BOOK 6. THE DEATH.
CHAPTER 2.
6.2.5. Of Christ brought forth and sentenced.
Of Christ brought forth and sentenced.
About ten, Christ was brought forth and sentenced. I shall therein observe these particulars. As,--
1. We find Pilate bringing forth Jesus out of the common hall, and showing this sad spectacle to all the people. "Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe, and Pilate saith unto them. Behold the man," John xix. 5. He thought the very sight of Christ would have moved them to Compassion; they had lashed him almost unto death, they had most cruelly divided those azure channels of his guiltless blood, they had clothed him with purple, crowned him with thorns: and now they bring him out by the hair of the head, (say some) and expose him to the public view of the scornful company, Pilate crying unto them, "Behold the man," q.d. Behold a poor silly, miserable, distressed man; behold I say, not your king, to provoke you against him, nor yet the Son of God, which you say he makes himself to be; behold the man, a mean man, a worm, and no man! Behold how he stands disfigured with wounds, behold him weltering and panting in a crimson river in his own gore-blood; and let this be sufficient, yea, more than sufficient punishment, let it suffice to satisfy your rage; what would you have more! If it be for malice that you are so violent against him, behold how miserable he is; if for fear, behold how contemptible he is: as for any fault whereby he should deserve his death, I find no fault in him; he is a Lamb without spot, a dove without gall. O come and behold this man, I can find no fault in him. Some doctors affirm, That whilst Pilate cried out, Behold the man; his servants lifted up the purple robe, that so all might see his torn, and bloody, and macerated body; he supposed his words could not so move their hearts as Christ's wounds; and therefore, said he. Behold the man, as if he had said again, "Look on him, and view him well, is not he well paid for calling himself king of the Jews? Now see him stript, and whipt, and crowned with thorns, and sceptered with a reed, anointed with spittle, and clothed with purple; what would you more?"
2. We find the Jews more enraged against Jesus: "When the chief priests and officers saw him, they cried out, saying, crucify him, crucify him," John xix. 6. The more Pilate endeavours to appease them, the more were the people enraged against him, and therefore they cry, "Away with him, away with him, crucify him, crucify him," verse 15. Now was fulfilled that prophecy of Jeremy, "My heritage is unto me as a lion in the forest, it crieth out against me," Jer. xii. 8. The naturalists report of the lion, That when he is near to his prey, he gives out a mighty roar, whereby the poor hunted beast is so amazed and terrified, that almost dead with fear, he falls flat on the ground, and so becomes the lion's prey indeed: and thus the Jews (who were the heritage of the Lord) were unto Christ as a lion in the forest; they hunted and pursued him to his death, and being near it, they gave out a mighty shout, that the earth rung again. "Away with him, away with him, crucify him, crucify him." O ye Jews, children of Israel, seed of Abraham, Issac and Jacob, is not this he concerning whom your fathers cried, "Oh that thou wouldst rent the heavens, that thou wouldst come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence," Isa. lxiv. 1. How is it that you should despise him present, whom they desired absent? How is it that your cry and theirs should be so contrary? The panther (say they) is of so sweet a savour, that if he be but within the compass of scent, all the beasts of the field run towards him: but when they see his ugly visage, they fly from him, and run away; so the Jews afar off feeling the sweet savours of Christ's ointment, they cried, "Draw me, we will run after thee, Come Lord Jesus, come quickly;" but now in his passion, looking on his form they change their note, "He hath no form nor comeliness, there is no beauty, that we should desire him," Isa, liii. 2. Away with him, away with him.
3. We find Pilate and the Jews yet debating the business; Pilate is loath to pronounce the sentence, and the chiefest of the Jews provoke him to it with a threefold argument. As;
(a). "They had a law, and by their law he ought to die. because he made himself the Son of God," John xix. 7. Thus the doctors of the law do accuse the author and publisher of the law; but they consider not the rule concerning laws, "he may lawfully abolish, who hath power to establish;" (Ejus absolvere, cujus est condere legem.) nor did they consider that this law concerned not himself, who is indeed and in truth the Son of God, the text tells us, that Pilate hearing this argument, was the more afraid that Pilate (saith Cyril) was an heathen idolater; and so worshipping many gods, he could not tell but that Christ might be one of them; and therefore in condemning Christ, he might justly provoke all the gods, to be revenged of him. This was the meaning of Pilate's question. Whence art thou? What is thy offspring? Of what progenitors art thou sprung? "And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him."
(b). The Jews come with another argument, they threaten Pilate, "If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend," John xix. 12, a forcible reason, as the cause then stood; it was no small matter to be accused by so many audacious impudent men of high treason against Caesar; and therefore under this obligation, Pilate seems to bend and bow; whom the fear of Christ's divinity had restrained, him the fear of Caesar's frown provoked to go on to sentence and condemnation. Oh! he was more afraid of man, whose breath is in his nostrils, than of God himself, "who made the heavens, and framed the world." And yet, before he gave sentence, "He takes water and washeth his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person, see ye to it," Matt, xxvii. 24.
(c). In reference to this, they engage themselves for him, which was their last argument, "his blood be upon us and our children," Matt, xxvii. 25. q.d. Act thou as judge, let him be condemned to die; and if thou fearest anything, we will undergo for thee, let the vengeance of his blood be on us, and on our children or ever. Thus far of the first general.
4. For the sentence itself. When Pilate heard that, -- he sat down in the judgment-seat, in a place that is called the pavement, because erected of stones, but in the Hebrew Gabbatha, John xix. 13. -- This word signifies an high place, and raised above; it was so on purpose that the judges might be seen of men, when they pronounced sentence. And here Pilate sitting down, he gave the doom. What was the form or manner of the sentence, is a great question amongst divines; Chrysostom (Chrys. 1. Cor. ser. ult. de Eleemos.) is of mind that he pronounced no form at all, he only "delivered Jesus unto them to be crucified," Mark xv. 15. John xix. l6. Others cannot yield to this, for to what end (say they) should he then sit down upon the judgment seat? And yet amongst themselves they cannot agree on a form, Anselm (Ansel de Pass.) gives it thus, "I adjudge Jesus of Nazareth to that ignominious and shameful death of the cross." Vicentius (Vinc. de Pass.) thus, "I condemn. Jesus, seducing the people, blaspheming God, and saying that he was Christ the king of the Jews, to be fastened to the cross, and there to hang till he die," Many other forms are brought in by others, but that of Luke is, I am sure, most authentic, "And Pilate gave sentence that it should be as they required, and then he delivered Jesus to their will," Luke xxiii. 24, 25. Here is a sentence indeed, a delivery of Jesus, not to his own, but to his enemies liberty; to the boundless bonds, and all the possible tortures of their own wills and wishes. O unjust sentence! Give me not over to the will of my adversaries, cries David, Psalm xxvii. 12. the will of malice is an endless wheel, it cares not how long it spins out pain, and therefore they cried, "Crucify him, crucify him! Let him be crucified!" Amen, (says Pilate) do what you please, crucify him, and crucify him as often as you will, it shall be as you require. Lo now I deliver him to your own will.
We cannot shake this tree without some fruit; from, this sight of Christ and sentence of Pilate we may learn some good.
Use.
1. From this sight of Christ, as he was presented by Pilate to the people, we may learn remorse; not any of us who have crucified Christ by our sins, but we are called on at this time, "to behold the man;" suppose we saw him with our bodily eyes; suppose we had the same view of Christ as the Jews had, where he was thus presented; suppose we saw him in the very midst of us wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe, and the cane or reed held in his right hand; suppose we heard the voice of Pilate speaking to us, as he did to the Jews, "Behold the man;" suppose we saw the purple robe lifted up, that we might see all under; how his body was torn; and that some voice from heaven should come to us, saying, "This same is he whom ye have buffeted, scourged, crowned, crucified by our sins:" Were not this enough to prick us in our hearts, and to make us cry, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" Acts ii. 37. Oh! we look at the instruments, and we cry, "Put blame on Pilate, put blame on the soldiers, put blame on the Jews;" but we look not on our sins, saying, put blame on them. Could we but realize our sins as the principle of these sufferings of Christ, methinks our hearts should break in very pieces; consider, yesterday, in the midst of our markets, so many lies were told, and so many oaths were sworn; and this day so soon as the daylight sprang, so many acts of profaning the Lord's day were committed by us; little did we think that all this while we had been stripping Christ naked, whipping Christ with rods, or little chains, clothing Christ with a purple scarlet robe, platting a crown of thorns, and putting it on his head, sceptring him with a reed, and saluting him in scorn, "Hail, king of the Jews." Men, brethren and fathers, be not deceived, Christ is mocked, scorned, and thus is abused by you when you sin; your sins that dealt with Christ, and in God's acceptation your sins thus deal with Christ, even to this very day. Never say it was long since Christ was crucified, and he is now in heaven, for by your sins, you crucify again the Lord of glory, you put him again to open shame, you strip him, and whip him, and torment him afresh. Oh look on him whom you have pierced! Pilate thought that if the Jews would but see the man, "Behold the man," their hearts would have mollified; and shall not I think as well of you? It is a blessed means to make sin bitter, and to breed in our hearts remorse for sin, if we will but hearken to this voice of Pilate, "Behold the man."
2. From the sentence of Pilate, that Christ should be crucified as the Jews required, we may learn the deceitfulness of our hearts, in making self the end, and aim of our particular callings. Pilate as judge, should have glorified God in doing justice; but when he hears the Jews cry, "if thou let him go, thou art not Caesar's friend," he then looks to himself and his own interests. Judges can have their ends in the very place of judicature: nay, is not this the very common sin of magistrates, ministers, tradesmen of all sorts of callings; come, what is it you aim at in your several places? Is it not to be great, and rich, and high, and honourable? Say truly, it is in your heart to say: That by this calling, my chief aim is to glorify God, and to serve my generation with all faithfulness: and these two ends I prefer before all worldly advantages whatsoever? O then, what a blessed reformation would be amongst us? If it be not thus, what are you but as so many Pilates, that if you were but threatened into a sentence, you would rather condemn Christ than yourselves of enmity against Caesar; such would be the cry, Let Christ be crucified and self advanced.
Much more might be said, but the hour strikes again, Pilate is now risen, the court dissolved, and Jesus is delivered into the hands of the Jews for execution. How that went on, the next hour will speak, only God prepare your hearts to hear devoutly, and to consider seriously, what Jesus the great Saviour of the world hath suffered for you.