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"Then Pilate
took Jesus and scourged him. And the soldiers having plaited a wreath
out of thorns put it on him and said: 'Hail, king of the Jews'; and
they slapped his face.
And he went forth again outside and Pilate says to them: Behold I
bring out to you him that ye may know that I find no crime in him.
Jesus therefore came forth outside, wearing the thorny wreath and the
purple garment. And he (Pilate) says to them:
'Behold, the man!'
As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they
shouted, 'Crucify! Crucify!' " -
John 19: 1 - 6 (Direct translation from
Novum Testamentum Graece) Let us take a moment and Ecce Homo! Let us behold Jesus and get to know the 'man' a little better. One of the problems Christianity has is that there is an overdue amount of emphasis and importance placed upon his birth and certain supernatural incidents surrounding his life. Even the miracles have caused problems when they are taken at surface value. Groups within the early Christian church, most notably the Gnostics, literally dismissed the mortal Jesus, concentrating instead on his spiritual nature. Buddha, Zarathustra, Confucius and Muhammad, like Jesus, also were miraculously born. Recorded are mysterious heavenly events, virginal conceptions, angelic appearances, temptations by the devil are mentioned in connection with the births of the preeminent founders of the world's greatest religions. People at those times placed great stock in such things. It's up to the Christian disciple under the guidance of the Holy Spirit to get into the Scriptures and discern exactly what's taking place. A better vantage point can be had if the disciple keeps in mind that right from the beginning of the Holy Scriptures, the emphasis is on Jesus Christ. He is the Word and all through the Major Prophets, the Psalms, Proverbs, the Song of Songs, Job and the Minor Prophets, Jesus, the Word, is the overriding presence. The Bible is all about the Word. From the onset of the Gospels a difference presents itself. Jesus is not born in a royal mythological manner. He was born of a virgin, and the virgin was pregnant before she was formally married. The infant in the womb of Mary was considered by those Jews who knew of her pregnancy to be illegitimate. Joseph had to make the decision whether to wed Mary, thus saving her honor, or breaking off from her and leaving Mary to birth the child in disgrace. Fortunately, an angel from God (Matthew 1: 19 - 21) convinced Joseph to do the right thing and, therefore, the infant Jesus was provided an earthly father. The Kingdom of God was on its way. There is common understanding and talk within Christian circles that Jesus was a carpenter. The Gospels provide no evidence of this and, instead, we are left to assume that because Joseph was a carpenter, Jesus followed in his footsteps. The author, Nikos Kazantzakis in his book, The Last Temptation of Christ, portrayed Jesus not only as a carpenter, but in a twist of irony, a carpenter who made crucifixion crosses for the Romans! Personally, I do not believe that Jesus was a carpenter. In fact, initially the only title directly referred to by those addressing Jesus was 'Rabbi' or teacher, a title that was not lightly imparted on just anyone. To become a rabbi, a man would have to have been educated and trained by other rabbis. This would require a great deal of time spent with temple teachers, and if the Gospel of Luke (2: 41 - 50) is to be taken as true, Jesus' formal education as a rabbi began when he was 12 years old. It was the Gospel of John that made it clear that Jesus wasn't just a rabbi of extraordinary training and interpreter of Scripture; that he was not only a son of God, but The Son of God, God incarnate in human form. The other Gospel authors recorded this fact to reveal itself via the working of many healing miracles, the Transfiguration (Mark 9: 2 - 8; Matthew 17: 1-8; Luke 9: 28 - 36) and the literal raising of the dead brother of Mary and Martha, Lazarus (John 11: 1 - 44); but it was John from the outset of his gospel who left no doubt as to who Jesus Christ was. John's God, Jesus the Word, had taken on for Himself the mortal body we know from the Gospels as Jesus of Nazareth. So now, let us focus our attention on this special human being and Ecce homo! This man is different. He isn't on a throne above us, nor is he with us, outside of us, draped in the purple robes of royalty. No, Jesus is within the individual believer and among - within - a group of believers gathered in his name. This god-man is different. He is not 'there' and we 'here' but instead he is inside each of us who believe in him. He is the ultimate personal friend, while at the same time, he is our personal Master. For myself, he is my Captain and I serve as a member of his crew - one of but millions of crew members. Jesus is personal to me. He is my closest confidant, my most intimate confessor. He fills my heart with gladness. He is my guide in life, and he tells me what to do and when to do it. What great relief it is for any believing Christian to have as their personal savior one who is so determined, yet so just, that life actually makes sense; and I am supremely confident that my Captain knows exactly what he is doing in times of joy and in times of trouble. Only a fool could not want to serve under such a sincere, loving and compassionate Captain. Understand this, disciple: We do not overly celebrate the birth of Jesus; we celebrate his death and resurrection. Many a great religious leader has been born, but what benefit is that to us? Others have told us how to live and how to speak, but they never told us how to redeem our past and future sins. They've told us of ways to purify our souls, but unfortunately, we cannot make the stain of sin disappear - we cannot remove sin's stain from our once pure soul. It is Jesus who does this for us. It is Jesus who atoned for us with our Father. It is Jesus who reconciled us to God, and that is something no other religious leader could or can deliver. I have beheld the man and I know him to be the truth. And because of it, my soul has been at once liberated and at the same time rejoined to my Father. My heart can be filled with sorrow, and Jesus is there to heal me. There are those moments of concern and fear, but he gives me the courage to venture forth and carry on. I am no longer perplexed by childish, foolish questions and doubts, for it is the guidance I receive from Jesus that allows me to see through those dark spots in life, to view the golden aura of God's smiling on me as rightly would a Father smile upon his child. With Jesus, I face the challenges and pains of mortal life and I must say so far he has cupped me in his hand, protecting my soul from the savage attacks of the world's evils. I have no lack of faith that tomorrow I will be just as protected. I have beheld the man and the man has upheld me. How blessed I am by the grace of God, and in the deepest gratitude, the love in my heart continually touches the face of Jesus. Christian disciples everywhere share in this experience... of having Jesus living within them. Paul talked about it in Galatians 2: 20: "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me... ." It is a real feeling; it is reality. It is the only reality, and there is no reason why anyone cannot share in this magnificent experience. You only have to believe, you only have to accept the Christ, you only have to obey the Christ. And when you do, he will become your closest friend. Open your soul to Christ. Open your heart to his love. Open yourself - Ecce homo! No one has said it any better than Paul in Romans 8: 38 - 39 when it comes to our professing the closeness, fondness and belief in our love of Christ: " 'For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.' " I want to end this chapter with a quote from the War Between the States - the American Civil War - written by Samuel Wilkeson, reporter for the New York Times on July 6, 1863, just after the Battle of Gettysburg: "Oh, you dead, who at Gettysburg have baptized with your blood the second birth of freedom in America, how you are to be envied! I rise from a grave whose wet clay I have passionately kissed and I look up and see Christ spanning this battlefield with his feet and reaching fraternal and loving up to heaven. His right hand opens the gates of Paradise - with his left, he sweetly beckons to these mutilated, bloody, swollen forms to ascend." The wet clay Samuel Wilkeson kissed was the grave of his son who had been killed in the battle. Come one and all believers and disciples, your Captain awaits you with loving and open arms! Come, behold God who took on the flesh of mankind in order to reconcile us to Himself. Come, Ecce Homo! |