crowd made up of a Roman battalion, officers from the Jewish Sanhedrin and priests. His disciples who promised undying loyalty to Him, abandoned Him. When one disciple, Peter, fumbled with his sword to protect Jesus in all the confusion, He stopped Peter and said to him, “Put the sword into the sheath; the cup which the Father has given Me, shall I not drink it” (John 18:11)? Peter may have thought Jesus told His disciples to buy swords (Luke 22:36) for such a time as this, to protect Him from arrest. But the swords were for their own protection at this hour which exclusively belonged to Jesus (John 18:8-9). No other place in the New Testament calls Christians to take up swords except at this time, for this hour. It was crucial that no one interfere with God’s sacrificial work. His work at this hour, as with all His works, had to be entirely His own

What might this hour have looked like to those who were with Jesus? They would have seen an angry and agitated mob taking Him away where they could do whatever they wanted to Him, and they did. They beat and tortured Him and reviled all His works as perverted deceptions and despicable heresies. As His hour continued, the leaders and people increasingly came together against Jesus, mocking and beating and accusing Him of evil towards God and themselves. They confidently judged Him, as if they were speaking for God and judging with His authority. They would show Jesus and all who were watching that He was nothing to God and impotent before them

What might Jesus have seen as He endured His hour of agony, alone? He saw the same crowds surrounding Him for whom He came to comfort and heal and save. These ones who only days earlier were thronging Him just to be near Him, beseeching Him for mercy and help — these same people who earlier had looked at Him with eyes of gratitude were now staring Him down with disgust, outraged that He would “make Himself out to be the Son of God” (John 19:7). What blasphemy! In His hour, Jesus saw those He was loving ripping Him apart in hate, condemning Him as He forgave them, rejecting Him even as He accepted wherever they led Him

What might the people have not seen when Pilate brought Him out after He was beaten, standing Him before the masses who were all aroused by certain Jewish leaders to have Him crucified? They did not see their King, the King of the Jews beaten and bloody, silent against their accusations, loving them with His suffering. They did not see Him taking upon Himself the judgments their hearts harbored against God. They did not see Him standing before His God and Father as He endured condemnation not only from them but from God, God’s judgment of their sin against His Son (John 16:9). Jesus, condemned by both His people and His Father, spoke nothing for His defense and silently bore judgment’s wrath to accomplish the impossible: to reconcile a holy God to us who don’t even know what that means. We don’t even know that we don’t know

Behold the Man silently receiving and accepting all suffering necessary to tell the earth and heavens of God’s redemption in His sacrifice, the greatest suffering and sacrifice God could give. If there were any other option, God would have been without excuse to not take it. But the only way God could save us for Himself is also the most precious and costly for Him